First of all, I just want to thank everyone who supported me and believed in me to make it to the World Championships in Fredericia, Denmark this year. I am incredibly lucky to even be telling this story and want to give credit to everyone who put their two cents in (or more!) to help me make it this far! I raced in Sweden at the World Championships last year and because the qualifying race for the 2005 Worlds were held at the same time, Triathlon Canada extended the invitation to those who competed in 2004. I was really looking forward to representing Canada especially since I was appointed Team Captain for the 2005 National Team in Denmark! What an opportunity!!

The few days leading up to the race were fantastic. Similar to my experience last year, I had great teammates; great travel and the race course looked like so much fun. All my preparation and taper was falling into place. Sadly the weather did not look promising as it rained every single day that we had been in Fredericia, and it was colder than in Ontario. There was also the threat of flats, our team had been plagued with them all week and I was worried about that a little bit. There were many factors that were beyond my control that I had to brush off in order to have a great race.

The morning of the race I woke up to SUNSHINE!! I was so excited. I didn’t care how cold it was (18 degrees!) but it was sunny and not raining. That jump started me pretty quick. The race start had already been delayed until 8 am due to cold water so I had tons of time to attend to my transition and make sure everything was where I wanted it to be.

I made my way down to the swim start where I discovered that we were no longer doing the full swim due to how cold the water was. European racing rules dictate a shorter swim cut-off time when temperatures drop to certain levels. The swim was in the ocean and it had dipped to a chilly 15 degrees (59F)! They had only decreased the swim by 1KM so we were doing 3K which I was happy about. I do well in the swim and need it to make up some time so I was pleased that they didn’t take too much off. We were doing 2 loops of 1500 meters and the water felt very COLD. Oh yeah.. there were also a number of jellyfish inhabiting the swim course. That made it more interesting. Luckily, most of them were white jellies, which are the non-stinging kind. I have done an ocean swim race with pink jellies before though, and knew that their stings aren’t that painful unless you are allergic, besides, I had the protection of my wetsuit. All that said it is still kind of freaky to run into one while you are swimming!

Needless to say, I was one of the only competitors with a sleeveless wetsuit, and I had double capped and was ready to go. I was not excited about the mass swim start as there were over 600 competitive age groupers in the pile. Well I needed not worry because my mind was diverted quite quickly when the elastic on my goggles snapped as the start horn was blasting!!! What a disaster! I didn’t know what to do, my mind raced and my hands were shaking so badly. I could not do the swim without goggles, I wear contact lenses, and there is no way I could bike without being able to see!! I just stood there fumbling for a few minutes as EVERYONE passed me to start the swim. I felt so bad for the helpless team Canada members that were around me, unable to help as they started the swim. I had to calm myself down and relax so that my hands would stop shaking. Finally I managed to figure it out and tied them TIGHT. I had lost 40-50 seconds at this point and just started churning the water. The adrenaline rush was so huge from that near tragedy to my race that I didn’t feel the cold or notice the jellies at all. Unfortunately, starting near the back of the pack of 600 athletes, it was nearly impossible to pass anyone. I was getting so frustrated as I was getting kicked, poked, grabbed and all the fun stuff that goes on in the swim. I eventually just went with it as I had no other option. After the first loop of the swim, we headed into shore and had to swim under this dock before running around to start the second loop. I made up some time here to get myself a clear path to make up some time on the next loop. Although I couldn’t see anything as my goggles were so foggy (and I was terrified to touch them in fear they would break again!), I did my best to stay to the inside and found myself passing a lot of swimmers. This tactic worked great for me as I came out of the water in a pretty decent time of 49:57 (all the swim times were a bit slow!) and my spectators later told me that on my second loop I had passed most of the strong field of women in the race as well as quite a few of the men! Yahoo!

After exiting the swim, we ran underneath showers to get the salt water off and then up a steep ramp over part of the bike course and up another steep hill to get to transition. There I opted against trying to put on arm warmers as I was still in “make up time” mode and just wanted to get riding. The bike was a 3 loop course of 40KM, which I really liked, long enough to not be boring, but looped so you knew what was coming. I pulled out of transition right behind PRO Canadian Jasper Blake, who I know from my hometown, heading out on his second lap of the bike. I cheered for him and managed to stay with Jasper for about 2 seconds before he was long gone!

The bike course was amazing. There was a very strong headwind on the way out but that meant a very strong tailwind on the way back, which was the way to have it. The course looped around a small fishing village by the ocean, and allowed for some fantastic sights of Danish countryside. Although there were a few Canadians and others who flatted out on the course, I managed to steer clear of any trouble. Overall I felt pretty strong and consistent on the bike, and couldn’t believe how fast the KM markers were flying by. I was still passed by a few girls and went slower than my goal. However, I finished off the bike in 3:48 and was in a great position to start the run, my favourite and strongest discipline.

All I wanted to do all week was run. I could feel that the taper had worked and I was going to run fast! I flew out of T2 wearing KINESYS SUNSCREEN (as it was getting quite warm out compared to earlier in the week) and my PUMA HERA COMPLETES feeling great and ready to chase! I didn’t have to wait very long as I began passing people right away! The run course was absolutely amazing. Fredericia is a very historic town that used to be protected by a grass wall and a moat. We got to run up on the grass wall including the Bastions or lookout points that oversee various parts of the city and ocean. After veering into a park area around some soccer pitches and back, the run course hit one of the main cobblestone pedestrian streets in the city and back around towards the finish area where you got a necklace if you were looping (yellow, blue or red, depending on your lap number) or got to cross the finish line if you were done. This was an improvement over past races as now we could tell by looking at the necklaces who was on our loop. I felt great for the first 3 laps and was holding between 4:30-4:57 KM pace. I was passing a number of male and female competitors looking strong, and also passing girls in my age group more importantly. I was hoping that my final lap would be my personal victory lap, and I would feel no pain. Boy was I wrong. I was surviving (although slower than previous laps) until we had to run under this longish dark bridge just before an aid station with 1 KM to go to the loop or finish. I was running under the bridge, with just over a KM left when the dark made me feel dizzy and lightheaded. That scared me a little bit as I thought I might pass out and the medical staff would pull me off the course. So I thought that even though I had such a short distance left, I had better get some calories in me, as I would be absolutely devastated to not finish after coming this far. I grabbed a coke from the aid station and although I had never used coke in training before, it was the best coke I had ever tasted in my life! It certainly helped right away, but my spirits were dampened very quickly as a girl in my age group from Great Britain passed me. I thought I had blown it at that point. I ended up with a 2:27 run, which put me at 7 hours and 10 minutes to finish! I was handed a Canadian flag as I crossed the line and I was pumped, giving high fives to all the kids along the finish chute and attempting to pose for the finish photo. I had no idea at this point how well I had done. Neither my team managers Matt and Norm nor my boyfriend Kevin, who had made the trip to come cheer me on, knew where I finished in the field of women. It wouldn’t be until two hours later, after cheering on other Canadian athletes, checking out the expo and walking my bike and race gear back to the hotel that my teammates started calling me “World Champion” and congratulating me on my victory! I was pretty excited to find out that I had beaten every other woman in my age group by over 11 minutes! I also found that I had finished 11th woman overall. I didn’t believe it until they called my name and I was solidly standing high on the podium receiving my gold medal and gifts! What an indescribable feeling, I was on top of the world at that moment!

Again, I would like to thank everyone who have supported me and believed in me and sent encouraging words my way to help make this trip and race such an enormous success. I couldn’t have done it without any of you and I hope you will continue to stand by me in my future quest to see how far I can rise in this amazing sport of long course triathlon!

POSTED ON www.triathloncanada.com

In the age-group category, Canada continued its domination on the women’s side by finishing with 5 world championship medals. Top finisher Linnea Humphrey of Toronto, ON won the women’s age-group race overall, in the process claiming the gold medal in the 35-39 age group category. Jenn Turner, also from Toronto, ON improved upon her silver medal from the Säter race in 2004, winning the 25-29 age category and claiming Canada’s second world age-group championship that day. Bronze medals went to Lina Augaitis of Vancouver BC, in the 25-29 category, Cheryl Lynch of Vancouver, BC in the 40-44 category, and Beverly Dunne of Calgary, AB in the 45-49 category.

Another 7 age-groupers managed to place in the top ten in their respective age groups. Canadians definitely were a force to be reckoned with in these Long Distance World Championships. Congratulations to all athletes, and a very sincere thank you to Team Leaders Matt Richardson and Norm O’Reilly for all of their hard work.

PHOTOS FROM THE RACE: