HARROP
WINS FIRST ROUND OF THE ITU TRIATHLON WORLD CUP
In
a further example of her emotional fortitude and physical
strength, Australia's Loretta Harrop has beaten the
world's best women to take the opening round of the
ITU World Cup, victorious in the Accenture race at
Geelong today, in sunny dry conditions.
Harrop
crossed in 2h 1m35.5s; 34 seconds in front of the
USA's Barb Lindquist; with USA's Siri Lindley third
in 2h3m.5.9s over the 1500mswim/40km bike/ 10km run
Olympic course.
Harrop,
Lindquist, Australia's Nicole Hackett and the USA's
Laura Reback were first out of the water; with Reback
dropped early in the eight lap 40 km bike.
Hackett
was axed early in the run, but it wasn't till the
second lap of the 10km run that Brisbane's Harrop
surged away from Lindquist to develop a strong lead.
World
no 1 Siri Lindley ran herself onto the podium in a
brilliant performance in the final leg. She had been
in the chase pack at the end of the bike - 2m14s behind
the lead group; but catapulted out of transition to
firstly run down Hackett, closing the gap to 1m30s
to seal third place.
Harrop
was pleased with her win, saying that after securing
her Commonwealth Games berth in Canberra in February,
her focus had been directed to the Geelong World Cup.
She said racing had provided her with relief from
the grief she is carrying after the tragic death of
her brother and soul mate, triathlete Luke, in January.
"I
guess I haven't thought about goals this year, I've
just thought about doing the best I can every day"
said 26 year old Harrop.
"You
know, racing..it's only physical pain, it does not
rate to emotional pain.
"I
actually quite enjoy the two hours of switching off
my mind for a little while, and giving myself a bit
of a hammering," said the gutsy competitor, giving
an insight into the heartache she is carrying with
her on a daily basis.
Harrop
said she had not started the race that well.
"Barb
had a great swim, and we really struggled to keep
up with her. And then I struggled the last couple
of laps of the bike, and I started to blow up. I was
really looking forward to get onto the run.
"The
course is quite tough. You can feel it in your hamstrings
in the bike, and by the time you get to the run, your
back and your hamstrings are quite lactic.
"But
it is good to have a tough race first up, it will
make the rest of the year seem a bit easier."
The
win catapults Harrop from third to second place on
ITU rankings, behind Lindley.
