I’m normally the first one to take the piss out of myself, and it’s also not the first time Ash has run quicker than me. She did in both Milwaukee and Singapore recently (from memory). She is the absolute cream of women’s racing and I’m not an amazing runner. But we’re ultimately looking at two different races here.
I swam to 95% of my ability and started the ride with 8 or 9 other men. It was an hour of dick measuring, then and hour of savage attacks to reduce the pack. Four of these men with us later DNF’d, presumably because they over rode in the oppressing conditions. The two guys that ran faster than me (and Ash at that) rode much slower, they were isolated by themselves and could ride steady and conserve. The men at the front raced the bike, which ultimately determined the podium. The run just sorted out the order, and everyone else was blown to bits. I was in a bad way and running for third the first half, but I found my legs at 10km and would have negatively split the last half.
On the other hand Ashleigh (and without sounding disrespectful to others) had more or less only one other competitor in the race. They rode together with their own dynamic with some surges and attacks, but Ashleigh always had the upper hand with her run, and could ride at a more comfortable rate (about 30-5w below her bike effort at Singapore, for instance). She had a great run and wasn’t pushed, so maybe could have gone quicker. But in these conditions, best not try find out when you don’t really have to.
In the men’s race, we had quite some depth of Aussies and kiwis, and also quite a few euros come out, which is unusual, and hints at the time. The depth is insane and everyone’s desperate for points, results and income. It might take a couple more years for that depth in the women’s fields to catch up, but it’s definitely
coming. It’s an exciting era for the sport, and it’s just going to keep going to new levels in both men’s and women’s racing each year.
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