Words & Photo: Outsider Communications
When Richard Murray came from a mid-pack to finish 5th at the Discovery World Triathlon Cape Town he kept the promise he made some six months ago.
Murray had the second fastest run on the day to finish in 1:45.57 behind Javier Gomez (1:44.52), Jonathan Brownlee (1:45.11), Dmitry Polyanskiy (1:45.35) and Mario Mola (1:45.44).
When it was announced that the ITU’s World Triathlon Series will be coming to Cape Town and Murray was asked about his expectations he said: “A podium is what I’m constantly in search of in the WTS events so everyone can be sure I shall be flogging myself out there!”
And that he did. Murray ran the 10km in 30.07. Mola was the only faster runner on the day. When Murray came out of the water behind all the main contenders and his bike group struggling to bridge the gap to less than a minute behind the Gomez-Brownlee-group there were a few worried fans. Everybody knows Murray can run with the best of them, but the local hero did not look like himself.
But in the end the crowd went crazy wild when Murray came in fifth after the second fastest run on the day. “Wow, this was amazing. It was like the Olympics with the people going crazy! It was hard. I did not feel myself today. I could not work as hard as I would have like to on the bike. Sorry to the guys. I actually thought my swim was quite good and then I came into transition and saw there was like not many bikes left! Mario and I went together on the run and on the second lap he said 'Let's go' and I thought "Oh no!' I am happy with fifth, but I know that I need to improve. It was something special to race in front of family and friends. I am looking forward to doing it again next year because this was something spectacular."
Murray’s next event is the WTS in Yokohama, Japan. After only one event – he missed the Auckland race – Murray is in the 13th place on the WTS rankings.
