Report and photographs from John Coxon
Writing today in her newsletter, Julie Dibbens told fans that she was reasonably content with the result but was self critical in respect of her relative sluggishness in both transitions. Like Norden she commented on sea conditions. “ Choppy surf conditions in the swim made it tough for the athletes to keep on course.” Dibbens exited from the water some 45 seconds behind Haskins, pretty much a similar situation she faced previously at Chicago. At Chicago her race had ended in a nasty bike crash. She admits to being “smoked” this time into T1 I by Lisa Norden, Helen Jenkins, Liz Blatchford and Daniella Ryf, who were all in “ ITU mode and blasted through transition, leaving me standing still trying to remove my ear plugs! I was possibly a little too relaxed :).....I blame it on the Xterras...cos that’s what they are all about!”
Hayley Peirsol had exited the water first with Haskins some 16 seconds behind , closely followed by Norden then Jenkins and Dibbens emerged 5th from the surf some 68 seconds behind the leader. Ryf was fasted through T1 with Spirig and Jenkins behind. Dibbens powerful ride had her first coming off the bike into t2 but only 2 seconds up on Ryf with Norden 5 seconds back. Haskins had dropped back to 4th with Spirig behind her. Speaking after the race Julie Dibbens commented on her disappointment at again losing valuable time in transition 2 but remained up about the next race in Dallas six days ahead. “ Even though I only lost 5-10 secs, it just meant instead of running out with someone and letting them set the pace, I was back on my own, setting my own pace. I felt like I ran solid, but just either didn't have the confidence to push on, or was not feeling 100% on top of it. I am disappointed with my lack of aggression on the run, as looking at the splits post race, I know I can run faster.”
Former GB star , Michelle Dillon ,with an impressive elite career of fantastic results behind her but recently retired through a nagging back injury for which she had surgery, had something else to smile about other than Jodie’s showing in the LA top ten. Michelle now runs a successful triathlon coaching company, Team Dillon, and coaches her partner GB’s Stuart Hayes as well as a number of successful male and female triathletes. Stuart came home at LA in second place just ten seconds behind Gomes having been 12 seconds down in the swim behind Gomez, and yet putting himself 27 seconds ahead of him in a great ride. Stu was 23 seconds adrift of Gomez in his run split but still pulled it back to within 10secs on the finish line.
Former GB star , Michelle Dillon ,with an impressive elite career of fantastic results behind her but recently retired through a nagging back injury for which she had surgery, had something else to smile about other than Jodie’s showing in the LA top ten. Michelle now runs a successful triathlon coaching company, Team Dillon, and coaches her partner GB’s Stuart Hayes as well as a number of successful male and female triathletes. Stuart came home at LA in second place just ten seconds behind Gomes having been 12 seconds down in the swim behind Gomez, and yet putting himself 27 seconds ahead of him in a great ride. Stu was 23 seconds adrift of Gomez in his run split but still pulled it back to within 10secs on the finish line.
