Chris Ghiorse completes tough St. Croix Triathlon

BY DEAN GREENAWAY 

Cyclist Chris Ghiorse didn’t compete as he would have liked to in Sunday’s St. Croix half Iron Man Triathlon. He finished in 5 hours 53 minutes and said it was a tough event.

“Personally, it was very, very hard,” said Ghiorse who began preparing for the event last year but saw his preparations slowed by illness over the last two months. “I’m not doing very well at the moment, at least that’s what I hope the reason is for my lack of performance there. I went a good hour slower than I’m capable of, but, until I can actually do that time, maybe this is the fastest I’m ever going to get.”

Ghiorse said of the 1.24 mile swim, 56 mile cycle and half marathon run, the cycling segment was the toughest part. During the swim, he said he realized it would not be a good day and backed of the pace. He tried the same thing on the bike. “Everybody talks about The Beast but what you find is that anybody who really knows about the course says that after the beat is where the main part of the race comes in. You have about 25 miles of rolling terrain into the wind,” Ghiorse noted. “I tried to ride conservatively, but the wind was so strong. In some sections I was in my smallest gear going on sections of road that you think are flat. The combination of the wind and a slight uphill made it tough mentally. I realized how slow I was going and couldn’t push harder because I was really trying to finish the event at that point.”

And the run? “I wouldn’t say I ran. Lets just say it’s called a run, but I walked a very large portion of it,” said Ghiorse noting that he started out jogging as easy as possible. “About two miles in I had to start walking and mixing it up with running. I think the 13.1 miles took me nearly 2 ½ hours, which translates into a stellar speed of about 11 minutes per mile. We’ll just say it was a walk. Not a run.”

Ghiorse said he believes he can do much better, but until he proves he can actually do it, there are lingering doubts. “I did finish so I could at least have something positive to say, but in my book, I performed so poorly. I know the course is tough, but, we have similar situations here on Tortola,” he noted. “Somewhere about two months ago I over did it and whatever is going on, I hope it can get back to the drawing board and continue what I’m doing but be a little more careful in m y training perhaps.”