Carolyn Hayes 23rd in Tokyo Triathlon
Carolyn Hayes has finished 23rd in the Tokyo women’s triathlon following a gutsy performance in challenging weather conditions.
After being distanced during the swim, Hayes navigated a technical and crash ridden bike course before clawing back places on the run to finish in a time of 2:02:10.
Hayes said afterwards that she had mixed emotions about the race but that she was extremely proud:
“The Olympics are the pinnacle of all sport and it’s something I’ve always dreamed about so to be able to say that I am an Olympian and to have completed the race is just a dream come through and I am extremely proud.”
“I only ever wanted to be a doctor so this is a big bonus, hopefully my parents back home are proud of the performance.
Hayes added: “I am going to be leaving here with a very positive experience. I guess I arrived late to this, these people have been doing this since they were kids so respect them but definitely don’t fear them. If you put your mind to something you can definitely achieve great things and I am hoping I am only going to progress in the sport.”
How the Race Unfolded
A morning of heavy rainfall delayed the start time by 15 minutes, with the tail end of a typhoon sweeping through Odaiba Marine Park.
Hayes exited the swim in 41st position and told RTE Sport afterwards that one wrong decision during the swim cost her places:
“I was starting left side of the pontoon, the key is to just hold your line and eventually the groups will form themselves. I held a straight line and I had to make a decision whether to go with the left side or continue with the right, I continued with the right and it ended up being the wrong decision.”
Coming out of the water, the race was split in to more than six groups and the first lap of the technical course saw a series of crashes as the riders encountered 90 degree turns, slippy conditions and standing water.
The result was that Hayes found herself in a group that lost time to the leaders and the first chase pack which made up the top 15 places in the race.
She said that she didn’t ‘feel amazing’ on the bike and concentrated on staying upright as a number of riders in her group crashed out.
“(The) conditions are quite similar to home, obviously very wet, very slippy after the dry weather we’ve had. you have to ride the conditions and there’s probably some of the girls wouldn’t be as competent as myself, particularly in the wet so you just have to be cautious in the wet and stay upright. Every lap my back wheel was going from under me so it’s just having the confidence to ride the corners.”
While she lost time, Hayes did make up some places during the bike – moving from 41st at T1 to 28th at the dismount line.
From here Hayes mounted a textbook performance – she executed the quickest T2 of the entire race and went on to run the 8th quickest split of the field, picking off five places over the 10km to come home in 23rd.
See the full results from the race and all of Carolyn’s splits here
