World Triathlon Championships, Canada – Cian Guilfoyle

So finally I have a chance to sit down and write this after a mad few weeks trying to get back into the rhythm of school, study, training etc after the Age Group Worlds in Edmonton.

I have mixed emotions writing this, on one hand it was an awesome experience and an honour, racing in a green trisuit, the buzz from a race that big is amazing. On the other hand I am still pretty disappointed as I feel I couldn’t and didn’t give 100% out on the course.

After arriving in California at the end of July for a family holiday (training camp really, they didn’t know that though) I had just under a month of training, which was great… Smooth roads, outdoor pools, sunny and 28 degrees every day, can’t beat it. I raced the tri Santa Cruz sprint on the 10th of August, which was a very cool experience. Everyone is so friendly, the races are very professionally run, good fun. I ended up running my best race yet, taking 2nd U19 and 6th overall, taking two minutes off my previous PB (and rewarded with throwing up as I crossed the line!). I was seriously pleased and it was a good confidence boost going into the worlds.

After another few weeks of training/holidaying, I headed up to Edmonton, raring to go. Arriving in on the Wednesday, it was all go to get ready for a 9.30am start on Friday morning. Wednesday was spent getting my bike and gear ready and registering. It was an early start on Thursday for a quick spin on the bike course, which was pretty much all closed motorways with some decent hills. Next up was getting bikes into transition and kit check, followed by swim familiarisation. Once that was all done it was time for the opening ceremony, which was cool with thousands of athletes and some fighter jet flyovers. Then it was dinner and bed, I felt ready and better prepared than ever.

Race morning came and I woke up at 6, excited and feeling fresh. After breakfast it was into a taxi and off to the race site to set up my transition. Everything was going to plan, so far. At 9 I headed over to the swim start to warm up and wait in the start pen. I usually get pretty bad pre-race nerves just before the swim, but I was only nervous for 10 minutes and then they just went away, and I felt seriously calm as we were led out of the pen by bag pipers and onto the beach. With 80 16-19 boys lined up and ready to go, it was an odd feeling being there… My main focus for the last sixth months and it was about to start.

Once the gun went it was a 4 step run into the water, and 2 packs developed quickly either side of the course, once I chose which one I wanted to swim with, I got into the middle if it and finally settled into a rhythm, after a very fast first 200m. I made a lot of places at the turning marks and kept overtaking people in the last few hundred meters up to the exit. I was really pleased with my swim up until the exit, and was on track for a sub 11 minute, which considering the course, I would have been pleased with. Then it went downhill, pretty fast! Up the exit ramps, there were fences to guide swimmers out of the water, but these stretched under the water. As I took my first step up to come out of the water, I was shoved form behind accidentally and went flying into one of the fences. This left me pretty badly winded, and trying to recover on the beach and make the 300m run to transition, on which a large number of people passed me, as I was trying to recover my breath. Not a nice feeling seeing 20 or so pass you just on the chute after a good swim.

Into T1 my head was all over the place after what had happened and I struggled to find my bike and then sort myself out. Upon exiting transition, the start of the bike was a decent 300m climb, which didn’t help matters! After being passed a few more times on the climb, I finally managed to relax and start to try and breath normally again. The bike course was awesome, 2 10km loops of closed motorway… some serious speed was thrown down. (My bike computer packed it in at 1km, but I paced a guy on a downhill, and he says he was clocking 75ish km/h, so fast enough). I started over-taking on the bike after a few km, which felt good, after a not so great first half of the race.

Into T2 I felt pretty pretty decent and out onto the run (which was half trail/half road) I was happy with my pace for the first kilometre, but it all started to fall apart after that. I couldn’t get my breathing right and was suffering big time. I was swiftly overtaken by quite a few guys, which was not a pleasant feeling. I tried to pace off a pack as they passed me but couldn’t hold on after a kilometre. I was hurting worse than I ever had before in a race. After the painful 5km, the finishing chute came into sight. I pushed hard as I could for the last few hundred meters, and coming into the chute I had a bit of a sprint finish with an Ozzie, surrounded by the grandstand and hundreds of cheering people which was a pretty special feeling. I was just pleased to have even finished in the end! I looked under my trisuit after I finished and was greeted with a decent bruise/cut all the way across my chest, so at least I had proof!!

After only joining Pules in November 2013 and starting to train properly then, I would have never imagined I would be at a World champs 10 months later, so in that sense I am really pleased with myself and grateful for just being there. But I did feel like I gave nowhere near a 100% performance which is pretty disappointing, clocking my worst time in a race ever (10+ minutes slower than my PB) along with my worst run split. It almost feels like I am making an excuse for a bad performance but I know that what happened on the swim was the reason for such a poor performance, but thats racing, these things happen and there nothing anyone can do about it, its the game we are in! The race was great experience and I will take away a lot from it, and will be a better triathlete for it.

9 races, a fair few hundred km in the car to and from said races, a podium finish or two, 1 crash, 1 hospital visit post crash, many early mornings, and a lot of chlorine later my first season of triathlon is nearly over, just one more race to go.

I would first like to thank all at Cycleways, Runways, Spin 11 and Westpark Fitness for the continued support this season, it has really been a huge help. I would like to thank all you guys in Pulse, a great bunch to train and race with! A special thanks to fellow pulser Lizanne Barnwell for all the help at the worlds and in the lead up. My biggest thanks has to go to Darren Hughes, for all the help, advice and support that he has given me since I joined, from training plans to answering endless questions to just being at the end of the phone offering words of wisdom! I wouldn’t be where I am now without Dazz’s help.

I am excited by what next season will hold, and can undoubtedly say that I am addicted! Im looking forward to getting back training properly over the coming weeks and months and into next year and to start racing again. I just have to get the leaving cert out of the way first……