Friday, 03 June 2011 08:34
Murray takes first international triathlon win
by Manfred Seidler
Richard Murray has been billed by many as the next great thing in SA Triathlon and if his performance at the ITU Premium European Cup in Brasschaat, Belgium this past weekend is anything to go by, the pundits could well have this one right on the money.
Despite difficulties in the swim, Murray, a two-time Junior Duathlon World Champ, was able to remain focused and concentrate on his race and not on that of the rest of the field. Emerging over a minute down on the leaders from the swim, Murray did not panic, even after losing 30 more seconds to the leaders on the bike. This came about as the pack he was riding with seemed more interested in their own personal duals than with trying to catch the breakaway group.
Once on the run, Murray was able to start chasing down the leaders one by one. Not only did Murray have the fastest run of the day, but he needed to make up a 15 second deficit after being penalised in the transition zone. In his endeavour to close the gap on the leaders as quickly as possible, Murray did not put his bike helmet in the box in T2 and had to stop racing for 15seconds as per ITU rules, this after opening the first two kilometres at 2.35/2.45 pace.
After the initial adrenaline rush, Murray settled down to a more sedate 3min/km pace and continued to reel in the leaders one after the other. With 2.5km to go (final lap of the 4 lap run circuit), Murray was lying in fourth. Passing 2007 World Champion, Danial Unger, gave Murray a shot of confidence and he upped his pace.
When he crossed the line 1 hour 44min and 22 seconds after starting, Murray had won his biggest race in his three year triathlon career. His final run split of 29.54 (for 10km) was the fastest by over 30seconds and is testament to the character and never say die attitude of Murray.
In the same event, Gillian Saunders also notched up her best ever performance by finishing 5th. Like Murray, Saunders used her strength on the run leg to make up time.
Results Men
Overall Swim Bike Run
1 Richard Murray 01:44:22 18:27 55:34 29:54
2 Pierre Le Corre 01:44:39 17:23 55: 31:38
3 Vincent Luis 01:44:47 17:23 55:08 31:48
4 Lukas Salvisberg 01:44:50 17:31 55:03 31:48
5 Daniel Unger 01:44:56 17:31 55:04 31:53
Results Women
1 Rebecca Robisch 01:58:37 20:25 1:01:37 35:14
2 Radka Vodickova 01:58:50 20:15 1:01:47 35:25
3 Mateja Simic 01:59:00 20:33 1:01:15 35:38
4 Sarissa De Vries 01:59:25 20:20 1:01:39 36:00
5 Gillian Sanders 01:59:27 20:51 01:02:50 34:16
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