Post Race Thoughts

It's now been 10 days since the race. Elaine and I have since wandered around London and holidayed in Iceland. The break has been fantastic (Elaine keeps telling me special time outs with loved ones is very important).

Sipping wine in a cafe at Heathrow (with free WiFi) waiting for our plane departure back to Melbourne, it is probably a good time to reflect back upon the race and the event as a whole. I've already documented some of my race leadup issues in previous blog posts, so I won't bore you with these again. And other than frustration with one particular travel company (that supposedly looks after triathletes), there were really no other issues.

I glossed over it in my original race report, but the support during the race was unbelievable. It was pouring rain to the level of almost nil visibility, but still most of the course was lined by spectators. On the bike I couldn't really discern individual supporters, but I could definitely hear chants of 'Go Aussie !!!', and I continually heard it from a large percentage of the course. Once on the run the rain had eased a bit and I could actually see the Australian supporters cheering me on. I didn't know any of them, but seeing me in the Australian uniform was enough to send them off on a cheer louder than any other country. We have our surnames on our uniforms and numerous supporters yelled 'Go McNamara !!!' or just 'Go Macca !!!'. I don't think it was any coincidence that this was my fastest ever run off the bike. In fact the areas of the run where the support was strongest was where I was quickest. With so many people cheering you on, it is almost impossible not to go faster.

My race report contained a detailed account of my event. In summary, the swim went OK, the bike leg was significantly limited by the conditions and my run leg was excellent (possibly aided by the slower bike leg) - I finished 25th in my age group and 2nd Aussie in my age group. I believe perfect bike conditions would have seen me jump around 10 positions (ie. 15th place) and if I had of been able to hold the good draft on the swim it would have given me an extra 5 places and scored me a 10 top and most probably first Aussie (both of which were my pre-race aims). With the dust now settled, I'm pretty happy with my efforts. I may have been pushed off the good toes in the swim, but I didn't panic, my swim time was still reasonable and I used almost no energy. I held back a lot on the bike, especially the first lap, but I finished the race without crashing. Reports I've heard are over 50 competitors crashed and 20 ended up in hospital. So I think my caution was well warranted. And of course finally we are left with my best ever run off the bike. The main focus of my pre-race training was the run and I always had a target of a sub 19 minute run. There were plenty of times I thought this target may have been ludricous, but I kept faith in my training and the result happened. Overall I'm very happy and now very excited about what the rest of the season holds.