Hervey Bay Triathlon

My initial plan had been to compete in the Luke Harrop Memorial Triathlon last weekend but the opportunity to compete in an Olympic distance event was just too good to turn down.  And after only what could be best described as a disappointing season thus far, the possibility to turn this upside down was at the fore front of my reasoning. 

It's fair to say that my training has been somewhat on the backburners and slightly neglected since Mooloolaba Triathlon due to some extra work commitments but never the less I was ready to race.  The weekend was off to a great start before it even began with the ever hospitable crew involved in running the Hervey Bay Triathlon offering to accomodate me in one of the local hotels for the weekend.  Even the 300km drive, while it wasn't riveting entertainment was more than enjoyable.

The race offers some fairly significant prize money with a prize pool totalling over $32000 with the winner taking $2500 in cash plus $500 in prizes.  And with this sort of money up for grabs there was always going to be some solid competition.  Early in the week the name that I'm sure everyone was quick to recognise was Clayton Fettell and being one of the fastest swim/ bikers in the sport I knew it was going to be a fast race.  However early Saturday morning he had to withdraw from the event and while this may have been somewhat of a relief to many of the other pro male competitors it was soon changed as news travelled through that Pete Jacobs was throwing his hat in the ring.  It wasn't the biggest of fields but the quality was high with Pete and myself lining up with Joey Lampe, Tim Reed, Callum Millward, Marc Widmer and fellow DAT training partner Luke Farrell amoung some of the names on the start list.

Saturday night before the race I was treated to a great meal at one of the local Italian restaurants courtesy of the winner of the Pier to Pub Ocean Swim Classic, Codie Grimsey and race organiser, Darren Everand and his wife while we shared many stories and had a great night.  And on a side note, Darren is also running in tomorrows election so all the best!  A very smart man who I'm absolutely sure everyone could learn a great deal from :)

Come Sunday morning we couldn't have really asked for better conditions with the water as calm as any swimming pool I've ever swam in and the sighting of the swim markers made even easier with the massive helium balloons attached to them.  With such a small field the start of the swim was somewhat calm in comparison to some of my last few races that have had well over 60 testosterone fuelled guys all fighting to be first to that first turning can.  There was little to no contact between any of us as we all settled into our positions as we navigated our wa through the course.  While I wasn't at the front of the field that was being lead by Joey Lampe I was well within contact and sitting rather comfortably on the feet of Tim Reed for the majority of the swim.  Exiting the water I had one of my fastest transitions and was out of there quicker than ever and set my sights on chasing down the few athletes that had got out ahead of me.  I was quickly joined by Tim and Callum as we reeled the athletes in one by one.  Soon there was only Joey and Pete ahead of us but after about 15km we caught Pete but Joey still had a sizeable advantage.  We were by no means riding slowly with my bike time being the second fastest of the day at 57:58 but Joey was just a class above us clocking a very impressive 56:50!  Towards the final stages of the bike I wasn't exactly sure how my running legs were going function because these guys had certainly made me work just to stay in contact but I was certain that I wanted to give it a red hot crack and made sure that I moved my way to the front for the transition.  Again I had a super quick transition and was out of T2 well ahead of Tim, Pete and Callum.  Unfortunately my Bryton Cardio 35 (I'll have a review of this watch coming shortly) struggled to pick up a GPS signal but I felt as though I was running pretty well but after about 4km I was caught by both Tim and Callum and then again at 7km by Pete.  By this stage I was really starting to feel the effects of my lack of training but wanted to push as hard as I could to the finish.  Unfortunately I just didn't have the legs to go with any of these guys and had to settle for 5th place behind a very impressive start to finish victory by Joey Lampe followed by Tim Reed, Callum Millward and Pete Jacobs.

The race was a significant improvement on my last few races and I have walked away with a lot of confidence in what I am doing in training and being able to transfer that to racing performances, in particular in this non-drafting format. 

Once again I must thank all the organisers of the event for putting on such a great race and for looking after me for the weekend.  The weekend was topped off in fantastic fashion as I was not only joined for the 300km return journey by Codie Grimsey but upon my return I was able to not only share my stories but hear the stories of my fellow training partners from their successes at the Luke Harrop Triathlon at a BBQ to mark the end of the domestic season and a very successful one at that for so many of my closest training partners :)

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Luke Harrop Memorial Triathlon

While I couldn’t have been any further away from the Gold Coast and the Luke Harrop Memorial Triathlon I thought it was still worthy of a short blog entry for a few reasons.  Firstly, it is a race that means so much to so many people and had extra significance being the 10^th anniversary.  Secondly, with some special performances from many of our DAT athletes I just couldn't let this race slip by without a mention.

Rumors and speculation were rife throughout the week with the possibility of certain members of the DAT family coming out of retirement for only the second time since the 2009 world championship race on the Gold Coast.  The trash talk that followed when the rumors were confirmed that the one and only Dan Atkins would toe the start line were nothing more than entertaining to say the least!  Dan wasn’t the only person making a comeback to racing, with Emily Bevan making her return following a lengthy layoff with a stress fracture to team up with Katie Atkins.  Needless to say the stakes were high and the winner of this battle would have bragging rights for some time in the Atkins household. 

The winner of the battle was somewhat divided with Dan’s overall time beating that of Katie and Emily but Emily’s swim and bike times combined were faster than that of Dan’s and it is a sure sign that Emily’s recovery is well and truly on track and it won’t be long before she is lining up to complete the full race herself and I’ll go out on a limb and say beating Dan as well!  Together Katie and Emily also claimed the title of the fastest female team of the day so I'll leave it up to everyone else to decide on the winner of this battle...

Moving on to the main event, Ryan Fisher was representing DAT in a large open men’s field and although he was pushed all the way on the swim and bike by some of the strongest in the sport, he showed his class once on the run to win in convincing fashion and in doing so also claimed the Luke Harrop Bursary for the second year running.  Also in the open men’s field was Angus Gibson who raced strongly to finish in 14^th position and will surely enjoy his weeks off training after a very long season in the junior elite national series.

Similar strong performances occurred in the open women’s field with none other than Maddi Allan leading the swim out in her normal fashion and holding strong throughout the bike and run to finish the race in second position.  Following closely behind her was Holly Grice and besides her third place was probably more proud that her overall time was faster than that of Dan and has given her bragging rights for the time being.

In other results, Brittany Dutton claimed a familiar victory in her age group and being the 10^th anniversary of the race picked herself up $100 for her troubles.  Dave Sangster just missed out on the prize money to finish in 2nd position and a very impressive 36th overall.  Robbie Mullins again managed to better Dave's result to finish 25th overall in a super quick time and 4th in his age-group.  Similar to Robbie, Rob Murdoch is on the improve with every race he enters and is probably on the hunt for more races to continue this trend after finishing 8th in his category.  Dave Kelly added an impressive 5th place to his seasons results.

It was a great day for DAT down at the Luke Harrop Memorial Triathlon and one that will surely be on the calendar for years to come but unfortunately for myself it was one that I had to give a miss this year, instead choosing to make the journey up to Hervey Bay to compete in the Olympic Distance race on offer that will have its own story up for viewing very shortly. :)

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Sydney Triathlon Weekend

The dilemmas involved in travelling to compete in a triathlon often involve that last minute panic of fitting everything in your bike bag, packing and re-packing to make sure you’re under the weight limit and of course getting that thing through the airport without taking out every sign or person who happens to get in your way, and that’s before you’ve even boarded the plane!

For the contingent of DAT athletes making the journey down to Sydney for the opening round of the ITU World Series and the final round of the Australian Triathlon Series this is part of what they would have had to tackle but for myself, Holly Grice, Anna Coldham and Brayden Tucker it was a rare opportunity to travel without our bikes and enjoy ourselves down in Sydney for the weekend.  I would include Dan Atkins in this list but after the amount of running around he did making sure every one of the DAT athletes was ready to go for the race it was probably far from relaxing until the last athlete crossed that finish line on Sunday morning!

It was perhaps our largest contingent of age-group athletes with a total of ten making the most of the final opportunity to collect valuable points for World Championship selection.  We also had DAT’s very own Ryan Fisher making his World Series debut in a field containing 70 of the world’s best triathletes and with many countries using the race as Olympic selection it was always going to be a fierce battle out there. 

While racing was far from my mind for the weekend, training was still involved but when the location for our Friday afternoon swim; North Sydney Olympic Pool gave us the opportunity to see Luna Park, the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House all from the pool deck who could complain!

Although the elite women were off and racing early Saturday morning I’ll admit that like many of you I was watching from the comfort of my hotel room and I can only hope that this kind of live coverage on OneHD continues for the remainder of the season, especially with Ryan set to tackle the third round in Madrid which happens to be on the same night as the DAT Awards Night!  But I did eventually make my way down to Sydney Harbour in time to see a brilliant finish by our Australian girls and let me say I am glad I am not an Olympic selector with only three spots available and any number of girls capable of filling them!

The men were up next and even though I was only on the sideline I’ll admit the nerves were creeping in, especially when the ITU music started playing as the athletes were introduced and lined the pontoon.  Ryan exited the water with the main group in a fierce swim and was well positioned throughout the bike, fighting off the big Russians as they rode all over the road through the narrow streets of Sydney and although he couldn’t stick with the front runners raced superbly to finish in 46^th position and 4^th Australian and with a big block of training ahead of him before Madrid things look good for the upcoming international season.  And even though all our age-group athletes had their own races to prepare for every single one of them could be heard on the streets of Sydney, Ryan even commenting that Lawrence Sangster was one of the most noticeable voices on the entire course!

With the elites out of the way it was up to our age-group athletes come Sunday morning who had the opportunity to ride over the Sydney Harbour Bridge as part of their course, a privilege that not even our elites were granted!  I must say it is a hard job keeping track of 10 athletes, all going off in different waves and I take my hat off to all of the spectators and especially Dan who does it at every race but thanks to modern technology I was able to track all of them on my phone and know exactly where I should stand to be able to cheer for them. 

And one of the first DAT athletes to cross the finish line was Courtney Dutton as she claimed what is becoming an ever familiar position on top of the podium in a dominant performance that even scored her some impressive television time on the ITU highlights video.  With her performances in Geelong, Devonport, Mooloolaba and Sydney Courtney has cemented herself as the Australian athlete to watch in the 20-24yr age group at the Auckland World Championships and will be determined to show the world that it is not only within this country that she can dominate a race in such convincing fashion!

In the same age group Elyza Codner finished 13^th and will be eagerly awaiting the announcement of the Australian team to see if she will be joining Courtney in Auckland to make the step up from Australian representative over the sprint distance up to the Olympic distance but after posting her quickest Olympic distance time that included personal bests over the swim, cycle and run, she has staked a firm claim for that green and gold uniform.

Taking overall line honors amoungst all of the DAT athletes was Robbie Mullins who is progressing quickly up the ranks and showing significant improvement with every race.  In one of the toughest and most competitive age groups he finished 21^st.  What was even more impressive was that his long term nemesis, Drew Westbrook finished less than a minute in front of him and if Robbie’s trend is anything to go by it won’t be long before Drew is not only looking behind him but will be the one trying to do the chasing!

In other age-group performances it is no surprise that after watching these guys in so many local races going toe to toe, Dave Kelly, Dave Sangster and Dave MacDonald all finished an incredible 8^th in their individual categories!  Simon Leeper finished 16^th, Rob Murdoch finished 32^nd and Kate Gibney finished a very impressive 14^th. 

But without doubt the performance of the day has to go to Geoff Lemmon.  Geoff ran a fantastic race to finish in 4^th position and was the 2^nd Queenslander across the line and all but cemented his spot on the Australian team for Auckland.  To see how much this meant to him when he found out his position and the embrace with Dan after the race that brought a tear to his eye was absolutely amazing to see how much it meant to him and is the very reason why we all do this sport!

That evening we all met up again to share the stories of the day and to do so with not only all these athletes but many of their families was a great way to top off a fantastic weekend!

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