Riddle hoping to continue early season form in Mexico
Stellenbosch-based triathlete claims three wins in a row
Gqeberha-born triathlete Jamie Riddle will be eager to build on his first international win of the season as he prepares to fall back into training ahead of the 2022 Americas Triathlon Cup Ixtapa later this month.
The Stellenbosch-based professional claimed arguably the biggest win of his young career when he stormed home to claim gold in the Herbalife 24 Triathlon Los Angeles at the weekend.
The race, backed by the Professional Triathletes Organisation, saw Riddle break the tape in just under two hours, stopping the clock at 1 hr, 48 mins and 53 secs to secure the win.
He finished almost two minutes ahead of Australia’s Steven McKenna (1:51.02) and USA’s Jason West (1:52.12) in second and third, respectively.
Speaking shortly before jetting off to Mexico on Monday, Riddle said it was a solid performance in his first international race of the year, and he would now be looking to build on that success in Ixtapa, Mexico, on May 21
“Coming into the final parts of the race, I still had a job to do, so that was my main focus because I didn’t want to mess anything up.
“If I look back now, it was such a blur, so many emotions coming through at once, feelings of pride, relief, satisfaction, you feel like you are on top of the world at that moment, so it was a very special race for me,” Riddle said.
Riddle made it three wins out of three to kick off what he hopes will be his breakthrough season, having won the Africa Triathlon Cup Olympic distance event in Nelson Mandela Bay in March before a commanding display at the sprint distance event in the Africa Triathlon Cup in Troutbeck, Zimbabwe, in April
Riddle said it was by no means an easy race, with a number of top triathletes also vying for the coveted Triathlon LA title and their share of the $100,000 (R1.59m) prize purse.
“I feel everything went to plan and I managed to execute a perfect race on the day,” he said.
“I was on a road bike in a non-drafting event, at Olympic distance, with a 20m draft rule, so that made things pretty tough.
“Basically I just wanted to swim hard, let the guys chase me, and let them hurt a little bit, then get onto the bike and ride steady until someone comes past me, then essentially just hold the 20m draft rule and stay there, as comfortable as possible.
“It was extremely hard at certain points and then let up at other points.
“Being the only bike I had, it did make things really tough, so I was happy to get through with the bike.
“Once I hit the run, I knew my run form had come along really well, I had just recently run a sub-66 [minute] half marathon, so I went balls to the wall for 3km.
“Either he comes with me and blows, or he goes to his pace, gets in his own head and thinks it is over — that was basically the plan,” the Under Armour athlete said.