World Triathlon Championships 2002

by Dave Lodge

I arrived the week before the race to find Cancun was basking in a heat wave. Actually it's hot all year round here. For the few days before the race I managed to swim, bike and run each part of the course but at a leisurely pace as the weather was hot, damned hot! Did some sun bathing naturally enough since the sun shone most of the day and a bit of sightseeing too.

On race day the first waves went off at 08:30am. They were the lucky ones, it was only hot (34 ^oC) and humid for them. By the time the last of us set off at 11:30am it was as hot as a summer's day in hell (38 ^oC) and humid too! I had for me what was an excellent swim. Some said afterwards that the course was a tad too far, but who cares? ... at least the local jelly fish weren't out that day!

Out onto the bike and it was fast and flat. A very fast course if you were prepared to throw caution to the wind and push hard. There were many people out on the course and there was some drafting evident, but no huge packs due to nice wide roads and some technical dead turns interspersed along the way. I came in off the bike feeling a little dehydrated despite thinking I'd drunk all the way around. My overriding recollection was of the road being so hot in bare feet you couldn't stand in one place for too long.

And finally there was the run. I felt quite good in T2 as I racked my bike until I started to put one foot in front of the other and realised this was going to be a mental test as well as anything physical. The last 5k lap was about the worst I've ever felt in a race. Despite plenty of water stations every 500 metres or (so wasn't dehydrated) it felt like the heat and humidity were squashing you into the pavement, and no shade at all. Apparently the unofficial temperature out on the road in the sun was around 45 ^oC (120 ^oF)!!! So for the record...