Abu Dhabi Triathlon: Disappointing!!

I am writing a very short report race report , because, in my opinion, there's very little to say. I thought my condition was good, but during the race, I could never find it... Hence, my race was disappointing. The swimming was fair, during the bike leg, I seriously overestimated myself and the running was a survival race. I did not want to give up, so I finished the 20km in a snail-like pace.
The race organization was excellent, except for a few 'cosmetic details'. Those details however made me decide never to come back here! If one is not a top swimmer, participating here does not make sense. Prior to the race, the organizers insisted that they envisioned a non-drafting event and that they had a perfect solution to enforce the non-drafting. What happened during the race: no referees to see, hence no checking and no cards. Indeed a perfect solution to the drafting problem!!
I want to congratulate my teammate Frederik Van Lierde though. I think he delivered the best long distance performance in his career here in Abu Dhabi. Every time I crossed his leading group, he was heading it and in the final kilometers he even managed to bike away from the others. Nice! During the run, he resisted the better runners quite well and managed to finish in 5th position. Honestly, I think he could have done even better, if everybody had applied a little more fairplay. The coach of 2 other athletes in the top five was also participating in the race. No problem with that, but... accidentally, this coach started his first running lap exactly when his two athletes started their second lap. So, for a long time, he could help them by running in front of them and defining a quick pace. By doing so, he must have thought that he could recoup Eneko Llanos before the end of the race. Disgusting! I am glad Eneko was able to resist and claim the victory.

See you next time during the Wildflower Triathlon,

Hopefully with a better result!!

Rutger

Foto's Abu Dhabi>>>>>>>>