18/06/2008 - Fraser Cartmell wins UK 70.3!
Last weekend Fraser Cartmell, who races for Total Racing Inc went down to Wimbleball to defend his UK 70.3 title. The following is his account of the race -
“I defended! Pleased? You bet. The much-hyped participation of Chris McCormack turned out to be just that, and much to my disappointment. His bike wasn't going to be racked in transition. He is a real iconic figure in our sport and I was really looking forward to the chance of once again racing him, after swim/biking with him at Wildflower in California last month. I felt I had gotten myself in sufficient shape to give him a good run for his money, and given that both myself and Stephen (Bayliss) ran a good chunk faster than he did in 2006 (having watched him win that year, I'm confident it was the same course) I think I was on the right train of thought. I'm not one to usually bother about times or course records either, but since I took both the run and overall times under those posted by Chris in 2006, I will make an exception on this occasion!
Race morning had a decidedly brrrrrrr factor to it, so I decided not to get in the water until I absolutely had to. Once in the water we had to hang around a little bit and this created quite a view as we gazed out towards where the first turn buoy should've been visible. A scene reminiscent of the film Pirates of the Caribbean unfolded as the mist engulfed the whole lake. I'm just glad the lead canoeist knew where to go. Blair (Cartmell – Fraser’s brother) and I swam hard to the first invisible bouy and then I hit the front of the race solo. I felt good in the water and as I hit dry land had a cheeky sneak-peak to see if I had gapped anybody. I had about 20 seconds, which I extended to 30 or so onto the bike.
I hit the bike hard, like I had intended, as I hoped I could get out of sight and out of mind. This seemed to work as the gap was over a minute by the 5k mark, but then I realised I had a potentially race ending problem in the form of a loose saddle. 'You have got to be kidding' is the polite way to describe my conversation with myself at that point, but since I didn't actually have any other good ideas I kept going. At 15kms I just wasn't sure it was safe and clambered off to look. This did nothing but confirm my saddle was indeed loose and it wasn't particularly safe! Decision time - stop or go? Not really a decision in my book to be honest and with a plan as simple as 'stay in the saddle in case it falls off when I get out of it' I carried on. Lap one came and went and still I held the lead. Mile 40 came and with it Stephen and Luke Bell too. My confidence was growing as I now reckoned, by some small miracle, that T2 was a possibility.
Once into the change tent I watched as Stephen shot off like a rocket. 'That'll be that I thought. He's gone'. But never say never and by the mile 1 marker we were shoulder to shoulder. Like that it would remain until 400m to go! During the run it became obvious I could get up the hills a bit better than him and he could get down them a lot better than me. And so in turn we tried to gain the upper hand on each other one uphill and consecutive downhill at a time. Lap 1 turned into 2 and then 3 and we were moving pretty quickly towards the finish. I think we both knew it was all down to the final ascent to the finish. It had been a great race, a real duel – 'epic' I think I described it as afterwards, and thankfully I got it by a lucky 13 seconds. Many thanks to all the folk on the course who were giving us great encouragement, and well done to everyone who got round such a brutal course – I had forgotten just how tough it is!”
Bella Comerford claimed the women's title in 4:49:33. Julie Dibens was second in 4:54:59. Age group athlete Sara Sig Moeller was third in 5:07:03
This was one of Fraser's key races of the year and he has become the only athlete to sucessfully defend the UK 70.3 title as well as setting a new course record.