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Balmoral Club Member Mark Norman Reports on the Budapest Triathlon World Championship in late 2010

18/01/2011 6:14:23 AM

Balmoral Triathlon Club Member Mark Norman raced in the ITU triathlon world championship in Budapest in September. He was our sole representative. The previous year Balmoral had 14 members racing in the world champs albeit in a much more convenient location on the Gold Coast. Mark put together a report for the club on his race.

 

"Budapest prides itself on a number of things, mostly with good cause, but one of them was the supposed ideal weather conditions around the time of the World Champs in mid-September. Well, it was absolutely teeming it down when I arrived on the Thursday before race day, having had a leisurely meander across Southern Germany, with no end in sight. We had decided not to stay at the team hotel so my first contact with the rest of the Aussie contingent was at the team briefing on Friday morning . There were loads of us. In fact, only the Brits and Hungarians had a larger contingent as far as I could tell which, given the travel and time of year, was pretty impressive. The talk at the team meeting; the weather, the state of Budapest roads and, most of all, the water temperature. No-one was buying the official line that it was 16 degrees; more like 12/13 apparently!

Transition/registration was about 5k out of the centre which proved pretty inconvenient but was clearly unavoidable. Saturday saw the sprints and the men's elite. It looked like the sprint guys had a pretty rough time of it - appalling weather and very little public interest. The word was though that the course was fast, very fast. The men's elite took place in the afternoon by which time the rain had relented and the crowds appeared. Given my antecedents and dual nationality, the run battle at one point between Karlfeldt and Brownlee was a "win/win". The multi-looped nature of the run course through the city, which we would use, was certainly crowd friendly - a bit like the elite twilight run at Noosa.

Sunday - race day - dawned to grey skies but no rain and absolutely no wind. An early arrival at transition proved a blessing as I realised I had forgotten my aero water bottle - some frantic calls and taxi ride later from the "support team" - 20 friends and family had come over from the UK to cheer for an Aussie through gritted teeth - solved the crisis and probably had some benefit as my frustration at my own stupidity meant that I forgot about the usual pre race nerves/tension.

The race itself. A pontoon start for the 135 or so in my age group. The assessments were right - the water was seriously cold! One guy next to me dived in and promptly turned around - race over in under 10 secs! He was not the only one. Once I had overcome the shock I managed to get into a good rhythm and found myself leading the second pack around the first buoy which I held from then on, exiting the water in just 20.30 and in 23rd place and 2nd Aussie. Transition was hugely reminiscent of Port Ironman back in April - thick mud everywhere. On to the bike. The sprint guys were right. It was seriously fast. Hot tar road surface, no wind and no elevation meant it was a case of getting into the biggest gear possible and working around 85 rpm. At mid-point I had dropped a place but was jockeying with the second Aussie (Campbell Dawson from BRATS) and an American. Jockeying a bit too close apparently. At about the 25k mark I had the dreaded whistle. Clearly a case of being hard done by, I was about 5 meters behind and it was just my turn to be at the back of the three of us but, heh, what I could do? [Don't we all say that?]. The 2 mins in the penalty box crawled by, whilst about 20 or so in my age group went by.

The run involved a 5 k flat section along the Danube followed by 2 x 2.5k loops of the elite course, and spectators; lots of spectators, including the Aussies, who were awesome. It was a great feeling, being cheered along by so many people, including about 20 friends and family who had come out from the UK.

I came in 54th - around 35th if I "adjust" for the penalty in 2.06.29 (2.04.29 as far as I am concerned!!]. The bike was a bit short - the official distance was 39k - but the transitions were hugely long for an Olympic race (and more like a cross-country race).

I think that I was only BTC member racing. Next year - Beijing - you should give it a go - it's great experience."

By: Mark Norman

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Mark Norman Race Report ITU Triathlon World Championship