Mooloolaba is one of my favourite holiday destinations and is also right up there as one of my favourite triathlon weekends on the calendar. After a less than impressive race here last year in the open elite category as one of my first races as an elite athlete I was pretty keen to go out there and record a very different result as I know I am a much different and better athlete than what I was a year ago. The race this year was an ITU Oceania Cup so had the added benefit of some glorious ITU points and this drew a heavily stacked field of close to 70 athletes. I went in to the race ranked 14th and with a few guys being late additions to the World Cup race on Saturday afternoon I started the race ranked 10th and knew that if I had the race I was capable of I could finish inside the top 10. It had been a hectic couple of months leading up to Mooloolaba and I was definitely looking forward to the end of this race and the 2 week break I was being treated to once I finished but I was trying not to think about that because the task at hand was to perform in this race. Leading into the race I was feeling amazing and the taper was taking full effect and once I was on the start line it was down to business.
I've been through the swim several times in my head and I still can't really explain what happened but it almost felt like I couldn't get in to top gear the entire time. I had to just watch the main pack swim off and try and minimise the damage that was being done. Fortunately I was sitting in a small group of about 10 guys and was just concentrating on staying with them with the knowledge that every other year this race had come together on the bike. It wasn't until we got on the bike that the amazing feeling I'd had during the taper returned. On the 20km trip out towards the turn-around we must've had an incredible tailwind because every time I looked down at my Bryton GPS Computer we were pushing close to 60km/hr. The group I was with which included Brayden Tucker, who I train with still had to work pretty hard and it wasn't until about 25km into the ride that we made contact with the front bunch. I think I lasted less than 2km sitting in this bunch because the pace they were travelling by this stage was similar to that of a leisurely coffee shop ride and going into this race my goal was to either be chasing down the breakaway or to be in one and now that I'd done the chasing it was my turn to be in the break.
I went off the front with 5 other athletes that included 2 Aussies, 2 Kiwis and a Swiss athlete. I was pretty sceptical about getting away because I thought everyone would react but to our advantage they were too busy watching each other and coming into transition we had a lead of close to 90 seconds.
I managed to have a quick transition and lead out of transition and to almost the half-way point of the run before the fast moving chase group had closed the gap. I ended up finishing in 12th place which was just outside the prize money and although it was a little bit lower than what I was aiming for I couldn't have been happier with the way in which I had raced and did exactly what I had intended to do on the bike and put myself out there for everyone to see.
The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying everything the sunshine coast has to offer and with the 2 week break commencing right away it was a very enjoyable evening with the training crew who have all had such long seasons. Although I am now a few days into the break I haven't been able to completely shut myself off from the sport (my bike is still sitting in the garage without any wheels on it and race water bottles still attached) because I am busy trying to plan my next series of races which will most likely be a few continental cups over in Asia. But in the meantime I am trying to use this time to catch up on several uni assignments that have been on the back burner for the last few weeks while training took priority so there is plenty to be done!
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