By Kent Gray/Triathlon.kiwi in Hamburg
As Tayler Reid attempted to make his escape from the race venue, a wholesome fan interaction just outside the athlete’s enclosure helped put his disappointment at finishing 18th at the World Triathlon Sprint Championships into sharp context.
A starry-eyed young fan, visiting Hamburg from Wellington as it transpired, told Reid he was the “coolest” athlete he’d ever seen and asked for a picture with his new hero. The admiration only heightened when Reid dug into his kit bag and handed over his yellow swim cap from the day.
An adult with the child asked Reid if he was happy with his performance. No, was the polite answer.
“I went for all or nothing today and pretty much came up with the nothing,” Reid said.
Local kids then clamoured for autographs before an older gent thrust a folded piece of paper in front of Reid. “Is he the winner?” the man asked, confused perhaps by all the fanfare surrounding Reid. Reid answered and suddenly the fact no one had a pen didn’t matter anymore.
The interactions summed up triathlon at the top level. Reid had cast his disappointment aside to happily help inspire the next gen but results matter and the personal disappointment soon returned. You are only as good as your last performance and Reid had hoped for much more in his first race since missing Paris Olympic Games selection and coming down from altitude training in southern France.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m just very disappointed,” Reid said wheeling his bike through the crowds.
“I’ve done really good training and went out with the lead guys, and I just didn’t have it. I don’t know. I’ve done some good sessions and had a confidence I was going have a good one today.”
Reid had been in the lead pack out of the water, as per trademark, and then rode with the big guns but quickly faded on the run after exiting T2 in a strong position. His split for the 4.91km run, 14mins 49sec, was 1:09 seconds slower than the 13:40 effort that ultimately carried Aussie pal Matt Hauser to victory.
Might your first time at altitude have had a detrimental effect perhaps?
“Potentially could have played an impact. Hard to say. I know people say you have kind of on and off days coming down from it, and maybe that was it. But to be fair, I’ve kind of felt pretty stable the whole time coming down from it.
“Like, I haven’t really, noticed significant on or off days. I really gave it a good crack but disappointed to blow up. Raced how I wanted to race, so that’s a that’s a bonus. But It was fast too.”
The pace was indeed hot but Reid wasn’t grabbing that as an excuse.
“It was really fast, but, you know, you just think that coming here, like, it’s always going to be fast. If you didn’t think it was going to be fast, I wouldn’t have been prepared for it.
“When it just went up that extra gear, I just didn’t have it today. Yeah. I’m really disappointed.”
Reid thankfully gets a chance to park the result when he leads out Team NZL in Sunday’s (1am Monday NZT) World Triathlon Relay Championships, tagging Ainsley Thorpe before Dylan McCullough and Nicole van der Kaay finish the job in Hamburg.
Given France’s decision not to race and the number of star names missing, the Kiwis will be keen on a top result after finishing second last year in a team featuring Hayden Wilde who has bypassed Hamburg this year to finish his Paris-prep at altitude in Andorra.
Saxon Morgan, meanwhile, was pleased with his 29th placing. It easily eclipsed his 52nd in Hamburg last year and was a significant step up from his 24th at the lower level World Triathlon Cup Tiszaujvaros in Hungary last weekend.
“Had a good swim only being 14 seconds down from the leaders coming out of the water. Tough bike from start to finish. People were getting dropped every lap,” Morgan said.
“I was really happy to stay with the group that became the lead group after the 3rd lap of the ride.”
Morgan’s 15:14 run split put the pace in context.
“My legs were a bit cooked coming off the bike so quite happy to have held myself together for the run. Not my best run but it was all I had today.
“This level of racing is a real step up from World Cup racing in every discipline.”
