Morning everyone,
Well its the day after the "Street fight in Takapuna" which did eventuate, just not with the combatants everyone had thought it would be between!
However another amazing race in front of a huge crowd along the fast and twisting course in Takapuna. I've raced in some amazing places during my time in this great sport, but there is nothing better than racing in front of a home crowd like that. It just takes you to another level even so soon into the season, you benefit so greatly from all the friendly support of all the spectators both on and off the course when you know its going live to air. TVNZ do a great job of showing our sport to all of New Zealand at home, and I hope they enjoyed just how exciting triathlon is.
Of course there was a race, and there had to be a winner. I was lucky enough to get up and take the overall honors, but I didn't have everything my own way. I say lucky because in this sport you do need you fair share of luck, and as most of you know I've missed out mine more than not over the years! This time it was Bevan's turn for things to go against him, when he unfortunately flatted on the bike. It was a real shame, and the most disappointed person apart from himself was me. There's nothing better than to gauge how you are going against one of the best athletes in the world, and I was really looking forward to our battle/fight to continue yesterday, but it was not to be. Instead I had to contend with New Zealand's next wave of future stars, and more so one that I'm mentoring very closely. Ryan Sisson's is going to be good! I've come across some very good young guys over the years, but this one is different. His continued willingness to learn makes me sit up and take real notice. He has a real grasp on how to improve the natural talent he already has. He understands it will only get him so far before the real work needs to kick in, and more often that not actually take over.
For those of you who were lucky enough to catch the race live at the venue or on television I hope you enjoyed sprint Triathlon. It was a great race for myself and I felt really good considering the training load I've been under over the past weeks. You would have seen me try and stay out of trouble as long as I could until the run where I really tried to control the race as much as I could until I finally attacked the guys on the last hill of the run. I was sure it would be the final blow but Ryan just hung tough. Not only did he hang tough, he went straight by me when we got back on the flat. We had around 800 meters to go from that point and were well clear of the others. We both knew it was going to come down to sprint time. I was fairly confident at this point but against real youth and exuberance you just never know. I kicked and kicked hard with about 300 to go and it was just good enough to break Ryan. He stayed close though and just finished 2 seconds behind for a well earned second. Also further adding to his growing reputation around New Zealand.
It's always nice to get a W and an even better way to start a season off. I'm back off to the mighty Manawatu this evening again leaving behind the big smoke until the next visit. Hopefully I'll make it back in time for the next edition of the Kids triathlon in Palmerston North. 600 kids every monday night going hell for leather around a grass field soon brings me back to why I love this sport. The smiles on there faces as they run and ride there bikes around makes it very easy for me to get up for training at 5am on Tuesday morning.
From there I'll be off to the Snowfram in the Cardrona valley with the High performance squad. We are having a three week training camp at altitude down there, and with the performances from everyone yesterday I'm sure its going to be really beneficial for all.
So off to join the rat race that is Auckland traffic and try to catch up with as many of you as I can before I jet out again. Once again thanks to you all for the kind wishes before and after the race, it was a real fun day and I hope you enjoyed it.
Cheers,
Kris
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