Anne Curi Preisig Wins National Duathlon Championship
Submitted by Jim Preisig, April 28, 2008
Anne and I raced in the Duathlon National Championships this weekend in Richmond Virginia (Anne in the Elite/Pro division and me in the age group division) over what is probably one of the most challenging courses we have ever raced. The races started out with a 10 kilometer run, then transitioned to a 40 kilometer bike, then ended with a 5 kilometer run. The run (two laps of a 5 kilometer course to start the race, one lap of the same course to finish the race after we got off the bike) could best be described as a mix of urban and rural cross country with several loops on muddy trails around an island, up and down the slopes of the embankment on the side of a river, and multiple crossings of a big concrete pedestrian bridge that was continuously undulating. On the bike, the course had no "easy section" as it was up and down and twisty almost all the way (4 laps of a 10 K course) under varying conditions as the pavement was slick in places from the on and off rain that we had preceding and during the races and the wind was swirling throughout the races.
My race started at 7 AM and went pretty well. I finished third in my division but ran into my old nemesis of muscle cramping during these longer races. At one time or another during the race, my calves, hamstrings, hip flexors, and quads each cramped. Being an equal opportunity inflictor of pain, I don't think that I left any of the major muscles in the legs unaffected. Walking (or what passes for it) is still a challenge!
Anne's race started shortly after mine finished so my words to her between races were "This course is brutal, be conservative" and "Watch out, the bike course is slick in spots" as I had seen a number of people crash during my race. The Elite races are held under different rules than the Age Group races in that the competitors are allowed to draft off of one another during the bike portion of the race. This can change the tactics of the race quite a bit.
Anne's race included a mix of old timers and some new women to the Elite ranks about which we knew very little other than one was supposed to be a fast runner. Two of the old timers concerned Anne as they both have beaten her at the recent world championships races. One was a woman from New Zealand (Bianca Simpson) who has competed for New Zealand in the Olympics as a cyclist and can still really hammer on the bike. When she is on form, she is also a respectable runner. The other was a woman from Canada (Nicole Volger) who is strong late in the race and has out run Anne on the second run at the last two world championship races. Anne and Bianca had talked the day before race and agreed that should the opportunity present itself, they would work together on the bike to try to separate themselves from the others on the bike and then duke it out between themselves on the last 5K run. However, plans are plans and sometimes things don't go quite according to plan.
When the woman came back through the start finish area after the first 5K run loop Anne, Bianca, and two of the new racers were a lead group of 4 with Nicole Volger falling of the back of that group (and noticeably laboring to keep up). Anne spoke to me in a full sentence as they came through so clearly the racing had not yet gotten serious. Heading out on the second lap the two new racers began pressing the pace and the racing was on. Bianca immediately fell off the pace and Anne spent a few minutes encouraging her and hanging back a bit to try and keep her in contact. However, the two up front were moving away and Anne decided that she could not let them go, particularly since she did not know how well they could bike, either alone or together. So, she rejoined the two lead women and the three of them finished the first run together with about a 90 second gap on Bianca and further back to the rest of the field.
They headed out on the bike course together and one of the women fell off the pace when they hit the first hills. So, Anne was riding with just one woman about whom she knew very little. They came in off the first lap and two of them had about a minute lead on the third woman. Perhaps out of inexperience or a desire to make the bike as hard as possible, the woman with Anne was content to do most of the work. She was not making the best decisions as she was also not familiar with the course before the race and on the second lap was having difficult remembering the course that they had just ridden on the first lap. Coming off of the second lap, Anne was all alone with no one else in sight. Turns out that the woman with whom Anne was riding misjudged one of the turns and had crashed. Anne yelled to me to find out if the woman had gotten up and rejoined the race (she had not). By this time, Bianca had moved into 2nd place about 2 1/2 minutes behind Anne. Two more laps and Anne came off the bike with almost a 2 minute lead on Bianca. Anne cruised the last 5K run to take her first national championships title in the Elite division. The announcer, who has known Anne since she started racing triathlons/duathlons almost 20 years ago, was ecstatic with Anne winning and announced that ... this is a historic win since we have never before had anyone this old win the elite national championships. Not sure that that was the type of history Anne wants to be known for but it was funny none the less. The old timers ended up ruling the day as the finish order ended up Anne, Bianca, and Nicole in third.
Anyway, it was a great weekend for us. We got home last night to a very excited Clara (Eric was already in bed) and Eric expressed his excitement to see us this morning when he woke up.
Cool Running coverage of the race