Triathlon: Food poisoning forces Gemmell out

New Zealand triathlete Kris Gemmell couldn't overcome the after-effects of a serious bout of food poisoning in the second race of the ITU world championship series in Madrid today (NZT).

Neither Gemmell nor Tony Dodds were able to finish the race, with Gemmell dropping off the lead group early in the bike before withdrawing after three of the eight laps.

"This seems to be my luck lately," said a dejected Gemmell. "I began suffering the effects of food poisoning on Friday night and spent all night and most of Saturday spewing - sorry, there is just no other way to describe it.

"I made the front group on the bike but very quickly knew there was nothing in the tank so I'm gutted. I hate pulling out of any race especially when I know my form is so good, I felt like there was a podium finish in me this weekend for sure."

Dodds (Wanaka) struggled to stay with the pace in his first world championship series start, eventually withdrawing on the seventh of the eight laps of the bike while in 37th place.

The 21-year-old is not getting too down about the race though, putting it down to valuable experience at the top level.

"I felt good beforehand, quite relaxed in fact. The only problem I had before the race was that I did not have the usual pre-race food - I couldn't find any porridge or creamed rice to have before the race so had to settle for a sandwich.

"The first 200m in the swim was fine, I was sitting behind the leader until the others came up beside me, pulling me, pushing me and put myself out of rhythm."

Dodds came out of the water in the third pack one minute down, and had to work hard on the bike, battling a hilly course and sweltering heat.

"After the fourth lap we caught the second group but by then I was spent, I started closing my eyes I was in so much pain, finally 'popping' on the second last lap up the hill

"The positives that came out of this were different though from other big races, I felt like I needed to be more aggressive in the water; I have to deal with that. I can keep up with any of them but as soon as someone touches me I lose rhythm.

"So I'm not too down, because I now know what I have to do and feel more experienced from this race as there were all the best from around the world."

- NZPA