Since we went up to altitude early january, we have been pretty full on with Andrea.
Our training has been going well and over the last few days I was looking forward to a little break.
It came when we flew to Auckland for the Halberg awards. Andrea was a nominee and finalist as the sportswoman of 2011.
She didn't win ( Valerie Adams did) but it was awesome to be up at the skycity building and to share the evening with the top sports people and the high persons of New Zealand including the Prime Minister, John Key. I really enjoyed it, it was really an honor for me to be invited with Andrea. ( Find just below a photo with the legendady All Blacks)
After the ceremony, we took the earliest flight to Melbourne in order to compete at the Geelong ITU Continental Cup. It doubled as the Australian Sprint Championships.
Three weeks ago, I raced the Doddsy International down in Wanaka ( NZL) so Geelong was my 2nd race of 2012 and it fit in really well into my training program.
I was the top ranked athlete leading into the race and it is alway something special to start with the number 1 on your arms. I was pretty relaxed and looked forward to a hard and fast race.
It's now the 4th year in a row where I am racing this early during the year in Australia and it is alway a shock to the system after many weeks of base training at a mainly slow and steady pace.
The race went well and I managed to pull away from Will Clarke ( GBR - Ranked 9th in the World) in the last 200m after an intense hour of racing.
Tony Dodds (NZ) who trained in Wanaka too during january completed the podium.
Results:
So two wins in two races, it's quite exciting but I know the hardest is in front of me and this is what I am training for...
I am now back in Christchurch and my family has arrived from France to visit us. I hope they will enjoy Christchurch and NZL as it is their first time here.
Hopefully, we won't have too many earthquakes these two weeks!
See you soon.
Laurent
Our training has been going well and over the last few days I was looking forward to a little break.
It came when we flew to Auckland for the Halberg awards. Andrea was a nominee and finalist as the sportswoman of 2011.
She didn't win ( Valerie Adams did) but it was awesome to be up at the skycity building and to share the evening with the top sports people and the high persons of New Zealand including the Prime Minister, John Key. I really enjoyed it, it was really an honor for me to be invited with Andrea. ( Find just below a photo with the legendady All Blacks)
Three weeks ago, I raced the Doddsy International down in Wanaka ( NZL) so Geelong was my 2nd race of 2012 and it fit in really well into my training program.
I was the top ranked athlete leading into the race and it is alway something special to start with the number 1 on your arms. I was pretty relaxed and looked forward to a hard and fast race.
It's now the 4th year in a row where I am racing this early during the year in Australia and it is alway a shock to the system after many weeks of base training at a mainly slow and steady pace.
The race went well and I managed to pull away from Will Clarke ( GBR - Ranked 9th in the World) in the last 200m after an intense hour of racing.
Tony Dodds (NZ) who trained in Wanaka too during january completed the podium.
Results:
- 1. Laurent Vidal FRA FR 00:55:19
- 2. William Clarke GBR GB 00:55:21
- 3. Tony Dodds NZL NZ 00:55:39
- 4. Drew Box AUS AU 00:55:41
- 5. Aaron Royle AUS AU 00:55:48
- 6. Cameron Good AUS AU 00:55:58
- 7. Chris McCormack AUS AU 00:56:06
- 8. Jamie Huggett AUS AU 00:56:07
- 9. Richard Varga SVK SK 00:56:14
- 10. Courtney Atkinson AUS AU 00:56:25
So two wins in two races, it's quite exciting but I know the hardest is in front of me and this is what I am training for...
Hopefully, we won't have too many earthquakes these two weeks!
See you soon.
Laurent
Photos are courtesy of Delly Carr.
Report of the race & full results .:. HERE .:.
