Bevan Docherty gives his personal account of how race day played out on the streets of Takapuna.
The media has always done their best to talk up the rivalry between myself and Kris Gemmell, but the reality is that we’re just good mates that happen to be the best two triathletes in New Zealand.
So going into the "Takapuna World Champs” (nicknamed that for the amount of coverage and excitement it brings), everyone was looking forward to the showdown between Kris and myself.
Last year was very disappointing as a flat tyre ruined my chances of a good race however, that wasn’t going to happen this year.
In true Docherty style I arrived into the country just two days before the event, and had a long list of commitments before the race. One included an appearance at the Kiwi Kids Tryathlon the morning of the race. Not the best race prep having 3000 screaming kids wanting medals but my race was at 4:50pm, so I was more than happy to support these kids in their first tri.
One of the scary thoughts that crossed my mind was that some of these kids weren’t even born when I won Silver in Athens. Now that makes me feel OLD! I had helped out at the Kiwi Kids tri a few years earlier and knew exactly what I was getting myself into, but to be honest it wasn’t as tough as you would expect. Seeing all the excitement on those kids’ faces actually raised my spirits and put me in a great state of mind…
The course in Takapuna is designed to make our sport as spectator friendly as possible, both for the thousands lining the course and for the rest of the country tuned in on the live TV coverage. I even had a microphone taped to my bike, which broadcast a live feed to the viewers at home. Very brave considering some of the stuff that comes out of my mouth during a race! It was only a short race, even less than a sprint distance, which meant I was looking at 45 minutes of pain.
The 500m swim was a beach start, and with the water being 23 degrees, it seemed like a bath compared to the water back in Santa Cruz. I intentionally got off the line a fraction late so I could cut back behind Kris and get to my favored right hand side to clear water. By 50m I was swimming comfortably in second and held that all the way through. In a swim as short as 500m, it's important to get a great start and just push the entire time. It's also important to keep pushing exiting the water and through the first transition, as the chances of a break in these tight courses are much greater, especially over such a short distance of 15km.
Sure enough, I found myself in a small break of four, with the chase group only 20 seconds off the pace. In this scenario it is important to keep in mind that they are hurting just as much as you. Also, sometimes a smaller group is faster that a large group. So for the next three laps the gap remained at about 20 seconds. I was feeling great on the bike and pushed the pace in our break. We even lost one rider as I drove hard out of the corners.
Races like this can be very tactical. You have to analyse how guys in your group feel, as well as the guys in the chase group. As the race went on, I could see that a few guys in the chase group were attacking, trying to bridge the gap up to us. This is just what I wanted, as it generally disrupts the rhythm of the group and the overall pace will drop. As soon as this happened, the gap began to open, and we knew we were away. Now it was time to start analysing Gemmell as he was my biggest threat!
I was certainly riding stronger, but do I attack now and run the risk of wrecking our overall speed, or do I just keep controlling the pace and rely on my run to come away with the win? One great thing about having the microphone on our bikes was that the viewers at home could listen into the banter and verbal encouragement we give on the bike. This is one tactic we use to drain a little more energy out of our competition.
Onto the 4km run, and from the start it was just down to Kris and I. We were running at a good pace, but I could tell Kris was holding back as was I. I was beginning to have my
doubts about winning this race! This is one of the things that is constantly going though my mind during the run, as my body starts to hurt, my mind starts playing games and
deliberates settling for a lesser result.
All the time I‘m having to bring myself around and focus on a positive outcome. I even think of whom I can do it for, like my wife or daughter. It’s these mind games that can make the
difference between a good athlete and a great athlete.
Now if you go to YouTube and you watch one of the most viewed triathlon videos, you’ll come across one of the sprint finishes between Kris and myself down at the New Plymouth World Cup. In that video, Kris goes very early and starts to fade, then I pounce and scream past him with meters to go! I have always maintained that Kris has learned from that, and you could just tell in the final stages of Takapuna that he was going to wait until the very last moment to sprint for the win. Sure enough, with only 100m to go the sprint came, I reacted, gritted my teeth and went for it as well. It was a great relief to surge in front of Kris and hold him off for the win.
Kris is a great mate and a great competitor, and to have him around and race him only brings out the best of me, as I bring out the best in him. So these friendly in country rivalries are what make us all better athletes. Also, to all the other guys in the race, unfortunately it was a bit of a Docherty-Gemmell show, and I’m sure there are many frustrated parents out there who were unable to see their kids racing on TV.
However, its great for them to key off athletes like Kris or myself as to gage where they are at in the sport.
So now I’m back into some serious training. It was great to get a win under my belt, but there is still plenty of work to be done. Here is the races schedule for this year.
Schedule for 2011
• Feb 20, Takapuna New Zealand - 1st
• March 5, Clermont Sprint Tri Florida, USA
• March 20, Miami 5150 Florida, USA
• April 10, Sydney ITU WCS Australia
• May 1, St. Anthony’s 5150 USA
• May 15, Yokohama ITU WCS Japan
• June 5, Escape from Alcatraz Tri, San Francisco, USA
• June 18, Kitzbuhel ITU WCS Austria
• July 10, Edmonton ITU WC Canada
• August 7, London ITU WCS UK
All races after this are dependent on my selection for the London Olympics.
