September 2007 - Thanks to Extra UK/BMC Julie wins XTerra UK!
This years XTerra was on a brand new course in Neath, Wales, and what an event! Talk about challenging! Well the bike and the run anyway! The swim took place in crystal clear 15 degree water, and Julie exited in 3rd behind age group athlete Gary Dressel (who interestingly attended our Driven to Tri camp!), and US pro Seth Wealing. The swim turned out to be just a little short with Julie entering transition in just under 15 mins! After that it was all the easy stuff done with. The Challenging bike course consisted of both punishing steep climbs...including the aptly named "impossible climb", endless gradual climbs on fire roads, and tricky single track descents. Thanks to Julies super fast BMC she was well up to the task though and having only hit the dirt once, came into T2 with a healthy 8 minute lead on Michelle Lombardi and Ester Erdeyli (european xterra series champ).
The run was also relentless and after running a mere 1km on the flat it was pretty much either straight up and straight down. The organizers even found the time to include the legendary "impossible climb" on the run course again. As if once wasn't enough! Anyway Julie comfortably held on to her lead, even though she did lose a couple of minutes to Ester. Ester really can run, and is becoming renowned for being one of the fastest runners on the Xterra scene. And Michelle stormed home in 3rd.
All in all it was a fantastic day, and a great event. The organization was definitely top notch, and despite there being endless trails out on the terrain only one lady was reported to get lost. And she just couldn't believe that the first climb was going on as long as it did, so thought she had to have gone wrong, so turned round and went back! So thanks to Gareth Thomas and all his team for all the hard work in making the event a one truly worthy of the Xterra name. Anybody interested in doing something a little different should really consider giving Xterra a try!
Julie now has a few weeks off racing before the last big races of the year in October and November. Just 3 more to go! Dallas - the last in the LTF series, Maui, Hawaii - Xterra World Champs, and Clearwater, FL - 70.3 World Champs. Can she finish off with a bang! Keep checking back for more
September 2007 - Julie 2nd in the prestigious Los Angeles Triathlon
Once again Julie keeps her podium streak alive for the year, coming in 2nd in the LA triathlon this morning. This race was the 4th in the series of LifeTime Fitness races held this year. This result will help secure Julie in 2nd in the series, but leaves her with the small task of having to win the last race in Dallas to get enough points to earn the bonus! If that doesn't make sense to you then you are not the only one! For more info go to www.ltftriathlonseries.com.
Anyway back on to the race. The conditions at Venice Beach were pretty much perfect for the start of the race. Temperatures were cool, sun was just rising, and the wind and surf were pretty calm. Julie was first through the surf and lead out the swim for most of the way along with Emma Snowsill. This is becoming a bit of a habit after having swam side by side at both NY and Chicago. There was a 3rd girl with them, but waiting on confirmation as to who it was. Out on to the bike Julie and Emma put the hammer down putting minutes into the rest of the field. Despite her best efforts Julie never got rid of Emma this time and they came into T2 with Emma right behind her. We think that Emma had a great bike today, rather than Julie a poor one, as in all the other races this year Julie has managed to put some daylight between them. Julie also had quite a big knock earlier in the week, when she came off her bike doing some Time Trialling. And so her confidence was a little down, as this was the first time she had really been able to get back on the bike since the accident.
Out on the run, it was always going to be a tall order to stay with Emma, as she is undoubtedly one of, if not the fastest runner in the sport. But Julie kept focused and put in a strong run today, and held on comfortably for 2nd with Miranda Carfrae in 3rd.
Julie is now flying back to the UK, and will switch to her Mountain bike for a week in preparation for the UK Xterra this coming weekend. Hopefully her shoulder will have totally recovered from her crash before this, otherwise it could take a beating on the unforgiving mountain terrain in Wales. Fingers crossed
August 2007 - Julie 3rd in Chicago Tri
Julie has just returned from the city of Chicago in the US, where she competed in the 3rd of the 5 LifeTime Fitness races to be held this year. She came home in 3rd place behind Emma "the whippet" Snowsill, and LSU college team mate Becky Lavelle. Even though she was happy to get on the podium again, she was disappointed with her performance and felt like she struggled to get into the groove the whole way round the course. However she still exited the swim right behind Becky, and then continued to show her bike speed and strength by coming into T2 40sec up on Becky and 2mins up on Emma. Once out on to the run she felt good for the first 2 miles and then started to fade and suffered a little in the midday heat. With the UK's non-existent summer this year, this was always going to be a bit of a test with the race starting just after 11am. She just managed to hold off a fast finishing Sam Mcglone (2006 Chicago winner) for 3rd place.
Julie will now sit out the World Champs in Hamburg, after being denied a Wild card spot due to her poor World Cup ranking, and will focus on her next race which will be in LA in 2 weeks time. This will be the 4th race in the Lifetime fitness series, and even though she is still in second place in the series it looks like she will need to win to be eligble for the bonus! Figure that one out!
A special thanks to all of the Julie Dibens supporters out on the course. Your cheering helped me get round.
Thanks for reading and for all the continued support for Julie
July 2007 - Julie 2nd in New York Tri
This morning was the second race of the LifeTime Fitness series in New York. It was an early kick off with the men starting and 5:50am and the women at 5:53. The women's, much like Minneapolis had a small but strong field with Emma Snowsill once again being the pre race favourite. Julie was obviously a little sleepy at the start of the race, and actually did a false start falling in the water before the gun!!!! This is a first for Julie....and not a great start to the race. The current in the Hudson River was so strong that there was no way they were going to pull her back, so they went ahead and started the race. It definitely didn't end up as an advantage to Julie as the girls dived in over her! Lesson learnt there then! Once into her swimming groove though, she made up the small gap she had lost and exited the swim in second, right on Emma's toes. The run into transition was then a good 600-700m and Julie struggled with this loosing a little time. Some of you will remember Julie has had a couple of surgeries on her foot, and the one thing she still struggles with is barefoot running. Anyhow she lost about 20 secs and went out on to the bike in 4th behind Emma, Rebecca Wassner, and Pip Taylor. 
Once onto the bike Julie once again put her head down and hammered home, coming into T2 in 1st 1:20 up on Snowsill, 3:10 on Wassner and 4:30 on Taylor. Julie held off Snowsill til about mile 2 or 3, and then came home comfortably in 2nd. So she keeps her Podium streak for the year alive, and keeps her self in the running for the Lifetime fitness series bonus.
Julie is now returning home. She has decided not to race for a few weeks, as she has now had 6 races in 7 weeks. Her next race will be in Chicago for the 3rd of the Lifetime Fitness races. She will however be up at the London triathlon, but with her Driven to tri cap on!
July 2007 - New York Triathlon
Hello again. I'll be posting some live updates during Julie's race at the following site: http://trilive.blogspot.com/.
Please visit the site to check out the exact race time which starts early US time.
July 2007 - Julie 3rd at Lifetime fitness Minneapolis
Julie had another podium finish in Minneapolis today, finishing 3rd behind Vanessa Fernandez and Emma Snowsill. Julie exited the swim in the middle of the front pack which contained most of the top contenders for the day. Julie then put the hammer down early on the bike and opened up a 2min lead on the next girl. Julie looked and felt great on her new Litespeed Saber rigged up with some fresh new Hed 3 carbon wheels(a big thanks to Steve and Annie Hed for sorting them at the last minute!). Before the race Julie new that she had to have at least a 3 minute lead to have a chance at holding off two of the fastest runners in the sport today. So with only the 2mins she always new it was going to be a tall order. Needless to say she stayed strong and held Vanessa and Emma off until about mile 4 of 6. All in all Julie is happy with her performance. It keeps her podium streak for the year alive, and was also her biggest payday to date.
Julie will now stay out in the US for the week, taking time to catch up with family, before heading up to do the second Lifetime fitness race in New York City.
Thanks for reading
July 2007 - Live (ish) Race Updates from Lifetime Fitness Triathlon
I've not done this before and it will depend on what phone coverage I can get out on the race course, but I hope to post live text race updates on the following website: http://trilive.blogspot.com/. Hopefully it will work. If not you can get a post race update here soon after the race.
http://trilive.blogspot.com/July 2007 - European Champs
It was an interesting weekend for Julie in Copenhagen. People have often talked about the role of team tactics in triathlon....or the lack of it...and so for the first time Great Britain decided to employ some team tactics to help bring home a medal. Julie had never planned on racing Euros, but after her winning the national champs a few weeks ago, was asked if she would come along and help out the team utilizing her bike strength. She obliged, all be it a little reluctantly at first!
With 2 fast runners on the team, Andrea Whitcombe and Michelle Dillon, Julie and the 2 other brits Rosie Clarke and Abbie Thorington were brought in to protect Andrea and Michelle and ensure both of them were in medal contention by the end of the bike. It sounds easy on paper....but in reality its a little harder!
Julie had her usual solid swim, sitting in the front pack and exiting in 3rd. Through transition she wasted time faffing taking her wetsuit off, and putting on her helmet, and then proceeded to roll out of T1 in wait of Michelle who was about 70 secs down on the swim. Meanwhile Abbie was doing a fantastic job protecting Andrea up ahead. Once Michelle was out and ready if was a case of Julie and Rosie working hard to drag Michelle back up to the leaders...and of course drag as few other stragglers as possible. Despite one moment of madness from Michelle, it all worked to plan and by lap 5 all the main contenders were together at the front. Julie and Abbie then proceeded to stay on the front and try to string out the field and at least make people work hard, rather than just coast along. Once into transition it was job done, and over to the British run speedsters. Both Andrea and Michelle gave a fantastic effort but we just missed out on the medals with Andrea coming home in 4th and Michelle in 6th.
Julie reported afterwards that it was a positive experience, and hard work, but is now looking very much forward to getting back to normal racing. Next up for her is the first of the Lifetime fitness races in Minneapolis! Show me the money!
June 2007 - Mountain Mayhem, Julie's team win!
This weekend Julie raced in one of the UK's biggest Mountain Bike races, the 24hr Mountain Mayhem. Julie joined forces with Xterra athlete and ex pro Mountain biker Sam Gardner, and 2 other top british pro riders Jody Crawford, and Jamie Newall to race for the BMC/EXTRA UK elite mixed team. The team basically race in a relay format on a lap course, racing one at a time, and can race in any order. The only stipulation being that everyone has to complete at least 2 laps.
The race started with fairly dry conditions, but with a few tricky technical sections that were already pretty muddy. With a constant flow of riders, and rain non stop from about 10pm to 10am things just went from worse to worse.....unless you are of course Sam "the mud master" Gardner. He just seemed to get stronger the worse the conditions got! All 3 of the guys were phenomonal, and put in some super efforts near the end of the 24hrs, so big respect to them. Julie had two good laps, and was rumored to have the fastest laps out of all the females. This is waiting to be confirmed! The team battled very closely with the eventual second place team throughout the middle of the night. But the BMC/EXTRA UK team managed to build a lead in the late morning and afternoon to take the win. You can check out the results here.
All in all it was a fun weekend, despite the somewhat wet and muddy conditions, and something that anyone interested in mountain biking should give ago if you get the opportunity.
Thanks to Cannondale for lending Julie a fantastic mountain bike for the race!
Julie now has 2 days to recover before heading off to Copenhagen for the european championships that take place on Saturday 30th June.
June 2007 - Julie Wins 70.3 UK! and breaks another course record.
Julie was delighted to win her second 70.3 of the year down in Wimbleball in England, despite having a few hiccups along the way. It is reknowned for being one of the hardest 70.3 courses in the world with and extremely tough and hilly bike course, and a hilly mixed terrain run.
Julie exited the swim in the front pack of men, and came into transition on 3rd. The next women where at this point about 2mins plus back. Out on the bike Julie started out feeling strong, but within a few miles her first incident of the day occurred. A rabbit ran out into the road, and after trying to keep pace with Julie decided that enough was enough and turned sharply into her! Needless to say, and unfortunately for the little bunny, Julie won this contest hands down! You will be glad to know that the camera crew, who were following her at the time, stopped to see if the bunny was ok, and later reported that it had survived but its eyes looked a little puffy!
Hiccup number 2 then came at about mile 10 into the 56mile bike, where part of there handlebars/ time trial bars feel off! At this point Julie thought that it might be best for her to call it a day, as she wasn't sure how safe it would be to continue. And after stopping to pick up the parts that fell of, she decided that she would at least ride the rest of the first loop back to transition. By the time she got back, and having changed her mind at least 100 times, she decided to keep going, as at this point she was still in the lead. On Lap 2 she put her head down again and hammered out a 7 to 8min lead by the end of the bike.
The run then went amazingly smoothly and she crossed the line in 4hrs49mins. Her longest race to date! Kaja Schumacher came in 2nd and Michelle Lee in 3rd.
Next up for Julie is a 24hr Mountain bike race, Mountain Mayhem, where she will race on a team of 4. It should be interesting, and good fun. The weekend after that she will then be off to Copnhagen Denmark to compete in the European champs.
June 2007 - Julie 2007 BRITSH CHAMP!
This weekend was the 2nd of the Corus British Elite triathlon races in Tredegar Wales. It was also the elite British national championships. Julie had decided just recently to make an appearance there as good preparation for the UK 70.3 for next weekend. It was also to be her first drafting race since July last year....so a bit of a shock to system. However after pre riding the course on Friday she immediately new it was a good decision to race as she was pretty confident the bike course was made for her. It was hilly, had some very fast tight and technical turns and some fast descents.
On to the race - Julie had an OK swim, leading out for a bit and then just settling in the front group. It was then quickly into Transition and off out on to the first of 10 laps, hitting the hill within about 300m. By the top of the first hill Julie had caught the front 2 and then proceeded to fly down the hill. By the time the reached the hill again on lap 2 she already had a 20 sec lead. She proceed to put time into the rest of the field and entered transition two with about a 3min 30 lead. Julie has been running well in training, and without the flying Dillo (Michelle Dillon) in the race, she was pretty confident that she would hold on for the win. Andrea Whitcombe did however close her lead down gradually, but Julie went on to cross the line just under a minute a head of Whitcombe in 2nd, and Jeanne Collogne (FRA) in 3rd. Rosie Clarke continued her good run of form finishing 4th (3rd Brit), with Vanessa Raw in 5th who is just back from injury.
Needless to say Julie was very happy with the another win, and of course her first British national title. Next up for Julie is the UK 70.3 in Wimbleball, Exmoor. Julie recced the course briefly last week and expects is to be as tough, if not tougher than St Croix....probably minus the heat! A special thank you to Chris Volley, the coach at the high performance center in Bath. He has always been really supportive of Julie, and continues to help and advise her whenever possible. Thanks Vols
June 2007 - Last minute entry for Julie into the British nationals
Things have all been pretty quiet for Julie since she returned from her win in St Croix. This has been great as it has allowed Julie to get a good block of training in before things really kick off on the racing front. Saying that Julie has made a last minute decision to race this weekend at the Corus British Nationals in Wales. This will then be followed up by racing the UK 70.3 the following weekend. This weekend will be Julies first drafting race of the season, and she is excited about having a good hit out. Please check back to read more on the race next week, and thanks for reading.
Julie wins St Croix 70.3!
Julie took control from the gun and never looked back. She lead the swim coming out about 3 mins up on the rest of the girls who pretty much swam all together. Out on to the bike she capitalized on her lead and started out on the run with a 7 min lead. In doing so she broke the course records for both the swim and the bike. Out on to the run Julie hung tough in the heat and and finished again in a course record. Catriona Morrison also of GBR came in second, with Sam Mcglone (2006 70.3 world champ) in third. And Julies partner in crime Abi Bayley had a stormer of a race coming in 4th, making it 3 brits in the top 4!
Needless to say Julie is ecstatic with her race! Thanks to everyone who has contributed to her success, and again a special thank you to Andy at Total Fitness Bath for lending Julie her bike.
Also Julie would like to congratulate both Becky Lavelle for a great win at the 70.3 in Wildflower, and also to Leanda Cave for her win at the inagural One-o-One race in Bradenton Flordia. Go girls!!
Men's results at St. Croix:
- Craig Alexander
- Richie Cunningham
- Chris McCormack
- Marcus Ornellas
St. Croix Race Update
For live audio coverage of the 2007 St. Croix 70.3 visit the following: http://www.mainstreamnetwork.com/listen/dynamicuasx.asp?station=wjkc-fm
It is hard to follow the splits and names over the audio broadcast, so take the below with a pinch of salt.
Update 1Julie Dibens led the women out of the water by close to 3 minutes at round 27:13. I think the women exited behind as follows:
Update 2 As far as I can tell at this point during the bike, just after the 'beast', it is:
- JULIE DIBENS
- CATRIONA MORRISON (- 4:29)
- SAMANTHA MCGLONE (- 5:23)
- ABI BAILEY (- 6:45)
- KAREN SMYERS (- 7:02)
- DESIREE FICKER
- WENDY INGRAHAM
Update 3 Julie has increased her lead to about 5 minutes. In second is Catrina Morrison, followed by Sam McGlone at around 6 minutes and then Desiree Flicker
Update 4 Julie came into transition 2 with about 8 minutes lead. Catrina was followed by Sam and then Abi Bailiey.
Update 5 At the 'Buccaneer' Julie had about 7:30 minutes lead. Catrina was in second. Sam in thrid at 11:45 and Abi in 4th at 12:45 from Julie.
Update 6 They have announced that Julie broke the fastest bike split by 5 minutes.
Update 7 In the men's race, CRAIG ALEXANDER takes first, RICHIE CUNNINGHAM takes second and CHRIS MCCORMACK finishes thrid.
Update 8 The results have just come in (unconfirmed times):
- JULIE DIBENS - 4:31.10
- CATRIONA MORRISON - 4:35.09
- SAMANTHA MCGLONE - 4:41.52)
- ABI BAILEY
April 2007 - Another top 3 for Julie
Julie came 3rd yesterday in the prestigious St Anthony’s non-drafting Triathlon in St Petersburg Florida. After an average swim, where she came out in 3rd (1min20 down on Sara McClarty). Out on the bike she soon caught up and took the lead after about 5 miles into the bike. She then lead throughout the rest of the bike and posted the fastest bike split and picking up the $1000 bike prime. On the run Julie felt strong but not super fast and just tried to get into a good rhythm and hold on. Haskins passed her at about mile 2, and then the FLYING Michelle Dillon just at the turn around. Michelle went on to win the race, with Sarah in second in a sprint finish, and Julie came home in a respectable 3rd.
Full results and splits can be seen here: http://www.altavistasports.com/results/2007results/stanthonystriathlon042907.html
On a personal note, while she was (as always) disappointed not to hold on to 1st or 2nd, she was really happy to see Michelle back to her usual best. Michelle has had a really tough last 6 months where she slipped a disk in her back are was almost forced into retirement. After 3 months of total rest she decided to get back into it, and is now looking stronger than ever. SO congrats to Dillo. For anyone struggling with serious injury she will be a true inspiration. To read more on Michelle go to www.michelledillon.co.uk
Julie now heads to St Croix for the 70.3 (or half ironman). It will be a lot hotter out there, and is obviously 2'ce the distance. So it will be interesting to see how Julie performs. Check back next weekend for results.
March 2007 - Julie Wins Tagaman
Julie is very pleased to take the Tagaman win as well as the overall Saipan Xterra / Tagaman Double. The swim started at the crack of dawn (or maybe just a bit before). After about 4 minutes into the swim and hoping that she was going in the right direction, Julie spotted a course official in a canoe and asked where she should be going. Luckily, she was pretty much on course. Andrew Noble (the men's winner) ran into Julie whilst she was asking for directions! Julie led the entire field out of the water again, making it 3 for 3.
The bike was pretty flat with just a few 'bumps'. Surprising, Julie felt pretty comfortable on the bike, which was lent to her (only received on Thursday night). Julie only brought one bike (a mountain bike) with her, because of cost. Luckily, Derek from Hornet Bicycles and Sporting Goods in Guam found a bike and shipped it to Saipan. So MANY thanks to Derek.
On run, Julie knew she had a bit of a lead and just wanted to take it steady for the first 5k to make sure she did not to overheat. It was in the 80's and Julie is not used to running 15k. The run was pancake flat, which was actually a nice change to running through ravines, gullies and caves. In the end it was a comfortable win, with second place 15 minutes behind.
She has been away for 3 weeks and has put in a lot of great training and races, but now looks forward to returning home. She and the Driven to Tri team are putting on a swim camp at Bath Uni pretty soon. There are still spots available, so enter soon if you are interested
1 Julie Dibens :28:40 01:38:21 00:57:06 3:04:07
2 Jamie Whitmore :33:46 01:42:48 01:03:13 3:19:47
3 Shannon Cutting :33:43 01:44:24 01:09:04 3:27:11
4 Mayumi Otsuka :34:25 01:51:42 01:03:28 3:29:35
5 Mai Shimizu :38:29 02:01:38 01:10:41 3:50:48
6 Noriko Takano :31:31 02:14:25 01:07:12 3:53:08
7 Mieko Carey :37:04 02:04:23 01:13:39 3:55:06
8 Kiyoko Takahashi :39:05 01:53:45 01:26:16 3:59:06
9 Mamiko Oshima :44:41 02:18:13 01:19:31 4:22:25
Full results here: http://www.jtltiming.com/results/taga.html
March 2007 - Julie second in Saipan Xterra
Julie had another good result today with a 2nd place finish in Xterra Saipan behind Renata Bucher of Switzerland. Renata has now won this race for 3 years in a row, and seems to own the course. The Bike course is brutal, with one super steep climb after another, interspersed with some technical descents. That combined with the blazing sun and heat made for a hard day in the saddle. The run was similar with some steep uphills through the jungle, combined with some tricky descents through ravines and gullies, and of course a quick stop through the now legendary WWII caves.
Julie led out the swim overall again, with Olivier Marceau of Switzerland on her toes. The main group was about 5-7 mins back. Julie held of Renata until almost the end of the bike leg, with Renata catching Julie on the last technical decent. They rode the last couple of Km together and entered T2 neck and neck. Julie, who opted for socks to help prevent blisters before next weeks race, lost a few seconds to Renata in transition and was playing catchup there after. She managed to hold the gap if not improve on it on the flats, but was losing time on the tricky off road sections.
Renata held on to win by 2-3mins, with Julie in 2nd and Jamie Whitmore not far behind in 3rd.
In the men Olivier led from the start of the bike and never looked back. Behind him Sam Gardner was on a flyer and was tearing up the tracks passing people left right and center. He moved into 2nd place half way through the bike by passing Andrew Noble. Sam then held on with a great run for 2nd, and Andrew came in 3rd.
Jim, who ended up racing in the age group category, stomped home with a victory despite whipping out hard on the bike, and having a flat tyre.
Next up is the Tagaman Triathlon out here in Saipan next weekend. Tagaman is a road triathlon with a 2km swim, 60km bike, and 15km run. It should be good preparation for Julie who will be doing some Half Ironman races later in the year.
Thanks for reading. You can also read about the race on insidetri.com, runnersweb.com, and tri247.com. Thanks again to Rich Cruse for the photos.
Some photos from Guam Xterra
Many thanks to Rich Cruse who took these photos during the race.
March 2007 - Julie Wins Guam Xterra
First Xterra of the season for me, and a win under my belt. To be honest I didn't really know what to expect going into it. The first real race of the season is always a bit of a funny one, and combined with the jet lag and heat I wasn't expecting great things. Also with this only being my 3rd Xterra, I don't really know how the other girls race, so it is all a bit of an unknown. Needless to say I am delighted with my result. We head over to Saipan on a short flight tomorrow, and will base ourselves there for 2 weeks, with the Saipan Xterra next Saturday, and the Tagaman the following Saturday.
A quick run down of the race. The swim was changed at the last minute due to strong currents, and instead of a dog leg course it was a changed to a 2 lap out and back. There was a real chop on the water so sighting was a little tricky, and that combined with the fact that on the second lap people were swimming back and forth head on into each other made it interesting. I came out first overall, as i did in Denmark, with Olivier Marceau and Sybille Matter not too far behind.
Onto the bike the first section was a road climb which suited me fine. It was about a 20min climb and then into the technical muddy section. I made a few stupid errors, and had 3 or 4 tumbles where I hit the deck. Nothing serious though! Once thru that section it was then back on to some road for another climb, and some shorter non technical off road sections and a decent back down to transition.
Quick transition and then out on the the run. Again similar to the bike the first section was nice and flat, and i got into a good rhythm early on. After about 10mins we then hit a super steep climb up a bank, and a shimmy down a sheer drop, before another flat section of running. Then the fun really began!!!!! Off into the waterfall. Yes, we had to navigate our way down a tricky, and slippery waterfall. The quickest and probably the safest way down was on your ass! A few more sections to navigate thru the streams in the jungle and then we were back out onto the road for the last mile back to transition.
Other than one or two glances over my shoulder early on i didn't really have an idea of what was going on behind me. The results ended up as:
Women:
- 1st Julie Dibens
- 2nd Renata Bucher
- 3rd Jamie Whitmore
- 4th Sybille Matter
- 1st Olivier Marceau
- 2nd Sam Gardner
- 3rd Jim Mcconnel
March 2007 Update from Guam
Well things aren't exactly what i expected out here in Guam! Sam Gardner (on right) and Jim McConnel, the two Brits i am out here with, arrived about 5 days before me and since they arrived it has hardly stopped raining!!!!! This is now my second day out here and yesterday it rained pretty much none stop. Today was a little better. We went for a solid 3 hour ride around the south of the island and we stayed dry for about half of it.
Despite the somewhat shitty weather, the island is beautiful. Especially when you get away from the built up areas. The locals are also super friendly. I think the guys said that they have yet to pay for dinner.
The first of my races are on Sunday. It will be tough as I doubt I will have recovered from Jet lag, and I definitely won't be acclimatised to the heat (despite all the rain, it is still amazingly hot and humid). I am not sure what conditions I would rather, as I have heard that in the rain some segments of the bike will be a bit hairy.....but with no rain it will be incredibly hot. Maybe if someone could arrange for it to rain after i finish the technical bits on the bike?
Anyway thats all for now. Hope to send an update soon after the race.
February 2007 Update
Julie has now just one week to go before she heads of to the sun in Marianas islands of Guam and Saipan. She will be there for 3 weeks and will fit in 3 races. The first 2 being Xterra Guam and Xterra Saipan, and the 3rd being a local road triathlon called the Tagaman. Having had her Mountain bike stolen over Christmas and not having anything concrete signed up on the bike sponsorship front, Julie is extremely thankful to Sarah and Andy at Total Fitness Bath (a local bike shop) for lending Sarah's own Mountain bike to take with her. This also means that her third race out in Saipan, the Tagaman, could be a bit of a challenge as she will be doing this on the mountain bike rather than on a road bike!
Other news is that we had our first official Driven to Tri training day with a group of 10 from a the Zoom Triathlon club in Bournemouth! It was a success and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. To read more about it please go to the News page on the Driven to Tri website. Also, Julie was intereviewed by www.tri247.com at the TCR Show in London. Click here to check it out.
Thanks again for reading. We will be trying to update things as soon as possible while Julie is away so as to keep you all informed of her adventures out in the pacific.
January 2007 Update (2)
Our first Driven to Tri training camp in Lanzarote was a success and it couldnt have come at a better time with a cold snap hitting the UK at the same time. It was a great opportunity for Julie to get lots of good biking miles in her legs, as well as test out her legs in the annual Club la Santa Duathlon. The race went well and she out ran the World Champion long distance Duathlete Yvonne Van Vlerken to take the win.
Julie is now back in the UK for 5 weeks before heading out to the warm in Saipan and Guam where she will combine some more racing with some good training. She will be competing in 3 races in 3 weeks, the Xterra Guam, Xterra Saipan, and the Tagaman triathlon. Again Julie sees this as good preparation for later in the year, as alot of her key races are in the heat.
Check back soon for news on Sponsors for 2007, and for a new look website.
Thanks for reading and for the continued support.
January 2007 Update
Christmas and New Year are now well and truely behind us and Julie's training is full steam ahead. She is trying to use this time to work on building a good solid base of running so that she can tackle the new season with plenty of miles already in her legs. This is a rare opportunity for Julie to have a good winter's training, and she hopes to use it to full effect. Needless to say though, the weather has been abysmal, and so we will both be off to the sun for a week, for a "Driven to Tri" training camp in Lanzarote next week. This will be a good chance for Julie to pick up the biking a bit, while also testing her legs out in the Lanzarote Duathlon on the 20th January. So all in all things are ticking along nicely.
On the coaching front Driven to Tri is starting to take off with some training days lined up for the upcoming months. Julie is throughly enjoying being given the chance to offer out some of her experience and knowledge from her years in elite sport, and is relishing the chance to help people to achieve some of their own sporting goals, no matter how big or small. I too am also enthusiastic about getting back into a bit of swim coaching. It has always been something that i have enjoyed doing and i look forward to doing more and more of it.
Read some archived news
January 2006 - November 2006.