We're home: final results
Monday, August 29, 2011 at 10:41PM A final post from me as I realise that a combination of the exhaustion that set in after we crossed the line and dead phone batteries (not to mention the calling of the bar...) meant that the final results from the cycling leg were never posted... so you know the result, but not the conclusion of our ongoing battle with Accenture on the bike!
I could write the same summary for the bike as for the run to be honest - the Credit Suisse team performed admirably throughout the cycling legs. The conditions were tough - wet roads and rain for the first few legs and strong winds, both head and cross, throughout all legs, but every rider did a fantastic time. And the logistics didn't let us down - our support crew was as slick as if they'd been doing it for years... enthusiastic, professional and committed, they never let us down - whether in the bike changeovers, the directions over the radio, or playing each of us "Eye of the Tiger"as we neared the end of our legs. Superb - thank you guys.
To cut to the chase, Massimo managed to stay in contention with his counterpart from Accenture on leg 5, rising to the occasion after each made repeated attempts to break away, leaving me 50 seconds back from Accenture at the start of leg 6. And it was great having someone to chase - particularly as Accenture had made the same decision as us and put their lady on the final leg. It was a tough, windy ride on cold, tired legs... (i.e. it hurt!) But I caught her just before the first hill and didn't look back. The result: Credit Suisse won both the bike and the run in 2011 - a fantastic achievement, and it's just a shame that we weren't able to complete the swim to see if we could have made the hat-trick.
Cycle times: 1. Credit Suisse 8:38:30 2. Accenture 8:49:20 3. Barcap 9:24:45 4. UBS 9:53:10 5. Virtualis 11:32:00
Special mention should go to Virtualis for a superb effort on the bike - having been one man down for the run and the swim (and hence each competitor having to do more than one person's worth of each leg), they were 2 men down on the bike and two of their riders therefore rode two legs.
Overall times (swim is excluded due to the fact it had to be aborted 7.5 hrs in due to worsening sea conditions) 1. Credit Suisse 17:53:00 2. Accenture 19:11:30 3. Barcap 20:00:05 4. UBS 20:31:40 5. Virtualis 21:48:10
Congratulations to all teams, Credit Suisse in particular, for a fantastic race, great competition and a thoroughly enjoyable weekend. Full 2011 results will be on the website in due course.
Until next year, Helen.
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