Day 4 - World Para-cycling Championships - Denmark

Wow what a day!  When I woke up this morning the first thing I did was look out the wind to see what the weather was like.  There are 3 flags flying outside my window and every day the past week them have been flying at full flight.  This morning they were hanging still!  I couldn’t believe my luck, but would it hold out until 10:45 am?

I had breakfast and then made sure that I had everything packed that I needed and we left at 8:30 am to head to the course.  I was nervous as I was worried about some of the very narrow roads and “S” bends that awaited us.  As far as I was concerned they were alright on the time trial but with a number of trikes trying to get through I figured there would be some that would go off the road.

The morning was good I had my race plan all set and followed it, that is until I took the trike out for a quick ride and ended up cutting up the rear right tyre on god knows what.  So our mechanic Peter changed the tyre, not a problem, I had just over 15 minutes until start time.  Once the tyre was changed I headed towards the start line.  Before you can enter the start area you have to stop at the officials and sign against your name that you are there.  As I was sitting on my trike signing the tyre blew!  It is amazing how loud that is when you are sitting on top of it.  It was now 8 minutes to start time.  I think that every person on either side of the road who was there to watch all said at the same time “Oh!”  I must say that is not what I said, I think mine was more like “shit!” I turned around to head back to our tent and saw that Peter was running towards me.  I yelled that I had blown the tyre and he said he had heard it.  Needless to say my heart rate was rising! But Peter is amazing and within about a minute he had the tyre changed and I was off to the start.  It is a great way to get the adrenaline going!

The start was good, I was right beside my Canadian competitor and to the left of me the reigning World Champion from Germany.  In front of me was the men’s reigning World Champion, so I couldn’t be in a better position.  The start sounded and I went with them, with the first corner only a couple of hundred meters ahead you wanted to make sure you were out front.  We got around the corner safely but behind us there was a huge crash and pile up!  Glad I was out front.  My Canadian competitor was bound and determined to stay with the men and I was able to hold on for a couple of kilometres, but then realized that if I tried to stay with them I would blow up.  The one thing that Peter Day (the head coach of the Para-cycling team) had talked about was that if she was too strong, to not try and keep up but stay ahead of the other women.  I ended up working with a couple of the guys for almost the first lap until they too were too fast for me.  The rest of the race I was on my own and unfortunately the wind decided to make an appearance!

I ended up 2^nd, but unlike the other day I was VERY happy with my result.  I had done the best that I could do and believe me tonight I know that I did everything I could.  My body is really sore tonight, but I look at the silver medal and know that I have earned it.  The experience was certainly worth it and I now know what I have to work on for next year.  Marie-Eve, my Canadian competitor is now the hunted and I have the luxury of being the hunter!

It is now time to “do the hard stuff”, because it will bring out the best in me.  I can’t merely embrace the challenges, I have to go out and look for the most meaningful and valuable ones.  I believe that if you choose to the hard stuff and find delight in the efforts you are able to make, you’ll enjoy the richest, longest-lasting and most fulfilling rewards!

Results from the rest of the Australian Team today:

Ryan Huges – C4 – Did Not Finish due to equipment failure

Michael Gallagher – C5 – 8^th, only 5 secs down on 1^st place!

Jayme Paris – C1 – 1^st (medal not awarded due to lack of competitors)

Matthew Formston}

Phil Thuaux            } Men’s Tandem – 22^nd

Brandie O’Connor }

Kerry Knowles       }Women’s Tandem – 16^th

Michael Taylor}

Craig Parsons  }Team Relay Hand cycles – 6th

Nigel Barley    }