BlogJune 18, 2009 Escape from Alcatraz follow up It's now Wednesday and the 2009 Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon was only three days ago! I'm so excited with having placed 8th in the event and I think it was a big step in the right direction for me as a short-course athlete. Andy Potts won the race overall, he was quite dominating! The race began with the athletes jumping off a boat into fairly rough water about 2 miles away from the San Francisco shoreline. I had a terrible start as my number ranking stuck me right next to the pro women. I made a mistake and jumped off the boat as I was hoping to not lose my goggles, while all the top swimmers dove when the gun fired. This left me in the middle of many pink caps (pro women) with nowhere to go. I missed the split, and ended up exiting the water 2 minutes back of where I had hoped. Alcatraz was slow this year as the currents weren't favorable, this made the swim 31 minutes for the leader. In the past, it had been under twenty minutes at times... Out of the water I knew I was in trouble, but hoped that a good bike could help me get back into the race! I rode hard, passing maybe 20 guys. I ended up having the third best bike of the day behind Potts and Thompson, which made me pretty happy as this is fairly difficult to do coming from behind. Anyone who has done Alcatraz knows the narrow, steep, and windy roads can become very congested! Off the bike I heard I was in 9th! Out running I knew that 9th place would be good for a payday but I hoped to do better. I passed one runner and ran up to Olympian Victor Plata's shoulder. He's such a good runner and was showing a lot of strength over this very challenging 8 mile run course. Victor held strong and pulled away from me a little on the sand ladder. I could see him all the way to the finish but couldn't re-catch him or the other two guys just a few seconds in front of me! 8th was my finish, but 5th was so close, and in looking at the splits my normal swim would have put me in 3rd or 4th at the finish... In a way I feel like I missed out on an opportunity and a huge prize check, but another part of me is very happy with my 8th place. So for now, I'm going to enjoy this, and figure out how to do a little better and get on that podium! Thanks for reading, see everyone at the San Jose Pro Challenge this weekend! Cheers, Lewis « Back to Blogs |
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