New Zealand triathlete Kris Gemmell couldn't overcome the
after-effects of a serious bout of food poisoning in the
second race of the ITU world championship series in Madrid
today (NZT).
Neither Gemmell nor Tony Dodds were able to finish the race,
with Gemmell dropping off the lead group early in the bike
before withdrawing after three of the eight laps.
"This seems to be my luck lately," said a dejected Gemmell.
"I began suffering the effects of food poisoning on Friday
night and spent all night and most of Saturday spewing -
sorry, there is just no other way to describe it.
"I made the front group on the bike but very quickly knew
there was nothing in the tank so I'm gutted. I hate pulling
out of any race especially when I know my form is so good, I
felt like there was a podium finish in me this weekend for
sure."
Dodds (Wanaka) struggled to stay with the pace in his first
world championship series start, eventually withdrawing on
the seventh of the eight laps of the bike while in 37th
place.
The 21-year-old is not getting too down about the race
though, putting it down to valuable experience at the top
level.
"I felt good beforehand, quite relaxed in fact. The only
problem I had before the race was that I did not have the
usual pre-race food - I couldn't find any porridge or creamed
rice to have before the race so had to settle for a sandwich.
"The first 200m in the swim was fine, I was sitting behind
the leader until the others came up beside me, pulling me,
pushing me and put myself out of rhythm."
Dodds came out of the water in the third pack one minute
down, and had to work hard on the bike, battling a hilly
course and sweltering heat.
"After the fourth lap we caught the second group but by then
I was spent, I started closing my eyes I was in so much pain,
finally `popping' on the second last lap up the hill.
"The positives that came out of this were different though
from other big races, I felt like I needed to be more
aggressive in the water; I have to deal with that. I can keep
up with any of them but as soon as someone touches me I lose
rhythm.
"So I'm not too down, because I now know what I have to do
and feel more experienced from this race as there were all
the best from around the world."
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