Jodie Stimpson continued her impressive run of form with victory today at the Virgin Active London Triathlon. The 22-year-old from Oldbury in the West Midlands completed the 1.5km swim/40km bike/10km run course in 1:56:48 – 1:25mins head of Liz Blatchford and 3:13mins clear of Lois Rosindale.
Stimpson recorded 20:39mins for the swim, which kept her in contention, coming just 20secs behind the strong swimming duo of Blatchford and Abbie Thorrington.
Onto the bike the three kept away from the pack, which played into strong-runner Stimpson’s hands, especially as Blatchford had hardly run in the last five weeks.
And so it proved as a 35:12min run swept Stimpson to victory. It comes off the back of a fine ninth in the Hamburg leg of the Dextro series earlier in the month.
Here’s what the leading protagonists had to say about the race…
1st JODIE STIMPSON
Talk us through your race
It was a fast swim. I knew it would be because Liz and Abbie are good swimmers and were trying to get away. I was going to chase them on the bike but I could see them out of the swim, and because of the long run into transition I pulled back some time there.
On the bike I put my head down and caught them quite quickly. Thankfully no-one came with me so it was just the three of us. We worked really well together. Liz was pretty strong on the bike but we all did our fair share. And it was good because we didn’t let up to allow the chasing pack to catch us.
We got into transition with a good gap and I was hoping the three of us would take the podium places, but unfortunately Abbie couldn’t quite finish it off. But I’m chuffed for Lois.
You look much stronger than when you took second here 12 months ago
I’ve been a lot more consistent this season, working really hard on several things with Michelle [Dillon, Jodie’s coach]. And I’m delighted to take my first victory of the season. Hopefully I’ll get some more before the year is out.
Michelle is such a motivation as a coach – you can’t learn from anyone better than her. She’s awesome.
Where are you based?
In the winter we’re in Oz. It’s either Loughborough or, for me, Birmingham the rest of the season.
Will we see you at Hyde Park next weekend?
It’s Hyde Park next weekend. It’s not a problem racing today. Michelle was confident I’ll be fine and we’ll just have a relatively restful week. It’ll be really easy, small pick-ups; just keeping the mind on the job.
Qualification is top three but I’d really like to make tip eight. That would get me on funding, which is really needed at the minute. I haven’t been on funding for three years so to make top eight would be a big relief.
2nd LIZ BLATCHFORD
Talk us through your race
Me and Abbie [Thorrington] managed to get a gap in the water. That was my aim. I’ve got a hip injury and haven’t done any run training for five weeks. I picked it up jut before the 5150 Liverpool race [which Liz won] and haven’t done much run training since then.
It’s still sore now but it’s the type of injury I can’t make worse by running – it just hurts. I’ve decided I’m going to race on for this season, and then have an operation to get it fixed.
I just about managed to hold on during the bike and run for second.
Are you racing next weekend?
I’ve pulled out of Hyde Park unfortunately. I’ve got to be realistic – if I haven’t really run for five works against a field like that, I wouldn’t get a good result. I’m going to train as hard as I can, and then do Des Moines in the States and hopefully the Grand Final in Beijing.
3rd LOIS ROSINDALE
Talk us through your race
I’m pretty pleased, to be honest. The swim was always going to be hard as I’m not as strong a swimmer as Liz and Abbie. I came out in the third group, which wasn’t what I wanted. But I rode as hard as I could on the bike.
Onto the run I just put my head down and went for it.
I had three months off running with a hip injury, but it’s going well at the moment.
You handled the heat okay?
Yeah, it seemed okay today. When I raced the Europeans [in Pontevedra, Spain, in June] it was so much hotter so it didn’t bother me too much today.
In two weeks I’ve got the Tiszaujvaros World Cup, a couple of French Grand Prixs and then it’s down to whether I get selected for the World U23s or not. If I do, I’ll be off to Beijing in September.
Things will finish off with the European U23s in Israel, which has been confirmed as 29th October. So I’m going to have to extend my season somewhat.
More on Lois’ team, Challenger World, at www.teamcwuk.com
