Episodes
Wednesday Sep 20, 2017
Stories from the 70.3 World Championships Part A: Lesley Maisey
Wednesday Sep 20, 2017
Wednesday Sep 20, 2017
Two of our favourite female racers both qualified for the Ironman 70.3 (Half-Ironman) World Championships in Chattanooga, Tennessee earlier this month. Our first race report comes to us from Lesley Maisey.
My second World Championships in two weeks, done. What an amazing and humbling experience this one was!
At the opening banquet the race director said he was excited about having the opportunity to design a really great and tough course for the Word Champs – and he wasn’t kidding. Every leg of it was challenging! The swim up river against the current, a very hilly bike course (with a fair bit of wind) and then a very hilly run course (in the heat) made for times much slower… than everyone’s usual times. And it meant I had to absolutely let go of the theoretical time goals I had set for myself going into the race, and just do the best I could given the conditions we were facing.
So I’m proud to say I raced as hard as I know how to, and did as well as I could have hoped for, given the incredible field of talented athletes I was racing with. Including these two amazingly strong women from BC that I got to share pre and post-race encouragement and celebration with.
It was an honour and a pleasure to get to take part in an event of this calibre and to race with such incredible athletes. I am truly humbled by the times the top finishers were able to achieve on THAT course! And it was such a pleasure to get to race exclusively with other women – the environment of mutual support and encouragement throughout the day was incredible. The locals have all been incredibly welcoming, as well, and the volunteers were wonderful. Chatenooga does a fantastic job of putting on a race!
This was my third slowest 70.3 race since I started competing (only my first two, back in 2015, were slower.) And my placement is the lowest I have ever achieved! But I will still celebrate my 6:11:18 finish time, and my 129/187 age group standing – and 1045/1433 overall for women.
I really only had three goals for myself going into this race. 1. ENJOY the experience and the privilege of racing a World Championships. 2. Challenge and push myself to race the best race I possibly can. 3. Not be the very last athlete out of the water for the day. I can happily say I accomplished all three!
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