Auckland World Championships

The RTC Guelph crew + special guests Matty V and AK-47 flew over to Auckland, arriving nine days out from our race.

Our lovely B&B at Springcurl

Breakfast! 

Craig had organized a bed and breakfast in Clevedon for us to stay in for a few days before heading down to Auckland to join the rest of the team. We got some work done in Clevedon and had some fun too and before we knew it we were packing our bikes up again and piling into our 100 year old Toyota van to scoot over to the big city.

Doing some swimming in the ocean in Clevedon

Saying goodbye to our hosts John and Christine

Seeing the whole elite team together is one of my favorite parts of the World Championships, and our team meetings really helped us to gain a sense of community. We were lead by a group of world-class coaches and some amazing support staff that made the whole operation smooth and relatively stress free.

The big city!

In my last few days in Clevedon I began to suffer from some intense pain in my jaw than ran up my temples and across my forehead. My wisdom teeth were growing in and they were being quite loud about it. It left me unable to eat solid food some evenings, but I was really fortunate as the pain cleared up a couple days out from the race and it hasn't really revisited me again yet.

Dinner chez Mama and Papa Hinton!

I was quiet and a bit withdrawn in the days leading up to the event, as my body still didn’t seem too thrilled with being thrown into a different time zone. I was worried that I wasn’t going to feel good in time for the race, but I got a glimpse of where my fitness was at during a swim in an outdoor 60m pool where everything felt effortless and I knew after that workout that I was going to be ready for some fast racing.

The pool that saved me

My fears of coming out of the water a giant ice cube were abolished after we swam in the harbor two days out from the race. I was perfectly comfortable in my wetsuit and could actually feel my face and hands when I got out! Craig only told me after the race that the water was just over 14C.

On Friday I was going crazy inside but managed pretty well to keep it in. I was just ready to go. It was the most anxious that I have ever felt before a competition, and I just kept picturing myself on the start pontoon. When race day finally came I woke up with jitters and could not sit still. I warmed up on the bike with Alison Hooper and we were both quiet as we rode on our trainers. We were so fortunate to have a perfect day – low wind, sunny, and dry.

I was 22^nd on the start list so I didn’t get much choice of pontoon position. I don’t think I could have gotten luckier with my spot as I squeaked in between two very fast swimmers.

Ready... 

GO!

I can’t remember much of the swim, but I know that I had a good start and that I had clear water early on. My first lap of the swim was nothing amazing, but when I dove back in for the second lap I started feeling better and better and made up more and more time while passing a bunch of girls.

Exiting the water

Getting ready to ride                              

I struggled in T1 to get my wetsuit off and lost some time, but was on my bike and off on the course before I knew it. I made up a ton of ground on the first lap, and by the start of the second lap I was well established in a group with some strong riders. We quickly rode down a couple of the fast swimmers that were strung out in front.

I was really well prepared for the hills and felt strong through the entire bike. I would start mid pack at the bottom and then move up as we climbed the hill.

I had a fast T2, but made a big mistake right out of transition. A small gap formed to the two leaders and I made the wrong decision to not surge and to not go with them. I thought that I would be able to reel the girls back in over the course of the 10km. After the two girls broke away I ended up in no man’s land between two running packs. I have no idea how the run would have gone had I latched on right away, but I think that not running with them cost me in the end.

Finally achieved my goal of having a Delly Carr photo

I felt smooth for the entire run and even had a chance to slow up and grab a flag from Barb Sharpe as I ran down the final stretch of blue carpet.

Placing third again at the World Championships was a great feeling, but I think that I have won enough bronzes for a little while. Time for some more colours.

The main reason that I wanted to write this post is to thank a bunch of very special people that have helped me this season and made everything possible.

First of all, I have to thank my coach Craig Taylor. I didn’t think there was anyone who loved plotting to take over the world as much as I did before I met Craig. Craig accepted me in to the RTC in the fall of last year and he couldn’t have made the transition to a new university, a new town, and a new training group smoother. He is so dedicated and very passionate about the sport and his athletes. We have many great years to come and I am fortunate to call him my coach and one of my best friends.

I also have to thank Craig’s girls, his beautiful wife Tonya, his baby Sophie, and his bouncing 4-year-old Kate. They have all been so supportive and I have no idea how Craig is able to pull himself away from them and go to work every day or travel far away. As Worlds came closer, Craig was often out coaching on weekends and I have to thank his family for accepting that we needed the extra time.

Thanks to my parents, my aunt Joan and my brother and sister. My family came out to visit me the weekend that I left for New Zealand and it meant so much to me. They are there for me year round and some of the highlights of my year have been getting to see them.

A huge thank you to my sponsors, starting with the gang at Cyclelogik who provided me with an amazing Focus Izalco to race on this year as well as helped me out with countless other things. I would not have been able to compete without them and they made the move to Guelph so easy by still being willing to care for me. They have amazing staff and a really cool storefront that is always a great place to visit.

Asics has sponsored me for four years now, and they took a risk in 2008 by taking a young athlete under their wing that they didn’t know a ton about. They have been very fundamental to my success and are always very efficient and looking for ways to help.

I was very fortunate to receive an EVOC bike bag and suitcase this year that brought me around the world and back and has held up in amazing form. It is so light and I can pack and unbelievable amount of stuff in my bike bag and still have my bike arrive safe and sound.

Thanks to Titika Activewear for providing me with some awesome clothes for training and hanging out. It was so much fun to visit the store and I hope to be more involved with them in the future.

Nineteen provided me with their new Rogue which I loved swimming in and it kept me warm in the 14C water temperatures in Auckland. I am looking forward to working with them and having some stellar swims…lead pack, you are mine!

Nineteen Family

Thanks to Triathlon Canada for looking out for me and making triathlon possible for me. To Triathlon Ontario, thank you for recognizing my potential and helping me to continue to develop over the past years.

I owe a lot to the ground crew in Auckland; our U23 head coach Carolyn Murray, supporting coach Kyla Rollinson, elite coach Joel Filliol, coordinator-of-all-things Drew MacKenzie, our new HP director Libby Burrell, and mechanic Steve. They made the event very low stress and were essential in the success of the entire team at the World Championships.

To the entire team at Worlds, thank you for making this one of the best World Championships yet. Everyone was very encouraging and your cheers made a big difference. We will need to be there for each other in the coming years and I'm sure that we will only get better at working with each other.

Some of the team in our kits

My training group has put up with me all year and I would be nowhere without them. To the entire crew at the RTC, thanks for accepting my (mild) OCD and being there for me day in and day out. I don’t know what I would do if they weren’t here to beat me up a little bit every day. Shout out to the Hack Squad, Alexander, Dominika, Jason, and Tristan, one day we will learn how to swim real pretty. And a very special thank you to Tyler Bredschneider, who is probably one of the world’s greatest training partners and gets the work done day in and day out, no matter what.

I am also very fortunate to have access to some of the brilliant minds behind Speed River Track and the Guelph Gryphons Varsity Team – Dave Scott-Thomas and Chris Moulton. These guys let me jump in to workouts with the teams and also aren’t afraid to make fun of me and keep my head from getting too big. Three cheers for the Aerobic Alliance!

Speaking of Speed River and Varsity, thank you to all the athletes and to my varsity women’s team. One of the best parts of every week was getting to go out and long run or do a super tough workout with my girls. Those workouts keep me sane and I am so lucky to be able to run with (or behind) some of the country’s best runners. The team listens to me complain and keeps me grounded. They accept the fact that I swim and bike, too.

Rollin.

I have to mention the three M’s…Mike Coughlin, Mike Hay, and Mark Linseman. Mike Coughlin joined Craig for many training sessions and was out at the early mornings at the pool, driving around for countless hours as we rode, and staying out late to see us finish run workouts. Mike Hay is always a welcome face at workouts and helped me out with one hard key bike session that made a world of difference. He is always great to chat with and is always a source of valuable wisdom. And cookies. Mark helped us figure out some important hydration information and also let us use his office as a heat chamber before hot races. He must like the smell of sweat (…?)

I can’t forget about some very important people back in Ottawa, Brian Gomes, David Markin, and Jaime Trick. Brian took me under his wing a year ago and secured a ton of support for me that made racing at an elite level a reality. If it wasn’t for him I would have been on my own for trying to secure sponsors and I had no idea where to start. Jaime and David have believed in me from the beginning and are always among the first people to congratulate me after a race or time trial. David kept me motivated to swim strong all season as we compared PB’s and Jaime provided me with amazing treatment and brought me back from injury countless times. I think a lot about you guys!

Because we love so much to break our bodies down, I owe a lot to those that help to keep me together. Marcell Meresz is a massage therapist extraordinaire as well as part time psychologist. Jennifer McKay is an amazing physio who kept me in one piece all year.

Lastly, as much as we always love to think about where we are going, it is important that we remember where we have come from. Thank you to Greg Kealey, my start in triathlon, and to John Hawes, who has taught me so much beyond swimming. I literally would not be in this sport without these coaches.

For now I will be working my butt off trying to catch up with school. It felt like I was in a bit of a time warp in Auckland and now reality has come crashing back down again. And, as alway, I am eager to do some training and maybe a little bit of this...

Cross cross cross cross cross

Thanks to you for reading!