Race Coverage

"I Passed a Lot of People, And Nobody Passed Me"...

Saturday, 10 August 2019 23:10

By Noah Billings (age 11)

Youth and Junior Triathlon Championships

• What? USAT youth and junior nationals
• When? August 4, 2019
• Where? West Chester, Ohio
• How far? Swim 200 m, Bike 10km, Run 2km
• Weather? Race start - 90+

Background
This is my third nationals race. My first one in 2016 I took 31st. My second race in 2018 I took 20th. With my improved speed on my bike and my swim, I made a goal to try to win...

  
Training
I attended the youth house league with the rochester swim club for the past ten months.  This summer, since it was the triathlon season my mom made sure that I never skipped a swimpractice. And for biking and running-- I practice with the cyclones triathlon team coached by Kris Koepp. And sometimes i would practice with the rochester mountain biking team.   This winter I tried the nordic ski team for the first time. I think that helped my run a lot.

Pre-race
I met up with some friends on Saturday for a pasta dinner and a fun swim at the hotel pool.  When my friends left I went up to my room to relax,watch TV, and foam roll my hamstrings

Race

Swim: 03:30. 200m

The swim was a mass start so it was a bit hard to figure out whether I was in front or not. I had a normal swim for my race. And when I got out of the swim I was probably in 25th place. I started with around 100 people in my wave. 

T1: 02:06

I had a good feeling about the transition cause my stuff was right near the bike out and run out. At nationals the transitions are huge and long.  There were state flags so they helped with trying to find my stuff on such a big transition. My bike was close to the texas flag. When the time I left tranistion I was in 20th in my age group.

Bike: 15:39 10k

If it wasn't for the bike leg I wouldn’t have won nationals. I knew the bike would be good from the start because from the first downhill I already hit 30 mph and passed three people.   By the end of the 1st lap I was in 7th. And by the end of the last lap I was 5th overall and 1st in my age group. I didn't know any of this at the time- I just knew I passed a lot of people and nobody passed me.

T2: 01:03

On T2 I went as fast as I could because I knew I had improved my position.  

Run: 07:47 2k  

At the start of the run my mom yelled I was in first then I made a face that said holy sh!t and started running as fast as I could. I kept with the 14 and 15 year olds ahead of me and by the u-turn I started looking at peoples legs for their ages. There was one kid right behind me in my division, but when I saw him I started sprinting for the finish line.

Finish time: 30:03

Post-race

At the end of the race I was ecstatic. And so were my parents. My mom and my grandma started to tear up a bit. My dad and my coach jumped so high that they could touch the moon . Later I got my medal from a four time Olympian and he gave me a high five and told me he was proud of me.

 
What's next?

Next is the adult race in Red Wing and I'm also going to help my younger cousins do their first triathlon at the kids race there.