‘Well, no more training’, said one guy as he walked through Hyde Park, which is one way of looking at the arrival of the biggest day in the British Triathlon season. I walked to the Serpentine wondering, along with everyone else there, which Brownlee brother would win. Jonathan or Alistair? World Champion or Olympic Champion? It was going to be a walk/cycle/swim in the park for one of them, wasn’t it?
The start of the World Triathlon Grand Final. And a duck
Around the Serpentine lake the atmosphere was chaotic, with athletes from all over the world getting ready for their races, having massages after their races, getting changed or having photographs taken with their medals. I watched from the south side of the lake, near a family eating a picnic as they waited for the start. (‘Luke, have you given your sandwich to the ducks?’ Luke had to admit that he had. ‘Don’t say you’re hungry anytime soon’). Just before 13:30 the elite men walked out to the start line and the first leg of the triathlon – a 1.5km swim – was soon underway.
Unfortunately lake swimming isn’t a natural spectator sport. Most of the view from the bank was of arms and splashing water. A chap in a black wetsuit and orange cap led all the way round, although since all the competitors were wearing black wetsuits and orange caps, it was impossible to know who was winning. Maybe that was why we watched the action in silence like a Soviet crowd forbidden to cheer.
Things got more exciting with the 40km cycling leg – a simple matter of 7 laps around Hyde Park and out to Buckingham Palace. The wetsuits and swimming caps were off and team colours could be seen. By lap 2 the local Brownlee heroes were first and second. The crowd roared their approval but as the laps went on Alistair dropped back owing to an ankle injury.
A triathlon finishes with a 10 km run, at the head of which Jonathan Brownlee and Javier Gomez were contesting the lead. British hopes were still alive until the final metres, where Brownlee attacked too soon into the wind. Gomez hauled him back and won by 1 second. Alistair came home 52nd.
‘Second in the world isn’t too bad,’ Jonathan Brownlee said afterwards, ‘but I wanted to win’. Most of the crowd wanted him to win as well, but they’d had an exciting afternoon and with the winning margin being only one second they knew that they had seen a great race. Now there are several months off until the start of the 2014 season in April. WIth Alistair fit again maybe next year will see a Brownlee win at Hyde Park.
Find out more about Triathlon in the UK
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