2011 The start of race season....A bit of a mixed bag!

13 Jun 2011

2011 The start of race season….A bit of a mixed bag!

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Since we last heard from Iain Dawson and the ‘boot camp’ he carried out last month it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster start of the season for the reigning 2010 World Paratriathlon Champion.

The race season started with the East Coast Supersprint in May with Liam Gentry guiding him to a solid 4th place finish on a windy day in Great Yarmouth, a good start and always nice to get the opening race of the season out of the way without any problems.

Next came the Waveney Sprint Triathlon a few weeks later in and Iain continued in the same vein he started with at the East Coast Supersprint with a 4th place finish and 1st in age group, this time guided by Matt Ellis who raced to his World Championships success in 2010. Iain walked away with a 3 minute improvement on last year’s time so was feeling in good shape before the National Championships.

The Corus British Paratriathlon Championships were held at Holme Pierrepoint in Nottingham for the second year running and Iain was being guided by Liam Gentry, unfortunately by Iain’s own admission the race “turned into a bit of disaster”. After initially leading the swim, the tether rope (which connects Iain to his guide) became entangled on a buoy before becoming detached. This consequently cost them precious time and made it very difficult to navigate the course. Unfortunately, the disorientation resulted in severe dizziness in T1 which led to a huge deficit to try and reclaim. A frantic chase on the tandem bike leg to the leaders followed and the lead was taken back. However, it didn’t seem to be Iain’s day as a fall on the run ended his chances of defending the title. Iain finished 2^nd – 45 seconds down and disappointed with a “bad day all round”.

Just to make things even more challenging Iain is in a race against time to get fit for the European Championships in Pontevedra, Spain – a foot injury means that he has been limited by the amount of running he has been able to do. However, with the force of will that drives Iain it would be a fool who bets against him competing and doing himself and his country justice in the forthcoming European Championships.