7th in Kitzbuhel World Championships Series
July 13th, 2009 by Will
Still in Austria for another 3 days and I’m already back training after a pretty good race in Kitzbuhel.  It wasn’t anything particularly special but was a good place to finish in a World Championships Series race pushing me to 10th in the World Rankings and I think, into the Gold Group of Athletes.
It was an interesting race, it started with a false start, we swam 100m and some people 200m by the time the kayaks managed to stop everyone and get us back to the start, that’s a first for me I think!  I had an average swim (still needs work) and came out the water in 22nd, I didn’t feel strong on the 2nd lap but I think that’s just the tiredness from 27hrs of training Friday to Friday before the race.
It was not a problem, everyone came together and there were about 45+ or so of us on the bike.  The weather was terrible…It was hammering it down and everyone was freezing on the bike. On the first lap I was very scared of crashing on the technical course.  It was like a river running down the course and there were a lot of sweeping bends and fast descents!  There were about 5 independent crashes in total but I wasn’t involved and managed to get myself around the course safely and onto the run feeling pretty good.
It was a strange run, I felt really good but at the same time was struggling with my breathing which is unusual.  Alistair attacked straight away and got a small lead and just kept it the whole way.  My race was more tactical then that as I wasn’t feeling full fitness still and after being 7th the whole way a dodgy Russian called Malishev caught me and went past me but I managed to hang on for the last kilometer beating him in a sprint.
The Brits did well, Alistair Brownlee won AGAIN! I was 45 behind in 7th, then two more talented Brits for the future, Johnny Brownlee in 13th and David Macnamee in about 17th.
Yesterday was a fun day, I did a swim in the morning and then hung about at the race course to watch the girls race. Â Helen did really well finishing in 5th but was a clear 2nd for 9k of the race! OUCH! Hollie and Kerry had a solid races and is continuing their roads to the Gold Coast!
Right now I am actually going to do some proper training and try to get myself some results to be proud of this year.  I have 3 days in Kitzbuhel now with my family but to be honest I’m only going to see them in the evenings as I’m off riding in the mountains every day.  Yesterday I rode a mental climb, it was just 7k but I think it averaged 13% and I didn’t really sit in my saddle the whole way up!
I look forward to racing these boys again in 5 weeks time hopefully as a different athlete.
Will
| Will Clarke @ Kitzbühel ITU World Championship Series | rubbish day |
