The following Race Report by Dirk Hasselkuss:
This event was all about expectation management for Zoe and Jasmin. When deciding on the event it was already clear that the girls would enter it fairly under-prepared. Two weeks of no training/traveling over Christmas and 10 days of traveling (skiing and snowboarding) just two weeks before the race… oh well, there is more to live than triathlon.
We arrived in Florida late Friday night, had a good nights sleep, picked up the girls Trek rental bikes, watched some elite races (with a few bike crashes to scare us thoroughly), did practice ride, run and swim on Saturday. Draft legal racing is certainly an exciting and different thing altogether.
Next to the entrance to the water at Lake Louisa is a big warning sign for alligators which adds a certain element to the excitement. That the very dark brownish-red water of the lake has absolutely zero visibility may actually be a good thing.
Sunday morning 8 am was showtime for Zoe and Jasmin in their 13 to 15 age group; they were very nervous but otherwise ready to go. It was a picture perfect day with sunshine, calm, non-wetsuit warm water and no wind. The 22 girls that had entered the race dashed from the beach into the water and off they were for their 375m swim. Z&J exited the water almost together about 1:30 mins behind the lead girls, right about where I expected them to be. Both girls had solid 10k bike rides (staying upright!) and 2.5k runs, picking up a few competitors along the course to the finish line. Finishing happy, excited and smiling 9th (Zoe) and 11th (Jasmin) is a great result (considering) and mission fully accomplished.
