I bet all the other elite women triathletes are jumping up and down right now, huh?
...I began asking myself the same thing. Are they jumping for joy at the chance to be the new top contender? Are they relieved to not be racing in Chrissie's shadow? Or are they somewhat frustrated with having to wait another year before they can go up against the best in the sport?
I'm sure it's a mix of both. Leanda Cave and Julie Dibens even tweeted the following...
I'm sure Chrissie's opponents will miss her out in the races. However, I happen to remember a short clip with Mirinda Carfrae in the beginning of this past year's Kona video; if you have it, it starts at 4:30 into the video. The summary is 'Was Carfrae the 2010 Ironman World Champion only because Chrissie wasn't there?' You have to acknowledge that Carfrae had a 2nd place in 2009 and repeated 2nd place in 2011.
Therefore, to some extent, I'm sure Carfrae if not other competitors would prefer to see Chrissie race so that they can truly test themselves against the best without the potential "What if's" being mentioned.
As an athlete myself who happens to have quite the competitive nature, I would certainly wish my competitor the best of luck - I always have and always will no matter whether they're racing or not. However, I would personally always flag any win where my best competitors are not present. It's just my nature. So while I'm sure there are no hard feelings and everyone is wishing each other the best of luck and health, I know there must be some frustration amongst the top female pros going into this season.
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Questions
1. If you won a race, but knew your biggest competitor wasn't there, how would you feel?2. Anyone have news from the mens field?
I've been so focused on Chrissie's announcement that I haven't looked up the top men to see if anyone announced whether they're racing or not this year. Honestly, blogger and FB are my news centers!
3. How was everyone's Monday?
Did the training week kick off with a bang or a rest day?
Swim fast. Bike smart. Run hard.
1 comment:
See, I work in the world of horse racing and we deal with this a lot! My feeling is that the BEST person wins the race. If Chrissie isn't running, she surrenders her top spot. Period. The winner is the winner and nothing can be taken away from that.
Most horses will never be as good as Secretariat was BUT they are champions and they will have redeeming qualities about them that he never did. Each situation and champion is unique.
That's my two cents.
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