RACING » NELSON MANDELA BAY
FULL GAS
UPFRONT
BY MATT TRAUTMAN
hugely talented pro men’s field
descended on Port Elizabeth
for the IRONMAN African
Championship. With three previous race
winners, the 2nd and 3rd place finishers
from Kona 2018, and just a boatload of
talent and potential winners all round, it
was going to be anyone’s game.
My build up to the race had been
pretty solid. I’d done quite a bit of racing
towards the end of 2018 and then took
a bit of time off before building into
IRONMAN 70.3 South Africa and the
Durban Ultra. This was going to be my
third IRONMAN since my accident and
subsequent spinal fusion, and I felt that
my preparation for this one had been the
best I’d managed so far. So I was looking
forward to taking on the quality field and
testing my early season form.
Some strong easterly winds overnight
had made the sea pretty bumpy, and
the call was made to shorten the swim.
Logistically, getting the pros to swim
the full course wasn’t on the cards, so
it was an advertised 1.6km but closer
to 2km actual swim for everyone. All
things considered, the right decision was
definitely made.
There were some strong swimmers
in the field and it was always going to
be a critical point of the race for me and
everyone else. I had a decent start but
then lost contact with the main front
pack, eventually coming out the water
just over a minute behind. Keeping up my
swim pace in training and on race day,
whilst getting in the necessary bike and
run volume is a balancing act that I still
need to perfect.
With the shortened swim and a more
condensed field up front, the guys really
took off hard in the opening part of the
bike. That front pack soon split up into
two groups with a really strong bunch of
9-10 riders leading the charge. I was left
a bit in no man’s land but, after getting
caught by James Cunnama, we bridged
up to the detached second group. I’d just
gone to the front going up the Maitlands
climb before a charging Michi Weiss
came past and blew things up. James
and I hung in there for the next 20km or
so, until sense prevailed. I wasn’t racing
A
40
with power or heart rate readings, but
there was no doubt the effort was right
up at a 70.3 intensity. Post race analysis
showed that Weiss had pushed 353W for
the first 90km and still couldn’t bridge to
the front group.
I still had half-decent legs for the last
lap and felt like I was going okay when I
caught a few of the guys who had been
shelled from the lead pack. Staying
focused and motivated at this point of the
race is critical, especially when you can’t
see the front, so every catch added some
fuel and kept me pushing. But looking
back it was clear that I was bleeding time
to that lead group all the way round.
I was pretty surprised to hear I was
10 minutes back from Ben Hoffman
coming into T2. There’s no doubt about
the advantage of being in a strong pack,
but nevertheless the effort up front must
have been full gas.
As I’ve done before when a long way
behind the leader, I set out hard on the
run, with the hope of pulling off a miracle
comeback. I went through the first lap
of four in 39 minutes. If I could hold that
pace then I’d achieve a 02:36 marathon!
Haha, that was not to be. I steadily slowed
and then got deep into the hurt locker on
the last 10km, especially when running
back into the building easterly headwind
on the homestretch. I eventually made
it across the line in 8th place. It wasn’t
the result I was after, but I was no doubt
beaten by stronger guys on the day.
Ben Hoffman in particular pulled off a
phenomenal performance after an injury-
plagued 2018.
The dynamics of a race are always
different depending on the course, who’s
in the field and who you end up with. I felt
like I had a decent race despite the finish
position, so hopefully I can keep building
on this fitness and experience and pull off
a better result at Kona in October.
“THERE WAS
NO DOUBT THE
EFFORT WAS
RIGHT UP AT A
70.3 INTENSITY”