It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over

Juliet Vickery  June 2008

Ever looked at those who make the podium and thought ‘it all must have gone right for them on the day’?  I have, often, but my experience at the ITU World Championships 2008 in Vancouver has made me think again. I spent almost the entire race convinced it was a disaster and certainly one of the worst races of my life. Many of you will know that the swim conditions were pretty grim temperatures of 12.5°C had already led organisers to reduce it to 1100m. Arriving in transition the Pacific didn’t look too bad but that was the lull before the storm. Soon there were white horses dancing menacingly towards the shore and a heaving swell. Watching the earlier waves of swimmers was a sobering experience and my 2 minute warm up convinced me this was not going to be much fun. With a sense of awful inevitability I shivered nervously on the shore with over 150 other women. Then into the fray - a turmoil of waves, thrashing limbs and white water and a swell that made sighting impossible and my stomach churn. By buoy number two I was closer to quitting than I have ever been in a race and resigned to survival rather than success. Behind me quite a drama was unfolding. The rescue boat capsized and had to be rescued itself leaving struggling age groupers nowhere to go. 

Battling to remove my wet suit with numb hands I felt relief to have finished made it to shore but despair at how far down the field I must have been (16th as it turns out, but I had no idea at the time). I abandoned the idea of putting on any clothes in T1 because it was clear that even arm warmers would just cost me more time than I could afford. I remember rather little about the four lap bike except numb feet, great support and feeling I wasn’t passing enough F45 competitors. In fact I must have passed 10 as I left T2 in 6th place but I was utterly convinced I was still way out of the top 10 and berating myself for ever thinking I was a medal contender. 

The run has often saved a race for me but though I was aware pf passing several rivals I was still convinced there was a cohort miles ahead. With about 3k to go I passed a USA F45 whose I knew as someone who regularly medalled at the Worlds. ‘Well,’ I thought ‘ if I have passed her maybe I am not doing too badly after all’. She had a cyclist supporter for a bit of the loop and I heard him yelling ‘Come on, Holly. Shift up a gear and reel her in’. My first reaction was I hoped she didn’t have a top gear to shift into as I was well and truly in mine. My second thought was regardless of where I am in the field ‘Nobody is b…. well reeling me in now’.

In the end she crossed the finish line 45 seconds behind me and I responded to her ‘Hey, good job’ with ‘Thanks! Do you know where you were?’. She looked at me slightly puzzled  ‘You won. I was second, you were first.’  My response? Disbelief, elation, tears and ‘Thank God I didn't give up in the swim!'  I guess if the swim is your strength and it goes badly it may be harder to recover but even then ‘It ain’t all over 'til (the fat lady sings) you and your rivals cross the line!’

Cambridge Triathlon Club had no fewer than 5 Olympic and 5 sprint distance athletes in the GB team at Vancouver:

Olympic
F5-49: Juliet Vickery 1/76 GOLD!
F60-64: Barbara Leverett 1/37 GOLD!
F50-54: Pam Missenden 39/71
M25-29: Jared Warbridge 47/106
M60-64: Don Hutchinson 22/72
 
Sprint
Junior Elite: Greg Billington 24/42 
F50-54: Sarah Springman 3/31 BRONZE 
M30-34: Matt Chandler 4/29 just missed bronze and Mike Smith 10/29 
M35-39:Matt Ward 15/43