Julie's race schedule has changed again. She is now competing in the Hamburg World Cup next weekend. She has also added the Athens' Olympic Test event to the schedule. Click here for full schedule.
Julie decided to withdraw from the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon and New York World Cup Triathlon. Feeling quite fatigued after the Salford Race, it was decided that Julie would take a couple of days off and then build back. The focus is now on some ITU races later in the season. Julie is already feeling better and has began building up her training.
After struggling with fatigue for the past two weeks, Julie decided to compete in the World Cup race. After leading most of the swim and working hard with the lead pack to maintain their lead on the bike, there was nothing left in the tank. She pulled out of the race part way into the 2nd lap.
Julie won her second ITU points race of the season today. She was extremely pleased to win, as she was using this race as part of training and had a pretty hard week leading up to the race. Julie was in the lead group in the swim and bike. She left transition third but soon passed the other two and went on to win by almost one minute.
| Place | Women's Elite | Swim | Bike | Run | Finish |
| 1 | Julie Dibens | 0:19:33 | 1:07:36 | 0:36:00 | 2:03:09 |
| 2 | Jodie Swallow | 0:19:41 | 1:07:34 | 0:36:51 | 2:04:06 |
| 3 | Mieke Suys | 0:19:40 | 1:07:28 | 0:37:37 | 2:04:45 |
| 4 | Anneliese Heard | 0:19:31 | 1:07:39 | 0:37:42 | 2:04:52 |
| 5 | Anna Ivanova | 0:19:36 | 1:07:31 | 0:38:02 | 2:05:09 |
Read more about the race here.
European Championships were held in Carlsbad, Czech Republic. It was a very challenging bike course and the run contained a small hill. Julie led the swim with a number of others following closely behind. Soon after T1, Julie and Jess Harrison opened up a small gap on the rest of the field. The two kept a lead for four of the seven laps. They were then joined by Kathleen Smet and Tanja Allen. This group of four finished the cycle leg with a one minute and 15 second lead on the chasing pack.
Ana Burgos, Nadia Cortassa and Andrea Whitecomb had strong run legs and ran through the field. Julie finished in finished in 5th place.
|
Rk |
Name |
NAT |
SWIM |
BIKE |
RUN |
Total |
|
1 |
BURGOS Ana |
ESP |
19:25.2 |
1:13:55.7 |
35:29.2 |
2:10:11.68 |
|
2 |
CORTASSA Nadia |
ITA |
19:12.8 |
1:14:10.7 |
35:50.1 |
2:10:31.73 |
|
3 |
SMET Kathleen |
BEL |
18:56.0 |
1:13:11.6 |
37:09.3 |
2:10:36.36 |
|
4 |
WHITCOMBE Andrea |
GBR |
18:53.4 |
1:14:31.5 |
36:10.8 |
2:10:54.00 |
|
5 |
DIBENS Julie |
GBR |
18:31.3 |
1:13:34.7 |
37:52.2 |
2:11:13.04 |
|
6 |
FRANZMANN Joelle |
GER |
18:54.7 |
1:14:12.8 |
37:04.1 |
2:11:26.17 |
|
7 |
ZAUSAILOVA Olga |
RUS |
19:59.6 |
1:13:23.5 |
37:03.5 |
2:11:46.03 |
|
8 |
ALLEN Tanja |
GBR |
18:40.3 |
1:13:29.6 |
38:23.8 |
2:11:50.22 |
|
9 |
LANZA Beatrice |
ITA |
19:21.9 |
1:13:56.6 |
37:27.6 |
2:12:07.98 |
|
10 |
HARRISON Jessica |
GBR |
18:37.2 |
1:13:33.2 |
39:01.5 |
2:12:26.82 |
One of the pre-selected athletes, Michelle Dillon, has withdrawn from European Championships and Julie has been offerer the spot! She has happily accepted and looks forward to competing.
Additionally, Julie has just been invited to the Lifetime Fitness triathlon, which will be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota. click here to visit the web site. This blurb was taken from their web-site:
"The 2003 Life Time Fitness Triathlon cash purse is set at $500,000 – the largest cash purse in the history of triathlon.
The Battle of the Sexes is by invitation only for registered professional triathletes. With $500,000 at stake, a unique timing format and a fast, flat course, the professional field featured at this year’s race is arguably the best field since triathlon’s Olympic debut.
The women will be given a time Equalizer (handicap) based on 2002 Life Time Fitness Triathlon results, the 2003 professional field and world-record triathlon times. After the Equalizer time has elapsed, the men will start after the women – creating a “sprint-to-the-finish” chase for the $250,000 grand prize.
Watch the Life Time Fitness Triathlon live on Saturday, August 3, 2003 or watch the action on NBC Sports at 1:00 CST. Then start training for next year."
Julie's results today were bitter and sweet. Bitter because looking at the final results does not tell the whole story.
The British championships were held in Swansea, Wales. Julie took to an early lead in the swim with Jess Harrison right on her toes. The two formed a small gap on the rest of the field early in the first lap, but were soon reeled back. On the second lap of the swim, a group of 8 or 9 were able to distance themselves from the rest of the field, including Michele Dillion.
Julie exited the water first, but it was Heard who had a cracking transition, departing T1 ahead of the others by around 5 seconds. The difference in T1 times and the fast and furious pace of the opening few kilometers on the bike meant that the group was split up, with Whitcombe and Swallow missing the front pack. The lead group was working well together, but at the end of the first lap Julie's rear tire punctured going over a rough section of cobbles. There was a wheel drop on the course, however it was about 2K from where Julie flatted (she was ridding clinchers!). She made it to the drop point and changed her rear wheel, however, by this time, she had been dropped by the lead group and passed by Swallow, Whitcombe and Dillon.
Julie started pushing hard on the bike in an attempt to catch the chasing group. She caught and passed Swallow, but as she started to make inroads into the others, she obtained a second puncture. This time it was the front wheel, but it was a slow leak. The bike was becoming more and more difficult to handle and she almost went down around one of the dead turns on the course. Swallow and A number of other riders soon passed her.
Meanwhile, the lead group of girls were not working to well together. Dillon, who had cycled the majority of the course on her own to catch Whitcombe and Swallow, soon dropped them both and was able to start making up time on the lead group.
As the lead group set off on the run, it was Cave in the lead followed closely by Harrison and Allen. However the home town support was not enough to help Cave hold off Dillion, who ran through the field to take gold.
Now for the sweet part! After suffering two punctures, being passed by nearly the whole field on the bike leg and almost dropping out of the race, Julie decided carry to on and finish the race. And boy was she glad she did. Julie posted the third fastest run split on the day, which was around 20 seconds behind Dillion's split, 7 seconds behind Whitecombe, and was one minute faster than any of the lead group's split. The course may have been slightly short, but I'm pretty sure this was her fastest run split ever.
Some more bitter news. As good as the swim and run split were, the 11th place finish means that Julie failed to qualify for European championships.
Final Results:
| 1 M Dillon (Unattached) 1:58:42.25 |
| 2 L Cave (Bath) 1:59:08.60 |
| 3 J Harrison (Science in Sport) 1:59:33.00 |
| 4 T Allen (Bath) 1:59:53.40 |
| 5 A Heard (Bath) 2:00:20.20 |
| 6 A Whitcombe (MultiSports) 2:01:28.35 |
| 7 C Morrison (Glasgow) 2:03:29.10 |
| 8 C Hare (Loughborough) 2:03.46.40 |
| 9 J Swallow (Tri and Run) 2:04:55.50 |
| 10 J Hinde (Bath) 2:06:14.30 |
| 11 J Dibens (Unattached) 2:06:16:35 |
| 12 K Semple ((Sigma) 2:07:30.00 |
| 13 C Kearney (2:07:50.95 |
| 14 K Sindall (Bath) 2:12:52.50 |
| 15 C Johnson (Deal) 2:13:13.80 |
| 16 C Kinsley (Milton Keynes) 2:15:23.85 |
| 17 J Murphy (Triangle) 2:15:28.45 |
| 18 H Wilson (Hi-Elbow) 2:21:22.50 |
Julie was very pleased to win her first ITU points race ever, in what turned out to be a very hot and humid day in Zundert, Holland.
Julie had a very strong swim putting 30 seconds into the next fastest swimmer. She then cycled the majority of the course alone, not pushing to hard, but making the chase pack work to catch her. Once the first chase pack of 4 caught her, they worked well together putting more time into the rest of the field. Julie led the group of 5, which included Kathleen Smet world ranked number 6, into the last transition and proceeded to run away from them. Tracey Looze put in a strong run from the chase pack and finished second, with Kathleen holding on for third.