12/05/2008 - Alun Woodward in Portugal
Alun Woodward at the Lisbona International Triathlon
A message from Phil Gray
Alun Woodward is a pro triathlete from Newcastle (now living in Hungary) who races for Total Racing Int. He did the Lisbona International Triathlon (Lisbon Portugal) in another quality field and reports on how he found the race:
“First race of the season has come and gone, I love heading out to Lisbon to start the year as always greeted by great weather and a great race!!
The organizing committee have turned this event into Portugal's biggest triathlon after only 3 years and do a great job putting the event on in a major spot within the city.
The race field has improved every year and the pro line up this year was very exciting with some top 10 Hawaii finishers and world champions in the field. My goal for the race was to lead out the swim and stick with the lead group throughout the bike and then shoot for a podium finish on the run.
The usual nerves were present on race morning and it was just a case of getting to the start line and getting the job done, I always relax once in the water for the warm up. The swim start was good for me and I ended up in 3rd place straight away at the first buoy and held this position through the swim exiting in 2nd position into T1. On to the bike and last years winner from Denmark, Jimmy Johnson soon blasted past and onto a solo mission up front. I was riding with a group of around 10 athletes 2 minutes back from the leader including Paul Amey, Marino Vanhoenacher, Pedro Gomez and Jonas Colting. The bike was comfortable but not too easy as we rolled around in perfect conditions for a 2 hour 2 min bike split for the 85kms. The new bike is amazing and the position is feeling great, much lower and aero now and most importantly no back pain!!
Into T2 I had a little run in with the camera crew who were getting some shots of Pedro for TV, once I got them out of the way it was quickly on with the runners and out onto the hot run course. I lost a few seconds in transition so started about 20 seconds down on the tail end of the group. During the first 5km I stayed steady and started to pick off some runners, moving past Pedro and closing in on Jonas in 5th. My plan was to start to up the pace over the last 10k but this did not happen as the wheels fell off after 8k and Pedro came flying past on route to a great 3rd place finish. I found myself in 8th place and just stuck it out to the finish even starting to come good again around 16-17kms in.
Overall i am happy with the race, things are certainly much improved from last year and all heading in the right direction. Run was not great but I know there is some fast running in me just waiting to pop out!!”
Phil.