Vitruvian Win For Susie

We get a nice warm feeling inside when we hear Planet X sponsored riders are doing well. We are therefore bubbling with pleasure to be able to report that Susie Hignett has just won the classic Vitruvian event in only her second attempt at the triathlon!  Susie sent us the following report ...

"Well I no longer had the convenient excuse of being a triathlon novice after Ironman 70.3 Antwerp last month. Although I’m not putting too much pressure on myself, I came into Vitruvian felling strong, confident and aiming for a good finish. Vitruvian is a popular UK Middle Distance Race and usually pulls in a competitive field. (Won last year by 70.3 Ireland Champ Lucy Gossage).

Vitruvian was a bit of a race of ups and downs. Very well organised and with a very large field, it has all the atmosphere of a major race. However, having no elite field, and wave starts with the women off last – the two-lap swim was always going to be a challenge with 1000 age-groupers off ahead of me!

If my swim at Antwerp was surprisingly good, this swim was surprisingly bad. Going off course a couple of times, my 32 min effort highlighted the fact that I still have a lot to learn in this sport! Adding to my frustration – my Garmin watch (doubling as my bike speedo) strap broke off while removing my wetsuit and had to stay behind in T1. Hey-Ho – off onto the bike leg. Without a speedo, I simply set out to cycle my Exocet hard and catch as many of the 8 girls ahead of me before my strongest discipline, the run. It turned out to be a good strategy! The motivation of reeling the girls in really spurred me on. By T2 I had just caught the leading girl with the day’s fastest bike split on my Planet X Exocet! 2h 22 for the 85km was quite a bit quicker than at Antwerp and proof that my biking is really heading in the right direction.

Leaving T2, surprisingly in 1st position, I knew it would be difficult for the girls to catch me. I simply set out at a strong and steady pace aiming to enjoy running amongst the hundreds of fellow runners. A 1h 21 half marathon was again an improvement and I know that with some competition around me I can run well under 1h20. Although not quite the world-champs, Vitruvian was a great race and perfect confidence boost at the end of my first season of Triathlon Training. 4h 20 for a race with a hilly (if 5km short) bike course is positive - I won by 13 min ahead of a 2 x age-group world champs medallist. I am racing as a WTC pro for 2012 and look forward to challenging for 70.3, duathlon and X-Terra podiums. Thanks for the support Planet X!"

The pleasure is ours Susie.  Well done.  Superb effort.

21 September 2011