Alan Harris’ ETU experience:
‘I felt great on the start line of the Sprint 40-44 and had a good swim. I was 7th out of the water in my AG and I was well-up for picking-up some more places on the bike and run as usual. Within 200m of the bike though I just couldn’t get any power out. It was crazy. I just had nothing there and had to battle round for little return. I then got into T2 to find that A.N.Other GB athlete in my AG had racked in my slot and run-off in my trainers (insert swear word of choice)! They were the same make, same size, same colour. I took a while to work it out; worried that I’d be DQ’d for taking someone else’s trainers or that I’d ruin someone else’s race if I had got it all wrong; then spoke to a Marshall and he gave me the all-clear to run. By that time I had a mild head-f*ck and I still had nothing in the legs and struggled to get going until the second lap. I finished 12th and came away thinking that it really was a missed opportunity given my current form and the people who beat me this time round. A tad frustrating!
But, you had to feel sorry for the GB athlete who was 4th in my AG by 1/100th of a second. Having been 4th in Budapest in 2010 by 9 seconds I now don’t feel quite so bad!’
