Julie Dibbens has won this year's London Triathlon even though she didn't consider it one of her "A races" and took part , in her own words , just for fun rather than part of her carefully thought out schedule of races. On her web site , Julie Dibbens.com regularly maintained by partner Mike , she tells us "I went into my race at London not really knowing what to expect really. I had never really targeted this as an "A" race, so was doing it more as a bit of fun more than anything.
It's funny how things work! I was so relaxed going into it. Some may have argued before the race that I was too relaxed. So much so that I was forgetting to do most of my normal pre race prep. After setting up my bike in transition I suddenly realised that not only had I not pumped up my tyres, but I also had two empty water bottles on my bike. Fat lot of good they would do. Thankfully I realised in time to rectify the problem, and I still had plenty of time to do lots of chatting with people before the race. This was going to be my first "drafting" race in over a year. I was excited by the prospect, and was going to have fun on the bike regardless. I really didn't know how I was going to feel, and didn't really have a race plan other than enjoy it. If I felt good, then yes I was going to go for it, but if not I was just going to try and get some good TV time for Planet X and other sponsors.
As it happened it looks like I managed to do both. Out on the bike I was feeling pretty good. There was a group of 4 of us away, and I kept finding myself with a small gap. I tried a few half hearted efforts to break away early on. But nothing really came of them. At least I was making them work hard if anything. Then as we came back towards the Excel centre again a gap opened up. This time they seemed to be struggling to close it so I figured - oh what the heck give it a go. From that point on it was "tickets please…time to get on the Dibens train!".
By the time I came into T2 I had about a 1min 30 on the next group of 3, and about 2:30 on the main group. I knew I still didn't have the win in the bag, as I have been in this position many times before and not held on for the win. So I went out on the run and focused just on me and what I could do to get round as fast as I could. It was only at the last turnaround that I started to really look at, and calculate how quickly the other girls were closing in. At this point I knew it was going to be close to hold on for the win, and by my calculations it could well have been down to a sprint finish between me and Joelle Franzman. Not what I wanted! Luckily for me (and potentially the crowd at the finish…as I have a tendency to puke every time I sprint for the finish), I came into the finish shoot still with a 20 sec cushion and crossed the line first. It was a great day, and for me just one of those days when everything clicked and played into my hands.
While it was great to be mixing it up in an elite drafting race again, I still know that non-drafting (70.3 and Olympic) and Xterra is what I am all about. Any race like this that I can win is just a huge bonus.
