Hannah Lee-Young has been busy travelling around the world following the Xterra World Cup. She is half way through having had completed 4 stops in Western Australia, Greece, United Kingdom and USA. She is currently sitting 4th in the Xterra World Cup Rankings with her overall World Ranking moving up to 28th position!
We got the chance to sit down with her while she's back in Australia and hear all about her overseas races. Buckle up and enjoy her race reports!
XTERRA World Cup Stop #2- Vouliagmeni, Greece
Tough start to the beginning of my overseas racing campaign. Felt like a good solid week leading up to the race, was happy with the bike course, felt really strong in the water & I knew the run would be rough (My run volume had reduced due to a stress reaction in my foot). In hindsight, I had probably been riding the bike course a little too hard during my pre rides once we looked back on some power data (pushing more power in training then in the race is a good sign of that) and I also probably hadn’t fuelled enough – which comes down to just adjusting to a new country/cuisine/supermarkets etc.
Come race day I had a solid swim, coming out of the water in 7th place. I hit the bike feeling hopeful, but the wheels began to fall off ¾ through the first lap and I was passed by two stronger ladies from behind. I tried to go with them but had nothing. On the second lap my legs were starting to cramp up really bad which made it difficult to push on any climbs. Coming into transition the cramps were debilitating and I couldn’t stand up – which meant the final two elite women behind me were now on my heels as we all ran out of T2 together. The legs tried to work but they wanted to give up as every step was painful. However, giving up was never an option and as one of the girls pulled away I dug as deep as I could to salvage as much time as possible and held the final girl off to cross the line in 11th. It was rough, and its safe to say I was very disappointed with this result, but I learnt many lessons and moved on looking ahead to the following weekend in the UK.
XTERRA World Cup Stop #3- Weston Park, United Kingdom
Result: 12th/ 16 Elite Women
Very cool race in a very special location. Bike course appeared flat – or so we thought. It was a challenging ride where you had to push power the whole time to keep any momentum, or you would fall far behind.
An afternoon race was unique & after a week of beautiful sunshine the weather turned to that typical UK temperature where it was cold and windy.
I managed a great swim in conditions that do not favour me. I got buried in the mass start but found my rhythm and worked through the field a little as I pulled the girls behind me along. Ready to hit the bike I fumbled with getting my shoes on out of transition – rookie mistake – which cost me valuable seconds and meant I had to dig deep to catch up to the girls ahead before we began the single track. This cost me though as patience wasn’t my virtue and not long after I made the pass and decided to set the pace my pace dropped off and the girls got back in front leaving me for a long, lonely three laps on the bike chasing and being chased!
With no cramps appearing I was able to hit the run leg really strong feeling confident I could make up some time. I had the 3rdfastest run split of the day but it wasn’t enough to scrape into another place and I had to settle for 12th in the end. This one hurt a lot, even more so then Greece. I left everything out there that day but the field was strong and as tough as it is to accept, you just have to use it as fuel for the next race!
XTERRA World Cup Stop #4- Oak Mountain, Alabama, USA
Result: 6th/10 Elite Women (Full Distance) and 7th/11 (Short Track)
Th final stop of the month- USA. Things got off to a very rocky start. Without going into too much detail spent the very first night in the USA at the Emergency Room in Birmingham waiting for my friend and travel partner to become stabilised after suffering four epileptic fits that day. When I arrived at our accommodation he had unfortunately had two seizures that morning, whilst I was still travelling, and I arrived to an apartment that looked like a crime scene and a very unstable Ben. After feeling overwhelmed about what our next moves would be, after 10 minutes of arriving he suffered another two serious fits in front of me, to which, I thought he was going to die. I called 911 and within 10 minutes help arrived. It was horrific, traumatic and something I never thought I would go through – it just highlighted the significance about being open with your travel partners about any conditions you may have so your friends can look out for you as best as they can.
After a really rough four days and pushing through the fight not flight feelings that were very much there, things began to look up. Training was underway and the bike course for this race as insane – so much fun! I knew it suited my strengths and I was just pumped to be able to ride the course again in the race!
Race day came around with the Full Distance race being first. We ended up with a 1.5hr delayed start due to severe storms that morning – and a very wet, muddy and slick race course!
With a non wetsuit freshwater lake swim I knew my swim was already on the back foot and I came out of the water last. I was so determined to make up ground on the bike though and jumped into the single-track in the quickly, managing to pass another lady within five minutes. Then, my front suspension decided to seize up in the locked position. I did everything I could to try and unlock the Fox suspension on the fork but it continued to spin and wouldn’t open. Being only a few km into the bike course- and with 30km to go- I knew I had to trust my technical abilities, pick smooth lines and just go for it. This worked, and even though it wasn’t the ride I wanted to have, It was a ride that taught me perseverance and the ability to adapt in a high stress situation. I made up another position and held that spot into the run.
Luckily, the cramps stayed away once again and I hit the run hot! With a non technical, reasonably flat and fast run around the lake and onto the single-track it felt like it went forever- but my eyes were forward and I managed to make up one more spot to sneak up into 7th overall (6th provisionally due to another athlete being DSQed)
The following day we had to line up again for the Short Track race- a chance to just empty the tank of anything you have left! With storms and lots of rain again on race morning the short track bike/run course was terribly slippery!
I had a very strong swim and came out at the front of the second pack, which was a great position for me. On the bike course there was a rather large drop jump each lap which I had practiced the morning of the race and had a terrible crash- so my confidence to do it in thew race under pressure and fatigue wasn’t high. I opted for the B line each time which cost me time in the end. I did all I could to hold onto Lorena who was in 5th place but her run legs were faster then mine on the day and I couldn’t catch her, settling across the line for 7th place.
It was a huge month of travelling and racing. So many memories made, laughs had, cultures experienced, three new countries visited and plenty of lessons both on and off the race course learnt. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be able to travel around the world to race the best Off Road Triathletes in the world.
Be sure to follow along on her second half of the World Cup where she will travel all over the globe again, finishing with the World Championships in Trentino, Italy.
Race Schedule for the rest of the season:
July 12- Stop #4 XTERRA Quebec, Canada
August 9th – Stop #5 XTERRA Prachatice, Czech Republic + Short Track on the 10th
August 16th - Stop #6 XTERRA Germany
September 25th - Stop #7 XTERRA Short Track in Trentino, Italy
September 27th – XTERRA World Championships in Trentino, Italy
For more information be sure to:
- Follow Hannah for live updates on where she is and how she's gone @_hannahtime
- Follow Xterra for great race videos and information @xterraplanet
- Follow us as we continue to support Hannah @liveandbreatheactive
PHOTO CREDITS: @xterraplanet and @carelduplessis
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