A miserable day greeted athletes for the penultimate round of the World Triathlon Series in Edmonton, Canada on Sunday evening.
Aileen Reid went into the race as the 3rd ranked athlete and had hopes of another top result however it was not to be as she could only manage 39th in the horrid conditions.
It started badly for Reid as she experienced the full effects of a triathlon swim start, getting submerged and swum over on four occasions. That combined with an elbow to the face meant the former City of Lisburn swimmer emerged from the water a minute down on the leader.
With the race being fought out over the sprint distance the leading pack were not letting up and Reid found herself among the back markers with the group unwilling and unable to claw back the deficit.
Vicky Holland of Great Britain went on to take the win from the leading pack in a time of 58:55 with Reid coming home in 1:03:41. The result see’s Reid slip three places in the World Series rankings to 11th, however, with an athletes best five results to count a good finish at the Grand Final in Chicago would see her jump back inside the top 10.
Russell White will come away from Edmonton with more positive memories as the 23 year old far exceeded expectations to finish 28th in the Elite Men’s race.
White got his opportunity to race in the World Series after he stormed to victory at the Standard Distance National Championships hosted by the Vodafone Dublin City Triathlon in similarly freezing conditions just 2 weeks ago.
It was a flying start for White as he got though the 750 metre swim in a time of 8:40, exiting the water on the toes of Javier Gomez who is on target for a fifth World Title.
Once onto the bike the leading pack swelled to some 40 athletes with White keeping himself out of trouble around the wet and technical course.
By the time they hit the run it was South African, Richard Murray who piled on the pressure, breaking the elastic between himself and Gomez to win in a time of 53:19 with Gomez just four seconds back in 2nd. Spain’s Mario Mola clocked a 15:22 5 kilometre run for 3rd with Russell White holding his form to finish in a time of 54:52.
“Ranked 66th out of 68 starters and finished 28th today.” White tweeted after the race.
“So I’m super happy, loved racing in really tough weather conditions. Still a lot more to come.”
Aileen Reid and Bryan Keane will be back in action on the 18th and 19th of September respectively for the ITU World Triathlon Series Grand Final in Chicago.