- [Narrator] Pro athletes are traveling
all around the world to reach their events
so we thought we'd ask if they've got any
specific memories and in particular,
favourite race courses.
(lofi hiphop music)
- Do you have a favourite triathlon race memory?
- Winning my first WTS Race in 2010
is probably my favorite memory.
I came in as such an underdog and unknown
and I surprised myself and everyone by winning that race.
So it kind of kicked off the beginning of my career
as an ITU athlete on senior level and yeah,
it's something that I will never forget.
- Yeah, you know,
That's a tough one too,
I like to throw out just one that
I think nobody would really expect.
So obviously I have some
good memories winning races,
I think Island House is probably one of them.
But one is when I wasn't even racing.
I like telling the story because it was such a..
It was a power move by the person so,
my brother used to race triathlon
and he won the Youth Elite National Championships
in like a crazy kind of back and forth finish.
So watching that race was really awesome
like Tim Yount who does all the USAT stuff,
the announcing, was announcing there too.
I thought that that was like a really cool
race to watch unfold and then,
after that year he retired and went to go focus on swimming.
So he left the sport on top.
- Man, I have two..
I guess, well no
I put Wildflower on top, I mean just..
Yeah, Wildflower in general.
Wildflower is the first race I won as a pro.
- Yeah, Escape from Alcatraz 2015
sprinting of the Andy Potts.
- Probably, this sounds kind of lame.
Winning my first world title.
Just because I think when it's been such a dream
from such a young age and so much adversity to get there.
And then you finally get there,
it's just like wow,
I wanted it, I never thought it was possible
and now I've made it possible.
And it makes you feel like the whole
world opens up to possibilities.
My favourite triathlon memory is my first triathlon
because I had a down tube shifting road bike
and then I didn't know how to shift gears,
I had like some old ladies telling me
how to shift out in the course.
Got off on the bike and like my quads are screaming,
had no idea how to fuel, I think I ate like
five thousand calories worth of pasta the night before
for sprint triathlon.
And I think that's my favourite memory
just to realise how far I've come.
You know, that I know how to shift my gears now.
(laughs)
So I think that's going to be my favourite
because that's the baseline right?
- [Interviewer] Love it!
- Only get better from there.
- Oh, I've got a couple I think.
Going back to twenty..
I think it was 2015, Geelong 70.3.
I went head to head with Craig Alexander.
And this is you know I was still,
I've been around the sport for a while
but I hadn't sort of had too much success yet.
And I went head to head with Craig and we ran
20 out of the 21 kilometers together
and he ended up getting me in the end
but that was kind of, almost a turning point
in my career I think where,
I trained some promise before but that
was kind of where it all clicked and
I thought hang on a sec you know.
It kind of boosted my confidence and things like that.
Yeah, while I didn't win the race
it's still one of my favourite memories.
And often a lot of my best memories from racing
aren't necessary the races where I've won,
it's races where I've got the most out of myself
or learned the most or something like that.
(lofi hiphop music)
- My favorite course is probably the Kitzbühel ITU race.
They don't have it anymore but it was definitely
my favorite stop on the circuit on the 70.3 side
I think Saint George is my favorite.
Not only because I had good race there last year
but it's beautiful and really challenging bike course.
And just a good variety on the run,
it's pretty difficult so that's my favorite on this side.
(laughs)
- So I raced in Xterra in the Philippines one year,
which was amazing just because it was
that mixture of such a different culture
I mean, in Xterra we get to run on all these
cool trails in the middle of nowhere,
that no one else gets to see and literally
I was racing through like villages and huts
and there's like women with their babies
and guys with machetes and you're just like
"Oh my gosh I'm in the middle of race"
It's like this cultural experience as well.
- Wildflower
- I have a lot of favorite race courses.
I feel like I go through and I kind of cycle through them
but I always love like championship type races or
races that feel like that so,
I mean this weekend is going to be great
because it feels a little bit like homecoming.
And I train out here a lot but you know,
I love the Saint George course,
I've loved you know Chattanooga course,
the Port Elizabeth course and then,
any chance you get to race against
some of the best competition I think
that's what creates the race.
- That's tough, I want to have two answers.
My favorite course is Escape from Alcatraz,
just the epicness of it and you're always
doing something that requires skills
and perfectly well-rounded triathlete.
Favorite like race venue and atmosphere is
probably Hamburg WTS it's just,
80 thousand fans insanity screaming.
- I like Vineman and now Santa Rosa,
I think it's a course that really suits me.
It's beautiful, it's through the vineyards.
Its' rough roads kind of remind me of Australia
where there's no, it's not nice roads.
It's rough, it's hard you have to work for it,
it's undulating, it suits me, yeah.
It's just a great race and I've had good success there
so it's one that I always like to go back to.
- I always loved Hamburg ITU race because,
you know you have hundred thousand people there.
And they're screaming and it smells like Germany,
you can smell Bratwurst and just it was always
such and exciting race and I love that one.
Yeah for sure!
- Well that was great because essentially
you're finding that the pros have all got their own,
unique memories from their own races.
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