The last race of the Lifetime Fitness Series was run and won in Dallas on the weekend. This was my only event this year, having missed the races in Minneapolis, New York, Chicago and LA over the US Summer.
The day belonged to Australia’s Greg Bennet without a doubt. He had won every event so far and another victory brought with it a US$300 000 bonus! The pressure was squarely on his shoulders and I’m pleased to say that he was able to deliver.
It was a small but very high quality field that huddled together at Joe Pool Lake as dawn began to break. A strong wind was whipping up the surface of the lake and promising to make the first few miles of the bike leg even tougher than expected.
Swim specialists Craig Walton and Frenchman Benji Sanson led the tightly packed group to the first buoy and across to the second turn before it started to get really interesting. By this stage a front group was established, but with the last 600m directly into the rising sun, navigation became a major challenge. For me all I could see was orange and splashing bubbles. I just did everything I could to keep seeing splashing bubbles and for all I knew we could have snaked our way all the way in. I can’t imagine how the leaders could have seen where to go, but with about 25m to go I saw the swim finish arch and hit the shore soon after.
All the major contenders were all together in this front pack and no one had managed to break away in the water. Onto the bike course into a head-wind and some rolling hills I was working hard to maintain contact as a ferocious pace was set. It was a non-drafting bike leg and with just a narrow lane to ride in everyone was cautious to maintain a stagger from the cyclist ahead and avoid a fateful penalty which would basically end your race.
About 8km into the ride I lost touch with the small group that had dwindled down to about 6 or 7 riders over a rolling rise. It was an error in concentration that would cost me dearly because I was unable to bridge the gap in the strong winds and started to lose touch.
I rode the next 20km in no man’s land on the one straight long road heading toward the CBD. Eventually I was caught by 3 others and completed the bike leg at Reunion in the city centre and few minutes down on the leaders.
My lack of running over the last few weeks (recovering from a broken toe) was exposed immediately onto the 2 lap run. I struggled to find a good rhythm and was not able to make up any time on the athletes in front. I was determined to finish the race despite developing some nasty blisters and hope that it helps me build into the next few races.
The day however belonged to Greg Bennet. He powered away from the front group with the motivation of 3 cheques totalling US$420 000 to push him through the pain barrier! He crossed the line ahead of Filip Ospaly of the Czech Republic and Bevan Docherty from NZ.
I’m off to Bermuda on Tuesday for a point to point race around the historic island. It will be a new and exciting experience and hopefully I’ll send through a report next week.
Simon Thomo
Simon Thompson
Australian Professional Triathlete
http://www.simonthompson.com.au
