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Vicky Holland has first win in 2010

February 24th, 2010 - Posted by Mike - RKC Owner

Vicky, our elite triathlete, who is currently training in Australia has notched her first win of the year in a sprint triathlon. This was in the Takapuna event in New Zealand and was featured on the sports news. See it here.

Vicky’s Race Report:

I think I’m going to have to start racing in February more often as it seemed to pay off for me this weekend with my first win of 2010….and if my calculations are correct, my first win in a triathlon in over 4years so it’s been a LONG time coming!

I have to say, I had the best time in New Zealand this weekend, and the win just topped off my time there. I was fortunate enough to have a home-stay and within minutes of being collected at the airport I could tell I wasn’t going to have any concerns staying with my allocated family. They were keen triathletes, easy going, helpful and thoroughly accommodating during my stay….I felt a bit spoilt in truth, but then again, that’s ok every now and again… right?! A big thanks to David, Jane, Libby and Henry for welcoming me into their home and making my stay so enjoyable.

I was also lucky enough to have a few familiar faces in Auckland to keep me company and cheer me on at the race. Thanks to Rosie, Stu and the whole Palmer family for supporting me on race day and entertaining me during the rest of my stay….I really did have a great time. 

So onto the race I guess! Well, I knew I was in pretty good shape but like I said in my last post, you can never really tell where you’re at until you get into a race situation. I had been super tired earlier in the week but had had a couple of days to freshen up so was quietly confident that I would be able to race well.

At the start I positioned myself on the far right next to Andrea Hewitt as I know she is a great swimmer . The claxon went and I had a good run in, getting myself into some clear water almost instantly. I took a slightly wider line but cut into the first buoy just in front of the group who had started on the left and from there on in led the rest of the swim. I wasn’t exactly expecting to find myself there but I felt comfortable and actually found myself stretching away from the girls behind, so by the time I had run up the hill (or mountain perhaps?!) into transition I was 10seconds ahead. I had a clean transition and got out onto the bike quickly but new that all the big names were behind me and so going solo would have been a waste of energy. Instead, I sat up and waited for the chasers to catch me. Our group of 6 came together during the first lap and stayed away together the whole way without incident. It was great to see Vendula Frintova into the group too as one of my training partners.

Through T2 and out onto the run our group of 6 quickly became 5 with myself, Andrea, Vendula, Kate Mcilroy and Debbie Tanner at the head of the race. The pace was pretty high but I felt relatively comfortable. My main concern was all the curbs we had to negotiate – I did have a little stumble at one point! After one lap we were down to four as Debbie had dropped off the pace and coming into the last half a lap, I’d realised that it was going to come down to the wire as no-one else was going to drop off. After finishing fourth at worlds I desperately didn’t want that position again, so with the finish line in sight, around 200m to go, and no one making a move I began to think ‘maybe this could be mine then’! It was a now-or-never moment so I surged and didn’t look back. I had no idea where the other girls were until I nudged Vendula with about 30m to go – she was right on my shoulder! Fortunately I held her off and crossed the line first. Not a bad day for our training group as a whole with 1st, 2nd and also 6th place for Kate Roberts.

Winning is a great feeling but I’m realistic enough to realise that this wasn’t exactly the World Champs and that there is still work to be done to achieve my ultimate goals this year. Having said that, Takapuna was a lovely race to do, well organised, televised live in NZ and most importantly was a great chance to guage my progress and see which areas to work on next. All in all it was a really worthwhile weekend.

Post race I had two days off, which allowed me to catch up with old friends, recharge the batteries and arrive back here in Canberra last night feeling ready and raring to go again.

Next up is a race in Brisbane this weekend – another short race with three rounds where you accumulate points each race but get very minimal rest. It should be fun but also a good challenge gauging how hard to pace each effort. Hopefully I’ll have another good result and keep 2010 rolling along on a positive note.

Finally, a quick thank you to everyone who has messaged me since the race with kind words of congrats…it’s really appreciated!

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