Western Province Tri Champs and me
January 27th, 2007 by Nikola Tosic
Bellow are some of my very particular experiences with this Western Province Triathlon Championship…
Last year I wanted to do the race. I had a nice swim, felt strong, jumped on my bike, fell and almost cut my right toe off. I did not notice that it was a huge damage, just a lot of blood, and I really wanted to do the race so I went on with cycling. I was in shock. Some 20 mins later I started feeling the pain and losing power. By the end of the cycle I started shaking a bit and I had to quit the race. I had surgery immediately after. My toe was sawed back on and I spent a week swimming with a condom over my foot. I did not complete the race. Very annoying.
This year I was hoping to correct that. I was not in such a good form as last year so I decided to just take it easy. I had an easy swim, it was actually almost as fast as last year. Went out of the water and I was hoping nothing bad happens to me again. I actually reached the transition area alive. I packed up for the cycle and than I noticed my tire was punctured. I did not have a substitute with me so I had to quit the race.
However I asked the referees to let me at least do the run when the running starts. They allowed it but I felt cold so I started the run immediately. It was cool running the run course alone, before anyone else arrived. Everybody was very confused. I enjoyed it very much. Especially weird was when I started my last lap exactly when the race leaders Tim Don and Kent Horner started their first lap so most of my last lap I ran around them. Of course I could not keep up but actually I was happy they did not gain too much on me. It was my fastest lap since I was motivated to race.
Overall I had a nice swim and a good and very strange run.
I think this race definitely has a problem with me, it just wont let me do it. I wonder how many times do I have to come to South Africa to actually complete this race. And I am not superstitious but in this case I have to make an exception.
Check out the photos from the trip and the race here.
January 30th, 2007 at 12:18 am
well, at least it means you will keep coming back to SA every year to attempt the race
January 30th, 2007 at 3:44 am
I do not know.
I am still kind of pissed at this race.
I do not know if I will learn from my mistakes and stop doing races that are lower priority for me and focus 100% on training or follow the emotional path and battle this jinxed race again.
I think I learned my lesson. I will not come here again unless the race becomes more important in my racing and training plan (which is highly unlikely).