Today was the final race of our local short course triathlon series. The series starts in December and is made up of three Sprint distance triathlons, one Olympic Distance and today's funny 1/28/8 race. As well as racing each event, people also compete across the series, vying for title of series champion in each age group. Winning the series requires consistent performance across at least 5 months. It is not an easy thing to do and winning the title is quite an achievement.
For me most of today was spent spectating at the triathlon. I realised afterwards that I spent about 7 hours down there, which is nearly a full day of work. Certainly enough time to have knocked off a Half Ironman. Oh well, such is the nature of these events. Despite the day being long it was a lot of fun.
With Busso looming the Front Runner contingent at the race was pretty small today, but still very keen. For me personally I had three athletes competing, each with different goals in mind.
The first of my athletes is preparing for Busso and so for her this was a training race, a good chance to spend some time practicing skills like open water swimming, transitions, pacing etc. The next of my athletes is pretty new to triathlon and for her this was a bit of a challenge, the longest race she has ever done. She would like to complete an Olympic Distance triathlon next season and so for her today was about taking on the challenge of distance and over coming. The last of my athletes today was a young man who has taken to triathlon like a duck to water this season. This is his first season of racing and so far he has been on the podium in every event, making it to the top step twice. For him today was all about closing out the season and if possible closing out a series victory.
I am very happy to say that all the athletes achieved these goals.
Particularly impressive was Josh who as well as doing triathlon is a very accomplished Motocross racer (triathlon is his off season activity). Josh crashed badly in a Motocross event a couple of weeks ago and despite nursing a few injuries came down today and still managed to take the win in his age group. The win saw him easily take the series which was a pretty proud moment for me (him too).
With the series done the season has come to an end for these guys. They now have a couple of easy weeks to relax before we sit down and have a chat about the off season and next season. It is a rest they certainly deserve.
While the season is winding down for these guys, for a bunch of others it is just starting to get exciting as we enter the last few weeks before Busso. The next few weeks are going to be busy ones, but I am sure they will end with a bunch more proud coach moments.
No comments:
Post a Comment