Stuart Hayes Blog: St Croix.
I arrived in St Croix on the Monday about a week before the race. I wanted to get there early so I could check the course out and get acclimatised to the hot humid conditions.
Being in such a relaxed place and swimming in the Caribbean every day, race day came very quickly and before I new it I was on the start line for my first half Iron Man.
For me the swim was easy, I kept myself at the front of the swim and exited second with about nine others. When I hit the bike my legs felt great but I new it was early days and I just Had to stay in the pack until I hit the first big hill of the day. The first big hill was about 25 miles into the bike, it was the beast and it gave my legs a good shake up. Coming down the beast I over shot the corner and ended up in a bush rapped around barb wire which gave me a very nasty cut on my arms.
I lost a lot of time from this crash and ended up 4 mins down off the bike. I felt quiet good going out onto the run, my legs were very heavy but I knew It could be possible to catch some of the struggling runners from the pack I was in originally.
After 10km I knew I was just too far back and only ran one person down so had to settle for 6th place which was still enough to qualify for the 70.3 World Championships later on in the year in Florida. This made it all worth while and looking forward to that race now as well as all the other races coming up.
My next race is the French GP on May 24th which is a sprint race and then Madrid World Cup a week later on May 31st. I will keep you up to date.
Stu