ASICS FrontRunner Rohan Kennedy is racing with visually impaired SA Elite Paratriathlete, David Jones in the category PTvi1 in Japan this weekend. We caught up with David before he jetted off:
Firstly, tell us a bit about the event you're racing?
We are off to Yokohama, Japan for World Series event which has the second most points to gain on the ITU circuit, these points are important to improve David's ranking so that when the Olympic year opens he can get onto more start lists and select his races leading up to Olympic qualification.
Give us a bit of insight into what it takes to race as a guide?
David races with block-out so he has zero vision for just over 1hr of racing. (750m swim/20km cycle/5km run) I need to be his eyes for this period of time where communication is critical. We have been racing together for the last 3 years but he does have other guides that help out as well.
So we swim with a tether which is a string bungy cord which is connected at the knee. Getting around buoys in the water is sometimes tricky but we get them done, on the bike we are on a tandem and then run we use a run tether normally made out of string. In the run we communicate the most with bumps in road, 180 degree turns and left/rights. We run at 4-4.20p/km and falling is not great so I speak to him for the full 5km and, of course encourage him.
What are your goals for the event? And, the future?
The main goal is to get to the next Paralympics in Japan next year.
You can follow David and Rohan's race live here on Saturday.
