Austin ParaTriathlon Nationals

Team Achilles at the Finish Line

Last week-end I took my first trip down to Texas with Achilles for the National Paratriathlon finals.  Whoever won this event in one of the six categories would go on to represent the US in the International finals in New Zealand later this year. The six categories are: TRI1; wheelchair user; TRI2 severe leg impairment (my category), TRI3, les autres, TRI4, arm impairment, moderate leg impairment, and TRI6, visual impairment.  The distances of the race:  750 metre swim, 20k bike, and 5k run.

The day before the race I went for a classification meeting and was told that I couldn't compete in the Nationals, as I'm not a US citizen, but I could still race in the Open Classification wave, which left about 10 minutes after everyone else.  I was OK with this - it meant less pressure competing against other people in my category, so I could just focus on completing my swim and then enjoying the rest of the event.

Daniel Tratt exits the water

Exiting the water and helped by handlers into transition

On the day of the event, I awoke at 4.45 am to travel over to the transition area to get set up for a 7.10 am start, along with the rest of my Achilles team-mates.  Looking back, the wait for the start was the hardest part of the whole day.  I felt a strange mixture of emotions; I was definitely nervous about panicking in the swim and not completing the race, but I also felt excitement and was really choked up that I was part of such a prestigious event.  When I came to the U.S. nearly 10 years ago I could bike, but I definitely couldn't run or swim - competing in a triathlon seemed completely off limits to me.

I took the choking up to a new level after having entering a particularly foul-smelling port-o-loo.  I did very nearly throw up, but just about held it together and by the time it came to get my wetsuit on for the start, I was able to get it together and focus on just finishing the swim.

Our wave had to get in the water and wait a couple of minutes before the gun went off.  When it did, I felt calm and just knew I had to go slow but steady, and not hyperventilate, to make sure I could get round the water course, marked by large yellow buoys.  We were swimming in the river in downtown Austin; the water was completely flat and also warm, which helped.

Once I got into my stride, I felt fine, even though I was zig-zagging along a bit.  I'd put my head down, swim for a bit, and then find I'd gone off course.  However I was able to finish the swim comfortably and was excited to exit the water having just finished my longest ever swim - 750 metres.

Lamar Brown and Drew Garrison cross the finish line

Crossing the line

With the help of a handler assigned to me, Karyn, I got changed into my biking gear and was out of the transition area for the course around downtown Austin.  My new bike felt really good.  It was a flat course with just a few climbs and turns, so I was able to get some decent speed up.

Well deserved ice-bath!

After the bike, I came in and then just had the 5k run to complete.  It was quite hot by the time I started the run, but I felt OK and after I'd run for 10 minutes or so felt like I was getting into my stride.     I crossed the finish line with a final time of 1.48.

My final splits were: swim: 27 mins, bike: 40.40 (18.2 mph av), run 28.49 (9.18 min/mile).  The winner of my category won it in 1.27, so I would have been well off pace, but I was happy with my performance and I'm now looking forward to the Olympic distance tri in New York in July.

The next couple of days I had to look around Austin before coming home.  Overall it was a great week-end.  I met some new friends, met some inspiring athletes, and experienced great Texan hospitality, particularly from Joe Paschall, who put about 12 Achilles team members up in house one night, and Andrew Smith, his guide, who had some people from Achilles over for a BBQ on our last night in town.