70.3 Xiamen
Well done to all the guys who raced the Xiamen triathlon today. It all started well with a fast swim but then a few upset tummies and punctures took their toll.
Jacob struggled with illness half way through the race but hung on to finish in 4:21 (5th), just ahead of Richard Brooks in 4:26 (6th) in the M35-39.
In the end it was a close race between Tritons Domingo 4:48, Thomas 4:50 and Jean-Louis in 4:51. Supha a bit unlucky with the puncture to come home in 5:06. Finally, a big shout out to Domingo who picked up a Nice 70.3 World slot in the roll-down. Bravo !
"Mission accomplished - I finished!! Unfortunately not the way I had hoped for. A 24min59sec swim (1,9km) - yes very good conditions. Started the bike very well, first hour spot on 320w whereafter it went bad. Took a gel around the 50km mark and it came up again with a bang. Took it a bit easier for the next 30min, tried again but still vomiting. Decided to drop energy for the rest of the bike, hoping that my stomach was ready for a great run race. Bike time 2hr9min, not too bad with the last 40km without energy and lower effort to please the stomach. Second in my age group heading out to the run, still a naive hope that my stomach would recover. That did not happen. 3km into the run and then it was over, more vomiting and stomach pain. To make this madness even worse I (very unlucky) vomited and hit a local police man and his uniform - I found it a bit funny - HE DID NOT! On the next lap I was pull over by two police men and they wrote down my bib number, could not understand a single word but it did not sound super positive. I really hope they will let me leave the country tomorrow. Anyway I jogged the rest of the run so I could at least finish one race in 2018. What a sick racing year!"
Jacob Wissum
