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 As we countdown to the Olympics, Orca has asked the athletes it sponsors who have qualified for the Olympics to give us an insight into what life is like as they prepare for the sports event of a lifetime.
July 18, 2008
Kris Gemmell - New Zealand
40 days and counting…
In the weekend I raced in the third round of the French grand prix in Beauvias, which is just out of Paris.
There were 10 guys on the start line that were off to Beijing in 5 and half weeks, and some of which “I’ll” say are the hitters of our sport. My training has been going really well up here in Font Romeu so I was looking to hit out. Both myself and my coach knew this would be a good race to test me out. And the fact it was a really strong field was an even better gauge.
In the past my biggest struggle when racing directly from altitude was my running speed. So the real test for me was - could I follow anyone that went off the front of the race especially at the start of the run!
My swim start was great and I got off the line well. I found some really good guys to follow and was sitting nicely. But at about half way through the 750 meters I got a nice square kick to the face. Nothing was damaged thank God!!, but it caused me too lose the feet I was on as I re-adjusted my goggles. I then ended up too wide around the 1st buoy and went from swimming in the top 5 to exiting the water around 20th or so. This is triathlon!!
If there is one thing I’ve learnt in these situations it’s “do not panic!”.. I just say to myself quietly you’ll have to ride harder those first few km’s. I leaped on to my Avanti and rode directly towards the front. After a Km or so I was in the front group and leading up the first climb. I felt great the whole time on the bike and was able to follow all the attacks by others.
Of course the real show was yet to come, the run! The first few km’s were really fast. Former world champion Tim Don set the pace and is no doubt one of the fastest guys over the first few km’s in our sport. I tried to hang on with Tim and we cleared out very early in the run. I was on my limit early on to follow Tim. But we formed a nice gap on the rest after the halfway point. At about 3k Tim started to tire a bit so I moved to the front and took the lead. As I pushed to the front a gap opened back to Tim and the others. I felt good at this point and had a lot of control at this stage of the race - which was a great sign! With about a Km to go to the finish I could hear someone bridging up to me from behind. It was Alastair Brownlee another guy heading to Beijing. We ran the next 500 meters together until I started to sprint to the line. I managed to hold him out just as I did last year when I won the World Cup race in Rhodes, Greece.
From a personal stand point the race was exactly what I was after heading into Beijing. It confirmed again that I’m on the right track. And even ahead of where we hoped we would be at this time.
I’m now back in my training haunt Font Romeu for my last two weeks of altitude. I’ll then race in my second World Cup of the year in Kitzbuhel on the 20th of July. So until then enjoy those wintery days….
Kris
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