Most eyes may have been on Hayden Wilde’s remarkable winning comeback from a career-threatening injury.
But throughout the men’s race at T100 London there were some terrific performances and tussles for every place.
And that was exemplified by a fantastic sprint at the end of the run between Britain’s Will Draper and American crowd favourite Sam Long – for 11th place.
The duo were distanced in the swim and the last two out of the water but they battled back on the bike and moved further up the field on the run, with Long’s 1:00:49 split just 30 seconds off the fastest of the day.
‘These races are tough’
It was Draper who just got the better of the frantic finale and in a great post afterwards on Instagram he illustrated just how challenging it can be when effectively racing solo for most of the day.
He said: “These races are tough, especially when you are coming from the back.
“I’m time trialling against some of the best triathletes in the world who are racing each other, taking hits when feeling good and pulling each other through their bad patches. Individually they’re a level up so together it’s pretty much impossible for me to get into the game at the front right now.
“For almost all of the day there are no feet to swim on, no 20m draft zone to sit in and no shoulders to run on.”
‘Straight up shoot out’
But that lonely existence all changed late on the when he was joined by Long.
Draper explained: “What was special about yesterday was with 2km to go someone who knows this more than me caught me and with 500m to go he asked for a straight up side by side shoot out.
“Thanks @samgolong that was a crazy experience having watched you and Lionel (another solo racer) pull those showdowns off a few times and always wondering what that would feel like myself.
“I wasn’t near a podium, didn’t even get a top 10, but it still felt like a sprint to win. Onto more fun soon!”
And the respect was clearly mutual, with Long again showing just why he’s so popular as he keeps challenging himself in what is arguably the toughest series out there for those who are on the back foot from the swim. Kudos to both.
It also underlines the standard – don’t forget Long is a two-time 70.3 winner this season while Draper landed Challenge Mogan-Gran Canaria in April and was third in the World Triathlon Long Distance Championships in June as he continues his progress up the world rankings.
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