Race Report: Vancouver Half – Impeccable Aiming

Date/Time: July 3, 2011, 6:30 am
Weather: 15ish, clear Distance: Half IM
Gun time: 5:11:11
Swim: 41:51 (2:13 per 100m pace)
T1: 2:45
Bike: 2:52:37 (31.3 km/hr)
T2: 1:03
Run: 1:32:57 (4:38 per km)
Age Group: 14/27
Overall: 82/227

You’ve probably heard by now that I had a pretty unsightly crash during Vancouver Half-IM.

Yes, I have had better races. Yes, I could have just called it quits. Yes, I was lucky to escape with only flesh wounds.

And yes, it was partly my fault for flirting with the line a bit too much, when all of a sudden then a cone had hit-on me.

Before I knew it, my front tire took flight and I had lost control of my bike and instantly met the kind asphalt arriving at 33 km/hr. I’ll spare you the visuals, since the wounds look a lot worst than they actually are ;).

I only have my impeccable aiming to blame. Had I hit the cone half-assed I might had had a fighting chance to keep my balance.

But that little warrior inside me just told me to just keep going - and keep going I did. Wasted no more than 2 seconds to hop back onto my bike. My mission was to not just finish, but finish strong. I just wanted to say I’m alright and smiling, despite the bloody mess. In fact, smiling really helped keep the sting away.

But honestly, it felt like the cones on the bike course were so poorly positioned and excessive; some had lie even within a foot inside of the biking lane. The cone that really caught me by surprised was when the two-lane road merged into a single-lane with a bike lane. Traffic was still divided from cars and hence the cone that I hit was placed in the middle of the single lane. No lines to keep me on route during the merge. =(

Unfortunately this had occurred on the first of four laps and I still had to brute the next three laps on the bike. Second lap I just hammered up Jericho hill on my big gear, something I would never do during a race. Just in shock for this lap. I managed to settle in on the last two laps.

On the run, I didn’t try to push the pace too much and just focused on good technique. Overall I was pleased to finish. =)



Once again, big thanks goes to my dad for these awesome action shots.