ITU World Cup Mooloolaba

Race number 2 of my series of 8 races was the ITU Continental Cup race in Mooloolaba, Australia on 27th of March.
My build up to the race was very good; I bounced back quickly from Wellington two weeks before hand and I did some very high quality training the previous weekend.
My swim went ok. I lacked a lot of speed for the first 200m and found myself behind the bunch but I was strong from there on and came out the water only 20seconds behind. I transitioned well and would have been right in the front pack but I was penalized for allegedly cutting a buoy. I can 100% guarantee I didn’t for a number of reasons and also I don’t know how they could pick anyone out because we didn’t have numbers on our swim caps or anything. It was very weird and unfair. It then meant that once I got on the bike I had to chase the bunch down by myself. This took 20km and wasted a lot of my energy..
I did keep very positive and just changed my race plan a little. But then about 2km from the end of the bike. A couple of riders ahead of me collided and crashed at about 50-60kmh. There was no way I could avoid it, and crashed straight into them. I was going very fast and I came down very hard on my right side, fortunately I was not badly grazed and when I stood up I wasn’t feeling anything from the adrenaline of the incident.
I finished the bike and started the run with the goal of just doing a good time now that my race was effectively over. I ran well for about 4km but then as the adrenaline wore off my shoulder and hip started to stiffen right up from the bruising and I was in agony so I was forced to withdraw.
This was very disappointing for me, but I guess it is always good learning and hopefully I’ve used up all my bad luck for the rest of the trip.