CANCUN 70.3 - ANOTHER SCORCHER

Amanda and I ventured down to Cancun, Mexico for the annual Cancun Ironman 70.3 this past weekend. It was our third time to this race in the past four years and I have always considered it a great indicator and hit out for the up coming Ironman World Championships in Hawaii.

Having been based in the drier climate of Bend, Oregon for the past two months the heat and humidity that hit us as we walked out of the airport on Friday evening was a bit of a shock to the system but one we were both looking forward to as we both love the warm weather.

Because we arrived late on Friday night it wasn't till Saturday morning I was able to get out on the bike for a spin to test the conditions. Wow! I couldn't believe how extreme the heat actually was during this one hour ride I did around part of the course. My Garmin computer on my bike was reading 38.2 degrees celsius at it's max, and I knew we were going to be in for a tough day when we lined up on Sunday morning.

Race morning dawned and it looked like we were going to be in for a mixed bag. The wind seemed to have whipped up overnight and made the Caribbean Sea slightly choppy and ominous rain clouds loomed but still the sun was out and the air was warm and humid.

I got off to a great start and shot straight to the lead in the first one hundred meters. I felt smooth and in control wearing my new BlueSeventy PZ3TX suit which is the new legalized suit approved by WTC. A Mexican athlete pulled alongside me around half way and I welcomed him to take the lead and I sat on his feet for the remainder of the swim to conserve some energy. Luke Bell and Richie Cunningham were on my tail and we all entered T1 together with a minute gap on the chase group.

The Cancun bike course is mostly flat with some very long straight-away sections so Bell and I joined forces and tried to build an advantage on the group behind. Sitting our legal 10 meters and swapping the lead every 2-3 minutes we were now stretching our lead from 1 -2 -3 minutes over the course of the 90km.

At around 15km into the ride I had my head down and I was going for it when I plowed full steam into a massive clump of dried concrete in the middle of the road. I heard an almighty "crack" sound on my bike and my heart sank as a sound like that can never be good. It took a second but then I realized the noise had been one of the seat bolts that holds my saddle on the seatpost snapping and now my saddle was rocking backwards and forwards on the rails. I was now riding in a very uncomfortable position and sitting about 3 inches back from where I usually sit which wasn't ideal. At every chance I got I would try and push my seat forward but for some reason it wasn't budging. In the end I put it out of my mind and got back to riding my bike and making sure to try and keep as far forward on my saddle as possible. Even with the saddle issues Luke and I were able to continue to gain time on the rest of the field and I led the race off the bike into T2. I was stoked with my first outing on the new Scott Plasma 3 setting the fastest bike split for the day.

Onto the run in the lead with Luke right behind I initially wasn't feeling good at all. My gluts were killing from having ridden in a totally foreign position for the past 70 odd kilometers and my lower back was a little stiff. This was not the plan! Luckily after about 3km when Luke pulled up alongside me everything began to loosen up and I fell into a more comfortable pace and stride.

Luke and I ran together for several kilometers and having built a good lead after the bike it was going to be a two horse race between to the two Aussie "Luke's" for the win. During the first of two laps the heavens opened up and the rain poured for several minutes which was a nice relief from the heat. It stopped just before we would head out onto our second lap and the instant rise in humidity hit me pretty hard. I hadn't felt heat and humidity like this since Ironman China at the beginning of the year and although I usually love these kind of racing conditions today my body was not today. I made a quick stop at an aid station to grab some ice but lost a vital 5 seconds to Luke that I would never make back up. Luke slowly began to edge away and by 14-15km I knew I was now racing to consolidate my second place. Oscar Galindez was still lurking around 3 minutes back and with 5km to run I couldn't afford to totally switch off. I just focused on holding a solid pace and made sure to keep my body in good check grabbing lot's of ice and water at each aid station. With Hawaii coming up the last thing I wanted to do was cook the body.

Luke won the race and showed he is a great champion at the 70.3 distance winning his 15th odd title. I crossed the line just under 3 minutes later in 4.02.30 happy with my days effort and another 70.3 distance podium. Oscar Galindez the great Argentine rounded out the podium another three minutes back. Capping off a great day for the Aussie's, both Michellie Jones and Kate Major took second and third in the women's race to claim 4 of the 6 podium places up for grabs!

Having some time to reflect on the race on our travels to Hawaii (yes, it's straight off to Kona for us) I was pleased with my weekend hit out and all indications show I am right where I want to be going into the Ironman in just under three weeks time. I am really looking forward to getting out on my bike on the Queen K highway on Tuesday and beginning one finally push towards the big one on October 9.

Check back soon for more pix from Cancun and some updates from Kona!

RESULTS - CANCUN IRONMAN 70.3, MEXICO. SEPTEMBER 19th 2010

1. Luke Bell AUS 3:59:46
2. Luke McKenzie AUS 4:02:30
3. Oscar Galindes ARG 4:05:20
4. Matt White AUS 4:07:33
5. Andres Latorre COL 4:08:08
6. Paul Ambrose AUS 4:10:01
7. Bruno Clerbout BEL 4:12:35
8. Bryan Rhodes NZL 4:14:53
9. Petre Vabrousek CZC 4:20:32
10. Leonardo Saucedo Mata MEX 4:30:51