Hamburg World Championships, 2nd September 2007
Report by Tim Johns and Harry Davies
Tim: This was my first World Champs experience & couldn’t wait to get to get started on the Sunday morning at 10:20, after arriving in Hamburg on the previous Thursday. More than a 3 day build up!
I had checked the entry list at registration; in my wave there were over 130 athletes, dominated by Germans (25) & Brits (20) with a number of Americans, Ozzies, Mexicans and the odd representative from Russia, Philippines, Sweden and Ireland. My goal was to finish in the top half of the field & 10th Brit.
I arrived early to re-check my transition spot, no. 3145 & contemplated the 800m run through T1 from the end of the swim to the start of the bike. I jogged round the outside of the swim course staged within the Alster River – although within the centre of Hamburg it flows into a man made harbour. First off that morning, were the AWAD athletes (athletes with a disability) & to see them take on the swim/bike/run was both humbling & inspirational.
The 1500m swim was easier than most, we had to swim under a series of bridges, so it was easy to sight. A ‘par’ swim of 25mins was OK for me, then I ran through the town hall square & about 400m later found my bike. By the time I got to the start of the bike, I realised later that it had taken me over 4mins to negotiate T1 – not a course for fast times. The bike course was fast, a two lap affair & I tried to maintain my effort at exactly threshold rate (about 170bpm). I was tussling with a Spanish rider in the 50+ age group & a couple of Germans in my category. We had to bike up Hamburg’s own ‘mile of sin’ the Reeperbahn twice but at 11am there wasn’t much to see. What was more noticeable was the amount of drafting that was taking place. Large groups of riders were beginning to form both ahead & behind! – shouldn’t be allowed. Rob & Skip experienced the same in their race.
I eased off just before T2 & tried to psyche myself up for the 600m long transition area. At the start of the 10K the two Germans were just ahead of me & I tried to stay with them, we passed several others, including 3 Brits early on. However, this was not the way to start a 10k run. My heart rate was already at 173 bpm; I usually start at about 163 bpm & then build to 168 & hang on.
By the mid way point I had been dropped by the Germans & worse, people I passed earlier started to overtake from with about 3K to go; not a good sign - I realised then that I had paced it wrong. My quads started to burn & with about a mile to go I saw Harry in the crowd, from then on it was a bit of a blur, but lots of cheering ‘go on GB, go on, nearly there.’ Over the last 400m, the crowds were packed along the side of the road. I’ve never done a big city Marathon but would imagine the atmosphere would be the same. By the time I reached the finish line I really had nothing left & was gutted at my poor finish.
I finished 70th out of 130, not bad, but lost about 8 places in the last 3k. I’m glad I’ve qualified for Vancouver in June ’08, see if I can improve on the placing & pace the run better.
Harry: Quite an amazing experience for me, the first (and maybe the last!) in a GB shirt. I took the slow route, Hull to Rotterdam, and drove to Hamburg. The first view of the site was incredible – a sea of people, bikes, closed roads and trade stands. The organisation was the normal Teutonic high level of efficiency and smoothness. The few days pottering around were very pleasant – in fact, I saw more of Tim, Paul & John than I have ever done in the UK.
On the Saturday night, MFW, Margaret, suggested we go for a walk around the swim course, but there was an ulterior motive. My son and daughter had secretly flown out to watch me in the race. They thought the opportunity to see the old man in a GB shirt was too good to miss. Needless to say, I was delighted to have my family with me (unfortunately Elefante had a previous engagement).
As Tim has mentioned, the disabled athletes were amazing. I was nursing a very dodgy back and a chest infection, but there were disabled athletes hopping to the start, and others being assisted into the water in all ways. There were people with missing legs, arms, some with balance problems – all manner of disability – but they all coped with heart warming guts. I will never forget the diminutive Japanese-American girl with one leg who, during the swim, was slowly making her way back to the swim exit but was going so slowly and was totally submerged for such long periods that the safety canoe which was escorting her was clearly considering pulling her out. She managed to get to the exit and refused all offers of assistance to strap on her artificial leg, to make the very long trek to transition. After I had finished my race, I saw her 1 km from the finish, running, throwing forward her artificial leg, obviously exhausted, but she clearly intended to complete the race – and she did. It was incredible to see – and I will never complain about minor aches and pains again.
The race went reasonably well for me – but it was not a race for a PB.
The swim was straightforward and, as usual, I enjoyed the bike but as I have most problems on the run, my daughter walked back along the run course to greet me – and ran alongside me for a few hundred metres (oops, isn’t that illegal?!). Finishing the race was an unforgettable experience. There were crowds of people, shouting ‘Come on, GB!’ The GB team organiser had given out a list of the names and numbers of all the GB competitors. One woman, waving a Union Jack shouted, ‘Come on,……(pause to look up my number) Harry!’ We were told that the GB team organiser would hand out Union Jacks just before the finish. Not being a flag waver, I didn’t think I would be interested. However, on seeing all the Union Jacks being waved near the finish, I proudly collected my flag to cross the line. I heard my name over the tannoy and saw my time on the gantry. I finished under 3 hours, was 992nd out of 1100ish in the race, but more importantly, 65th out of 80 in my age group. As I didn’t expect to even qualify for the race in the hills of Wakefield, I was delighted.
Having abstained from alcohol for a week, I broke my fast that evening.
The next day, we went to have a look round Lübeck and on our return, there was no sign of the triathlon – everything had been very efficiently cleared away. It was quite a surreal experience, walking round Hamburg centre, wondering if I had really done the race. The photos proved I had.
Other memories:
- the German athlete, near to the end, was in tears with the pain in his ankle and stopped next to me and completely broke down. A German couple had a few words with him (my German wouldn’t have been able to cope) and after a few minutes, he carried on, limping very badly
- the athlete in my wave who only managed 100 metres of the swim before being pulled out. Seemed a long way to come for only 100m,
- getting my bike and hobbling to the transition bike exit, which seem to recede like a mirage
- the friendliness between the triathletes
9 MTC members took part - from L-R: Skip, Vikki Wade, Harry, Tim Johns, Paul Schofield, Rob Bell, John Murray, Rob Harvey, Jacqui Slack.
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