Docherty’s report of ITU World Series – Kitzbuhel

This just in from Bevan Docherty, in which the bronze medalist at Beijing last summer talks through us his experience at the Kitzbuhel leg of the ITU World Series.



“Well what can I say, this really seems to be one of those years where no matter what I do things are always going against me…



My latest race was the 4th round of the ITU World series race in Kitzbuhel Austria. For such a beautiful place it was set to be quite an exciting race, great atmosphere, surrounded by amazing mountains and racing on beautiful roads. However, it was to be these roads that I would be more acquainted than I had anticipated…



After finally knocking the flu on the head that had plagued me in the previous 2 races, I was looking forward to racing as a healthy person, although, maybe slightly off form. Even when the rain started to bucket down 30 minutes before the race I wasn’t fazed! I’m a kiwi, we’re used to this weather all the time…



The race got off to a great start for me, and after 200m I was well positioned in the swim, unfortunately it was a false start (not me) and we had to be called back… Second time round wasn’t as good, but I still managed to make the front group on the bike, and settled in. Once again the skies opened up and it started to rain pretty heavily. Then the crashes started to happen. The first one bringing down a bunch of four including my mate Kris

Gemmell, each lap more people came down as the race went on. It’s a very tricky situation to be in, you have to find the balance between racing, staying out of trouble and luck. Sometimes, when your numbers up its up…



Another factor on the bike was that the cold started to take its toll on people, you had to really concentrate on staying alert and yet trying to ignore the bitter cold. With only one lap to go I found myself going into the last technical section and remember thinking to myself “OK, be careful through here…” Seconds later as my front wheel slipped from underneath me and I slid 10m off the road into the padded barrier I said to myself “you idiot!”



Within a split second I was straight back on the bike trying to get moving again, however my front chain had come off and I once again found myself off the bike scrabbling to put the chain on… By the time I was moving again the group was a long way up the road and the chance of a good result was long gone as well!



I still battled on, managing to pick off a few athletes on the run to finish up a disappointing 27th. I guess its just going to be one of those years for me, although I was still off my “A game” from my flu I was hoping to pick some good points up for the series. Now with a result like this it just makes my task of winning the series much more difficult. However, I’m going to battle on and hopefully end the year strong.



Next race for me is Hamburg, I’m a little bruised from the crash, but not too bad so hoping to put together a better race than this. Thanks for all the e?mails of support, especially over tough times like this, it really keeps me going…



Follow this link to see the TV3 news coverage of the race and my crash. http://www.scoop.co.nz/multimedia/tv/sports/24355.html

Bevan”