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{"ID":99,"SpaceID":5,"PageID":46,"HasCommentsThread":false,"SeoTags":{"OpenGraphTags":[{"ID":"og:title","Name":"ITU Sprint Triathlon World Championships - Hamburg Pt 1"},{"ID":"og:type","Name":"website"},{"ID":"og:url","Name":"https://www.petersfieldtriathlonclub.co.uk/Cms/Spaces/NA2/ITU+Sprint+Triathlon+World+Championships++Hamburg+Pt+1"}],"NonOpenGraphTags":[]},"Path":"ITU+Sprint+Triathlon+World+Championships++Hamburg+Pt+1","Title":"ITU Sprint Triathlon World Championships - Hamburg Pt 1","Author":{"ID":4,"Name":"Fred McCaig","CompanyName":null,"HasEmail":true},"Version":1,"IsDraft":false,"IsOldVersion":false,"PublicationDate":"25/02/2024 14:18","VersionDescription":"v1 - Fred McCaig","HideHeader":false,"IsFullWidth":false,"ThemeCode":null,"BackgroundColour":"rgb(182, 47, 61)","JumpLinks":[],"Blocks":[{"Columns":[{"Width":8,"WidthClasses":"col-md-8 col-sm-12 col-xs-12","Elements":[{"ID":556,"Type":"HTML","Content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eThe season is really hotting up now as we get towards the business end and dive back in to some top level age\u0026nbsp; group racing at\u0026nbsp; the ITU Sprint Distance World Championships in Hamburg! In this part 1 we join Leighton Jones for a round up of his slightly eventful race, advanced warning for those of a squeamish disposition, you may want to look away now...\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eThe Intro\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eYears of training, lots of qualifying events, 2 world champs qualified for that I couldn’t do (1 covid and another due to baby), a years worth of training, an expensive trip for me and family to Hamburg, a rubbish and stressful day of travel with delays and traffic jams in Hamburg. All in the past and I’m finally in the start pen for my first age group world champs! Wooohooooooo! Walk down onto the pontoon and we all jump in for a quick 2-3 minute warm up before the deep water start 20m or so out. I take a leisurely jump into the (I assumed) deep water, hit something with my foot and then start swimming out. Realise it feels a bit more painful than I first thought roll over on my back and have a quick look to see a gaping gash on the side of my foot with blood pouring out. D’oh!. Swim back to the pontoon and up a ladder (basically knocking some poor chap off that was coming down) to find an official and run up and down the pontoon like a crazy person looking for a medic leaving a trail of blood behind me. No medic on at the start and the official says there is one at T1 and we have 30 seconds to the start. Any other race and I think I would have called it a day there but all that effort and outlay and I’m fucked if Im not at least doing the bloody swim. So in I jump, pain wasn’t too bad at that point, so a few strokes of warm up, line up at the far end of the start line to give myself some space, the buzzer sounds and we’re off!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eThe Swim \u0026 T1\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eTried to not go to hard off the start but have a decent first 50m and was in fairly good position. Get to a bout 100m and my usual mini panic attack starts as the breathing gets laboured and the ancient chimp part of my brain starts asking what the hell we are doing in the water with loads of people that could pin me down and feeling short of breath. I’m getting more used to it now and I know I can see it out, as uncomfortable as it feels, by slowing the pace a bit and letting the breathing slow back down. This works, but unfortunately sees me slip back in the pack as the pace drops off until everything settles down. Once its settled I get back into a good grove and start to pass people, focused on keeping good form and pushing hard at the back of the stroke as Id planned and made some good progress. The swim course in Hamburg is really nice and has a tunnel under a road in the last couple of hundred metres. There is a bit of a funnel into this and the guy on my right decided to head straight for the left hand side leaving me nowhere to go. We bumped into each other for 25m or so as I tried to move him off to the right and he finally seemed to get the picture and give me a bit of space into the tunnel. The tunnel was a really strange experience, there were lights in there so whilst breathing you could see ok, but when you turned your head back into the water it was absolutely pitch black, a bit strange but quite fun. Coming out of the tunnel we headed up the exit where I could hear officials at the swim exit shouting at me. For a minute I thought I had a penalty or something, I turned round and they were pointing at some medics that I’d run straight past. I quickly doubled back and presented them with my foot…\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eMedic: This needs some stitches\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eMe: Yeah yeah ok, just put some wrap on it to keep it together so I can run on it. \u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eMedic: (Clearly feeling like I’m not taking him seriously) No, no, no, you must get stitches today\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eMe: Ok, have you got some wrap though\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eMedic: Yes yes, well get it wrapped up for you, but you must get it stitched at the hospital today\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eThey did a great job to be fair, the difference between my watch and the official swim exit time (which was just after where the medics were) was about 90 seconds and they put a dressing on and a bandage and tied It off. It came undone about 10 steps later but I stopped and tied it up and it stayed on through the ridiculously long transition area. And I mean crazy long, 4 minutes to get through it, most of that pushing the bike (running in bike shoes would be a BIG disadvantage here!). Not helped by finding someone had put their wetsuit in my transition box confusing me for a few seconds. Anyways, a long run out which the bandage stayed on for and it didn’t look too bad so off over the mount line I went…\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eThe bike and T2\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eQuick flying mount and then managed to wiggle my bandaged foot into the bike shoe ok and then off we go. The foot didn’t really feel too painful at all at this point and I could bike just fine. The big problem with the delay at swim exit was that the pack I was swimming with were long gone and there were less people to work with on the bike. Quickly caught a Mexican guy and we settled into swapping off turns for half a lap or so of the 2 lap bike course and catching a few people on the way. About halfway round the first lap we got caught by a faster group and we tagged onto the back. The pace was high so I was happy to sit near the back of the pack and recover through the 2\u003csup\u003end\u003c/sup\u003e\nhalf of lap 1. At the turn point most of the pack peeled off for transition at which point I realised they must have been an earlier age group on their second lap. The turn point was a bit tighter than I was ready for and had a sketchy moment as the rear wheel locked on the smooth surface and had to go quite deep into the corner before I could make the turn, felt like a bit of a numpty there… Anyways, this left me and the Mexican guy who came past me with something like “lets go go go” to which I nodded and off we set to try and catch some more people up. We traded turns until the slight uphill part of the course where I turned around and realised Id dropped him on the climb. I caught an American at the top of the hill but he didn’t seem interested in trading turns so I pushed on and rode most of the 2\u003csup\u003end\u003c/sup\u003e\nhalf of the lap solo, not ideal. My legs weren’t really feeling great and I didn’t feel I could really put the power on I would have expected. It was at this point I noticed that my blue bike shoe definitely had a red tinge developing and it was clear that the bleeding hadn’t really slowed down with the bandage on. Bit of a worry but still didn’t hurt that much, so into T2 and a slow dismount as I didn’t want to land on the foot too hard. Quick run with the bike to my shoes where again some git had put their bike helmet in my bike box. The official was right there and told me I had to use another box as that one was clearly someone else’s (bloody cheek!). Got that sorted and had a look at the bandage which was now basically fully soaked in blood, but thought what the hell, Ive come this far now. Managed to get my shoes over the bandaged foot (thank you elastic laces) and set off on the run.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eThe run\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eAmazingly my run legs felt pretty good at the start of the run, pace was about where I wanted and was able to push on pretty well (maybe due to the poor bike legs that meant I didn’t ruin my legs too much?). The foot didn’t really hurt too much, except turning left where it seemed to rub somewhere and hurt a lot. Managed to keep a decent pace for the first couple of k’s and settled in quite well, saw the family cheering me on which gave me a boost. Managed to pass a few people and didn’t really get passed (unusual for me on the run!). About this point I realised I could feel blood sloshing around in my shoe so had a quick look down and saw blood actually foaming out the side of my shoe (I didn’t know blood could foam like that!). Turned around to look behind and could see a trail of blood following me down the run course and also noted the other shoe was getting red from blood splatter from the injured foot. This was when I started to think the cut might be a little worse than I had hoped, but at this point the quickest way to get back to some help was to get to the finish so I pushed on. Had a bit of a battle with a couple of Austrians and the same Mexican guy over the last couple of K but was starting to feel a bit ropey and had to let them go. Saw the family at the finish chute which was great and a great finish down the blue carpet right through where the Elites finish with loads of fans cheering us in.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eThe afterwards\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eLooked for a medic at the finish but unbelievably there were none to be found. Bumped into a couple of other GB athletes and told them what happened, they had a quick look at my shoe and decided they would help me find a medic asap. Fortunately the family found me so they knew what was going on but with 2 young kids the wife had to head off and take them home. Walked down to the swim start and found a medic there who had a quick look and took me straight down to the medical centre they had setup. I gingerly removed the shoe and they cut the bandage off to have a look. Fortunately one of the GB guys spoke fluent German so could help translate, but basically they wanted to take me to the hospital in an ambulance straight away to get it stitched up. So, cut a long story short, 5 hours in a German hospital getting x rays (they were worried Id chipped some bone off) and getting stitches (4 in 1 cut and 2 in another) and I limped off to get a 120 euro taxi ride back to our accommodation outside the city. \u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eFinal results, 70\u003csup\u003eth\u003c/sup\u003e out of 92. A bit disappointing, but just to finish felt like a real achievement after nearly not being able to start. Using my very scientific calculations based on where I came out of the swim and the pace of others there + my run split and I reckon I could have been 45\u003csup\u003eth\u003c/sup\u003e ish without having to stop to get the foot looked at. Hopefully Ill get a chance at another one and can give a better account of myself. Next qualifier is Bournemouth in September, stitches come out in 10 days so plenty of time to hit the training hard again…\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","ContentConfig":{"Caption":null,"Icon":null,"IconColour":null,"CaptionColour":null,"UnderlineColour":null,"TextColour":null,"FontSize":null,"LineHeight":null,"RequiresLoggedInUser":false,"BottomMargin":0,"PaddingLeft":"0px","PaddingTop":"0px","PaddingRight":"0px","PaddingBottom":"0px","PhoneVisible":true,"TabletVisible":true,"DesktopVisible":true,"CssClass":null,"PageLinkName":null,"PageLinkCaption":null},"ComponentCode":null,"ComponentError":null,"BottomMargin":"0px","PaddingLeft":"0px","PaddingTop":"0px","PaddingRight":"0px","PaddingBottom":"0px","CssClass":null,"ResponsiveClasses":"","PageLinkName":null,"PageLinkCaption":null,"Background":{"Colour":null,"ImageURL":null,"Filter":null,"IsParallax":false,"Image":"","Tint":""},"ImageConfig":{"ImageURL":null,"ObjectFit":"contain","ImageHeight":null,"FrameStyle":null,"BorderRadius":null,"Caption":{"IsActive":false,"Text":null,"SubText":null,"Font":{"Size":null,"Colour":null},"SubFont":{"Size":null,"Colour":null},"Alignment":null,"Position":null,"Margin":null,"BackgroundColour":null,"Blur":false,"Hover":false},"AltText":null,"LinkURL":null,"BottomMargin":0,"PaddingLeft":"10px","PaddingTop":"10px","PaddingRight":"10px","PaddingBottom":"10px","PhoneVisible":true,"TabletVisible":true,"DesktopVisible":true,"CssClass":null,"PageLinkName":null,"PageLinkCaption":null},"IgnoreCache":false}]},{"Width":4,"WidthClasses":"col-md-4 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