Hi everyone,After 7 weeks spent in Christchurch, I headed up to the North Island last thursday for the first race of the season, the NZ Tri Series at Takapuna Beach.
Andrea and I arrived in Auckland three days before the event, we had good times there celebrating my 26th birthday and meeting up with some friends up there.
On sunday, everything was poised for a great race: the heat, technical course, good field and a large crowd.
We started at exactly 4:55pm, I exited the water up the front but still few seconds behind the leader Dylan McNiece. The ten laps on the bike were tight & fast and reminded me how intense our sport is!
I lead the first few hundred metres on the run and stayed with the leaders until 1km to go when I dropped to 5th. With 400m to go I regained energy, surged and passed Clark Ellice and Tony Dodds.
Kris Gemmell won, Ryan Sissons grabed silver and I finally took bronze, repeating Andrea's result in the girls' race.
I hope if you watched the race live on TV1 you enjoyed it. it was a great kick off for the 2010 season, everybody is already sharp down there. It is really exciting for the upcoming big races.
I am now on my way to Wanaka for a three week altitude training camp with all the Kiwi Squad.
Sweet as! Laurent.
.:.More from the race.:.
.:.Results.:.
.:.Photos.:.
