Sprint o

The weather in Italy seems to follow the same pattern, clear and sunny in the morning, rainy in the afternoon. Yet on the day of the sprint the sun kept on shining. In the afternoon heat we all set out for the jwoc sprint. It had been a tense morning. Waking up at 8am, and not racing till after 3pm leaves you a lot of time to think about a race, making the first racing even more daunting. Jourdan and Angela managed to conquer most of the course, coming through with the best results for the NZ team, Angela in 22nd and Jourdan in 40th. No mean feat given the technical nature of the course with winding cobblestone roads, shoulder-width alleyways, and plenty of locals watching. While nobody seemed to come close to the mythical ‘perfect run’ that we all strive for, we all had an amazing day. The Italians put on an amazing event today and set the tone for an awesome week. The Swiss especially were on fire and ran some really impressive times. For the guys, we could only see a time of about 15.50 if we had been perfect. The course required so much concentration and very strict speed control. Most of us had mistakes at the speed change moments, either from the fast streets and fields into the tight alleys or vice versa. The Course setting also made planning ahead very difficult on the course. The tight portions required full concentration and put huge pressure on the start of the leg.

And man we can’t wait for the long!!!

Andrew