After the previous days race schedule uncertainties, the Junior ladies event was moved from the original designated time of 2:30pm to 3:30pm on the 18 September. If weather interrupted play, the event would be shortened or postponed to the following day. this again did not help with the athletes race preparations. With an hour to go to race start, the start time was brought forward by 20 min. This again prevented a proper warm up.
Rebecca was nervous as expected but managed to keep them under control. The swim splits were fast as Rebecca led the last pack into T1. Her transition was fast as usual, but this time a bit too fast as she earned a 10 second penalty for mounting before the line. She had a pack to work with on the bike which was good, and she took it on herself to get the pack to work together to start catching those ahead. After lap one, she saw she had a time penalty and slowed down in the pack on the second lap to ask when she must take her penalty. This resulted in her touching wheels with another bike and unfortunately brought herself down. Being the strong, determined girl she is, she picked herself up and continued.
Obviously she was upset and shocked at first, but she put it behind her and dug deep to start catching the girls again. She managed to reign in a few girls before reaching T2. Her run was strong and she finished 54th overall. She also was the first African Nation to cross the line.
This was a huge experience for Rebecca and I am sure she has learnt many valuable lessons from it.
WELL DONE ZIMBABWE !!
