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Home  Races Race Reports Local Brazilian Ironman
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Brazilian Ironman |
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Hello everyone,
This is coming to you from Joe Wojcik, no longer a Hong
Kong resident but always a Dragon! We moved back to the US in January and have
been living in Sun Valley, Idaho. It is almost like moving to a new country as
we have never lived in a tiny town.
Anyway, I digress but Becky asked
me to write up a little review of the recent Brazilian Ironman. After reading
Steve Bemet's commentary, I feel a bit intimidated by his inimitable writing
style but here is a quick recap of the event:
The race is held annually
in Florianopolis, a beautiful island with 42 beaches about an hour south of Sao
Paulo by plane. The weather was a bit cool, from 15 to 20 degrees all week and
on race day. The swim consisted of a 2000 metre rectangle followed by a 30 metre
jog on the sand and then another 1800 metres, continually moving your way down
the beach. The current was pretty strong so after the sand run, lots of people
were met head on with the swimmers just completing the first part. Kind of fun
sighting buoys and seeing your fellow triathletes in your way. As this was my
first real Ironman race (IM Korea last year canceled the swim due to a bit of
lightning and some heavy swells), I was surprised at seeing the "wetsuit
strippers" at the end of the swim. I sat right down and gladly accepted their
assistance, feeling like a grunion flopping around the transition chute. I still
can't believe that some guys do not wear bathing suits and still use the
strippers in front of all the crowd. Mostly Brazilians mind you.
The
bike is a two loop course of 90 km each and winds throughout the island. It was
a bit crowded at the start as a few pelotons quickly formed and the marshals
were right there on motorcycles blowing whistles and yelling at everyone in
Portuguese. Sometimes it is good to not know the local language. The P3s were
out in abundance, I must get some of those 808s! After the first loop, I had a
friend give me my "special needs" bag full of the Chocy Gus that Steve
introduced me to and I almost got a penalty as I rifled through my bag while my
friend held my bike for me. I guess that is not allowed (rookie move!) but why
would they allow friends in the special needs area in the first place?
The run had a hilly first 21 k and then two flat loops of 10.5 k to
finish it off. My race number had "Joseph" on it and I was continually greeted
by the Brazilians on the side of the road with "Giuseppe, vamos!" which I am
guessing means "Joe, you are going quite slow so please pick it up!"
My
big decisions of the day involved the sartorial strategy and I used the
Herbalife bike shirt with arm warmers (good choice with the chill in the air)
and the Hong Kong Dragons tri club kit for the run (excellent choice indeed).
I had a good race and did better than I thought I would - 1:04 on the
swim, 5:55 on the bike and 4:12 run for a total (with some wetsuit stripper
transition time in there) of 11:19:58. I came in 445 out of 1262 athletes and
70th out of 207 in my age group.
Post race symptoms include an aversion to
pre-packaged GU Gels, constant grazing and a desire for a new disc wheel for the
P3.
Let me know if any of you get to Idaho, I know Colin can attest to
the great conditions for riding here.
PS - I used a travel/event
company called Endurance Sports Travel and they were superb. They coordinated
flights, hotels, meals, transfers and the best part - assembly and disassembly
of your bike! I highly recommend them if you are considering doing an event that
they are coordinate. Here are their coordinates:
Endurance Sports Travel
725 Westbourne
Rd
West Chester, PA 19382
610-399-4662
www.endurancesportstravel.com <http://www.endurancesportstravel.com/>
Offering tours to:
Ironman Western Australia
Half
Ironman Pucon
Ironman New Zealand
Ironman South Africa
Ironman
Australia
Ironman Brazil
Ironman Switzerland
Ironman Germany
Ironman
Austria
Ironman Florida
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