BSHS Awards Night Speech

Over my years I've attended plenty of sports awards dinners and heard even more guest speakers at numerous different events.  Being the guest speakers is always an honor but it isn't without nerves that you get up infront of an unknown audience to share what you feel are words of wisdom and inspiration in the hope that the audience take something positive away from it.

Just last week I was invited to be the guest speaker at the Brisbane State High School cross-country awards night dinner that was held last night and on somewhat short notice I put together my speech but on all reports I passed with flying colours so I thought I'd share my 'words of inspiration and wisdom' with you:

I was really struggling for what I was going to talk about to all of you tonight until about half way through training this morning.  And having been given some direction on what to talk about, this morning’s session was perfect!  My alarm went off at 3:55am this morning and I was out the door and on my bike by 4:30am and trust me the 5ºc weather didn’t make it any easier but after my car was involved in a car crash 2 weeks ago it has been my only way of getting around and I had to meet the rest of my training group at 5:30am.  We were doing an 80km loop around the north side of Brisbane and with the extra riding I had to do, I was looking at close to 130km for the morning.  Within the first two hours I’d already had 3 punctures and was close to wanting to call a taxi and call it a day!  For anyone that has had to change a tyre they will know that it’s never much fun especially when it is down to about 3ºc but after having to resort to using a muesli bar wrapper (a common cyclists trick) to cover the gash I’d only found after the third puncture we continued on and not only did I get the 130km done but I also rode close to the quickest I’ve ever ridden for the 20km time-trial section in the middle!  It was this persistence and resilience that not only got me through this session but also what I have achieved thus far in this sport.

I’ve always found quotes to be somewhat cliché but after having heard this one a while back it has just stuck with me and regularly pops into my head during sessions or days when it all just seems too much;

“It’s not about how many times you fall down, it’s about how many times you get back up.”

You’re all here tonight because of your achievements in cross country this season and I applaud all of your efforts, many of which trump a lot of my performances throughout my schooling and the exciting thing for many of you is that the best is likely yet to come.  Personally it wasn’t until grade 12 when I made my first Queensland team for athletics and my first Australian team was my first year out of high school in 2005.  In fact the furthest I ever went for cross country was regionals so a lot of you have a healthy head start on me!

2008 was my second Australian World Championship team which was held over in Canada.  Canada is one of the best places I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to but racing in 5ºc and rain isn’t!  I finished 33^rd in that race but one year down the track, a change in squads and coaches and most importantly a completely different mindset I finished 4^th in my category and 10^th overall at the 2009 World Championships on the Gold Coast

It was after Worlds in 2009 that I was given the opportunity to race professionally and have been ever since and have raced in a number of national championships as well as international events all around Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Canada and USA.  And at the end of the 2010/2011 season I was ranked 168^th in the world after some of my best results which included a 6^th place at the ITU Continental Cup in Devonport and 20^th place at the ITU Oceania Championships in Wellington and 12^th place at the ITU Oceania Cup in Mooloolaba where I actually lead the race up until the 4km mark of the run.

I went into the beginning of this season full of confidence and looking to improve on the last and everything started off really well at the Noosa Triathlon where I finished 14^th, just behind Chris McCormack and ahead of Courtney Atkinson.  Unfortunately the next series of races didn’t go to plan and my results were well off what I thought I was capable of.  And being a rather emotional person each of these results got a little bit harder to deal with and in a sense I was searching for answers because in actual fact I was training better than ever before and my training times were just not being reflected in races.  In a bit of a last ditch attempt to gain something from the season I headed up to a race in Hervey Bay where I ended up having my best race all season to finish 5^th in a really quality field, only just narrowly being beaten by Pete Jacobs who was runner up to Craig Alexander at the Hawaiian World Ironman Championship last October.  Not only did this result give me the confidence that training was in fact on track but also made my mind up on what direction I am now heading in.  I’ve decided to now focus on the Ironman 70.3 distance (1.9km swim, 90km cycle, 21km run) and my first race of this distance will be in Yeppoon on August 19^th and I’m actually more excited than ever about entering for me the unknown!

And just before I finish I’d like to leave you with a couple of quotes or mottos.  The first is my coach’s motto and however simple it is, is something that he has instilled in me and something I strongly believe should be followed by not only anyone chasing the elite athlete dream but with any significant goal in life;

"PERFORMANCE THROUGH PERSISTANCE"

The second is a phrase that a few of us came up with at training and believe it or not I actually have written on a piece of strapping tape and stuck to the handlebars of my bike.  It’s three simple words but when it all comes down to it, if you chip away at your goals with persistence and bounce back from whatever setbacks you may face the results will come.  And that phrase is;

"JUST BACK YOURSELF"

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DAT Awards Night 2012: The Main Event

I feel ample time has passed since I posted DAT Awards Night 2012: The Prequel that it is now time to move on to the main event.  But for anyone out there unaware of the enormity of this event check out what went down at the 2011 DAT Awards Night and try to get your heads around the fact that this years edition was hyped up so much that we had club members flying home from holidays just so they could make the event and even athletes from other clubs putting themselves through the torture of a weeks training with us just to attend this event!

But before I go into too much detail I must that the brains trust behind the event.  Craig Buerckner, Nathan Hilderbrandt and Dan Atkins spent countless hours not only organising the event itself but were also left with the arduous task of selecting the nominees and winners of the prestigous awards.  And having been privileged enough to be invited to one of their meetings I can vouch for how tough some of the decisions were, even if the meeting was held at the local Stafford Tavern!  But needless to say that without the work these three men put into this event it wouldn't have been what it was so thanks again guys!

With winter well and truly amoung us and the venue moving from The Grange Bowls Club to the chilly waters of the Brisbane River aboard one of the function boats available the majority of the guys were very proud of their decision to don the suit and jacket option!  And with the threat of the boat departing on time with or without it's guests it was for once unusual to see everyone onboard well in advance. 

The first portion of the cruise provided us with time to wet the whistle and mingle and it was during these early moments that those of us with somewhat of a height advantage were actually at a disadvantage on the lower level of this boat and were forced to either duck or spend our time on the distinctly colder upper level of the boat with poor Jenna Fulton hitting her head no less than six times!

But we will bypass all chit-chat and move straight to the exciting part of the evening involving the recipients of the awards and the following speeches and in no particular order here they are:

The first award of the evening was a new addition for the 2012 edition and what better recipient than a new member for the 2011/2012 season!  Having won the 2011 ITU Age Group World Championship in impressive fashion and further going on to have a stellar season racing in the ITU National Junior Elite Series it was none other than Luke Farrell who had the honour of recieving the Appreciation Award.

With Angus and my well prepared speech being given the flick without our knowledge we were both forced to think on our feet to come up with completely unrelated speeches and while I may be rather impressed with my efforts that's not what I'm here to write about so I'll move on to the Age-Group Athlete of the Year and the Most Improved Athlete of the Year.  Both of these awards could not have gone to a more deserving athlete not only after the season she has had but the improvements everyone has been witness to since the beginning of the season.  It was none other than Courtney Dutton who had the honour of getting up on stage twive to recieve two seperate awards and on that note, having looked back over the DAT Honour Board, she is the only athlete to ever claim two awards in the one season and after some of the results within this club this season that is quite the effort!

In fact, the Dutton family stole the limelight on the evening with Britt being awarded the Junior Athlete of the Year after winning non only the School State Championship but also the School National Championship in convincing fashion and when she has one of her training partners in Sophie Maloewecki chasing her ever step of the way there is no telling what these two superstars can do in the future.

Moving on to the Dominator of the Year Award and although I wasn't up for nomination for this award it was one that I was most nervous about for reasons I will go into soon.  I couldn't be happier with the recipient of this award and also the performance it was picked on as I not only believe it is an outstanding performance in the context of this club but also within triathlon in Australia.  Ryan Fisher claimed 3rd in the 2011 Auckland World Cup event which was not only his first World Cup podium but also only the second Australian athlete to step onto the podium apart from Brad Kahlefeldt for the 2011 season.  But with Ryan unable to attend the event it was left up to me to read the speech he had prepared which I was priveledged to do after spending the entire time both of us have been in the sport training together.

With two of the three the remaining awards being the Athlete of the Year and the Atkins Family Award, both of which have previously been won by myself and Ryan, the winners are to be in a select group!  In fact for the past three seasons the winners of the Athlete of the Year have been myself, Ryan and Brayden and the winners of the Atkins Family Award have been Ryan, Brayden and myself. 

It's hard to question the recipients of either of these awards this season.  One of the moments that stole it for me was the National Series race down in Sydney where Geoff produced a great race to finish 4th place that cemented his spot in the Australian team for Worlds later in the year.  But the even better moment was to see how much this race not only meant to him but also to Dan with the two shedding a few tears of joy together immediately after the race and it seems fitting that the winner of the Atkins Family award was presented to Geoff who again shed a tear or two when giving his speech!

Similarly the athlete of the year was sealed with a moment of brilliance, this time at the Mooloolaba Triathlon.  Lining up in only her second elite race and after having been unable to finish down in Devonport no one had more reason to be nervous than Sarah on that startline.  But she put all of that aside and produced one of the performances of the season to run away and produce a marvelous performance to claim the victory.  And just incase anyone thought this would be a one off performance, Sarah has since gone on to win her following race over in Japan winning back to back ITU Continental Cups! 

And I think I speak for Ryan, Brayden and myself in saying that both Geoff and Sarah are worthy winners of these awards and their names will fit in nicely beside ours on that honour board. :)

And on to the final awards for the evening which for me is one of the most special awards and just shows that this club is really something special to have an athlete spend close to six months preparing the award.  Every year Geoff spends countless hours painting what can only be described as a masterpiece to be awarded to an athlete of his choice and is fairly named the Geoffery Lemmon award and unfortunately this year the winner wasn't present but nonetheless her efforts within the club are never overlooked.  Lindy-Jo never fails to step up to fill the void of Dan on pool deck whenever it is required and while her efforts are much appreciated by everyone, she now has the Geoffery Lemmon Award for the 2011/2012 season as another token of this appreciation.

So that wraps up the formal portion of the 2012 DAT Awards night but that isn't to say that the evening ended there with plenty choosing to continue onwards once the boat returned to shore and spend the evening celebrating how great this club really is!

And already there are a few athletes out there getting a solid headstart and throwing their name in the ring to be award recipients for the 2012/2013 season with both Ryan and Sarah winning ITU Continental Cups in China and Japan.  And I dare say the performances won't stop there so for anyone who thought the awards were hotly contested this time around better get themselves out on the training paddock and aim for those prestigious awards for the 2013 DAT Awards Night!

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Bryton Cardio 35 Review - Oceania Bicycles

Training with GPS is almost considered standard practice these days and it is becoming an ever more competitive market with the number of new products hitting stores on a regular basis.  And for anyone who follows this blog, you will know that on the bike my preferred method of data collection is via the use of my Bryton Rider 50T.  I did a pretty in-depth review of this computer when I first received it through the then distributor, Next Destination that came in very handy for them and is to this date still my most viewed blog but I've put a bit of time into this review so here is my best bet at topping that!

Up until a few months ago I had been relying on my trusty Garmin Forerunner 305 for collecting any data on my running sessions but our relationship came to an abrupt end when it decided on its own accord to shut down permanently.  At first I thought it was an untimely end but after getting in contact with the new distributors of Bryton GPS Computers in Australia, Oceania Bicycles it turned out to be somewhat convenient with the upcoming release of the new Bryton Cardio 35.  Of course for some time I was left technology-less out running but this actually allowed me to ‘run by feel’ and since using my new Bryton Cardio 35 have found I actually have a lot better sense of my own pacing.

The first thing I noticed about the Cardio 35 even before I had the chance to take it out of the box was its size.  It is much more similar in size to that of any normal sports watch instead of the normally chunky GPS watches available.  Just like all of the GPS watches available, the features list seems to go on forever and this was perhaps what brought about my initial downfall as I immediately disregarded the instruction booklet, instead preferring to, like my running; go by feel.  This is probably the reason why it has taken me a lot longer than expected to get this review up and running and after taking the time to look through the instruction booklet I now have lots to share in terms of my thoughts on the watch and also some fantastic data files that I have been able to collect and store on the Bryton Connect page

The watch is actually surprisingly simple to use once you’ve got around to having a quick look through the instructions.  It is a matter of pressing one button before you can be off and running or cycling for that matter and with the unit seemingly picking up a GPS signal straight away there is no waiting around for the unit to catch up.  In fact not only can this watch be used for either running or cycling, it is waterproof so can be worn for an entire triathlon if race data is of importance to you.  The other benefit of this watch is its battery life of up to 30 days and combining this with its size there is no reason why you couldn’t wear this as an everyday sports watch.

Out training there is the limiting factor that you are limited to only one data screen instead of having the option of up to four with the Garmin but it is only a matter of pressing one button to scroll through time of day, time, distance, calories, average pace and current pace and whenever you press the lap button you are given a brief summary of the average pace and time of that particular lap.  I haven’t really had much reason to complain about only having one data screen except during some sessions where we will run for a particular period of time at a specific pace and I can find myself scrolling through all the data fields to keep tabs on these two.  The single data screen can be advantageous though as unlike the Garmin that seems to squash so much data on to one screen that you can spend so much time trying to work out what you are looking at, the Bryton is so easy to read and with a quick glance I know exactly what I need to.

The addition of a bike mount can quickly transform this watch into a perfect cycling computer and although I prefer to wear it on my wrist when I do use it riding because I have the Bryton Rider 50T on my bike all the time it could be the perfect bike-run watch for triathletes.  The heart rate monitor and cadence sensor can either be included with the watch or added later as accessories only add to the already long list of data that you can collect and review.

 The data that I have already been able to collect from this watch has been great and as my coach said, if you take the time to look through any one of the data files you are bound to find something of use.  My favourite feature would have to be the stride rate.  And while I am not going to even try and explain or work out how it calculates this it is so cool!  I’ve changed my running style dramatically over the years to decrease my stride length and increase my stride rate and now that I can look back over this data in all of my runs is really interesting to compare what it is when I’m going fast or slow and how it compares as I tire. 

With all this available data I could be at the computer for days looking at all the intricate details but instead I am out there pounding the pavement creating the data files.  Instead I will have to leave that up to anyone interested in looking through Bryton Sport and Bryton Bridge and will wrap up my review by saying that the Bryton Cardio 35 is definitely worth serious consideration if anyone is in the market for a new GPS watch.  This watch has a lot going for it and with Bryton making significant inroads into the ever competitive world of sports performance GPS products I am proud to be able to continue working with these guys into the future.

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DAT Awards Night 2012: The Prequel

The DAT Awards Night may have been and gone for 2012 but after the wrap I gave it last year I thought I had to do the same again for this year.  But even before I get into that I will tempt your tastebuds with what could only be described as one of the most hyped up speeches for the evening!  Myself and Angus Gibson were to give a wrap-up of the entire high performance season and with performances including local victories, National Championship medals in both the schools categories and junior elite series, ITU Continental Cup victories, World Series Events and everything humorous in between it took quite the effort to pen an entertaining yet informative five pages.  However, little did we know that this wasn't to be and we were both put on the spot at different times during the evening to give impromptu speeches about little to do about what we had prepared and while these speeches were on all accounts very impressive, I thought it only fair to acknowledge the performances of everyone in the high performance squad and of course Angus and myself for our speech writing efforts by sharing a somewhat altered version of what we prepared...

Dan’s always said that his report cards for the season are both Noosa and Mooloolaba so we thought it only made sense to use these two races as our guide of what to talk about.  But it would be unfair not to mention a few special performances that occurred pre-Noosa at the end of last year.  It’s hard to look past Holly who only finished off the podium once before Christmas and even that result was a 4th place finish.  These results included a 3rd place at Raby Bay early in the season, a 2nd place at the Toorbul Triathlon and a 1st place at the Robina Triathlon.  Toorbul was another special occasion for the DAT team with both the girls and boys finishing 1st through to 4th.

Noosa was the first big indication of how things were going for us this season and it provided some very promising signs for the rest of the season.  In the elite race Ryan not only finished in a very impressive 5th place but also collected the Luke Harrop Bursary and Nick finished in 14th.  In the open category we had Brayden in 2nd position that also meant he could get his pro-licence, Tom in 3rd and also in the medical tent straight after the finish with the drip for his recovery and Luke in 5th position.

A short 3 weeks after Noosa Ryan was set to race in one of the biggest world cup races of the year over in Auckland.  This is the course that a lot of you will be racing on later this year and if his result is anything to go by, it’s safe to say that Dan’s training methods are well and truly on track.  For me this race was truly spine tingling stuff, especially after training with Ryan ever since we both started in the sport way back in 2005.  To watch Ryan cross the line in 3rd was amazing and has to go down as one of our top 5 performances for the season.  And to put this result into perspective, Ryan was only the second Australian to finish on the podium of a world cup race all season with the other being Brad Kahledfeldt at Mooloolaba.

For the ITU juniors the journey began on the Gold Coast at the super sprint weekend, which consisted of 3 days of intense racing.  DAT Racing was well represented with Tom, Luke, Jake, Holly, Emily and Angus all taking to the start line on Friday afternoon.  After a number of time trials the sprint triathlons began and after some gutsy racing in a strong field Tom Ryan and Luke Farrell ended up in the A grade final racing off against the top 16 men.  Both finished strongly and looked to have promising starts to the season.  Jake Freeman, the youngest of the junior athletes racing showed his talent and strength over the weekend after fracturing his wrist on the Friday and continued on to race in the B final showing up a number of older athletes.  The girls, like the boys races, were some of the most courageous and toughest seen.  With another strong field both Emily and Holly qualified for the A grade final.  With an attack of the front, Holly put herself in a good position and ended up in spectacular second place putting her in 4th place overall, off the podium by a mere 1.5 points for the weekend.  Emily raced phenomenally as well finishing 5th out of the 16 girls in the A final, leaving her in 6th position overall for the weekend.

There was little rest of the Christmas period for any of us, even by-passing any New Year celebrations to be up riding the next morning.  This was followed by a weeklong training camp at the Farrell Ranch which we must again thank the Farrell’s for their hospitality and also Mandy Freeman for her care packages for Jake that he made the mistake of leaving open for the rest of us.  On the training side of things we covered upwards of 25km in the pool, 500km on the bike and close to 100km of running throughout the week which was made even more enjoyable thanks to some of the somewhat unorthodox recovery methods that some of us enjoyed on a nightly basis.

Next on the calendar for the junior elites was Canberra, venturing to the capital for a heated day of racing.  This was the first full race in the junior elite series.  With everyone set to perform, the girls hit the water first with wetsuits a must. The race was fairly close with all the girls coming together on the bike, it came down to who had the quickest legs on the day with Emily placing second in what would be her last junior race for the season due to injury but finished in style with a great performance and earned herself a spot in our top 5 performances for the season.  Holly also had another blinder of a race finishing 5th place.  The boys managed to miss the wetsuits by a couple of degrees so they frolicked in the cold water for a bit before heading off.  The race was quick to begin with but with the bike being such a quick course the top contenders came together in the main pack with most of the DAT athletes pushing the pace.  In the end it came down to a runners’ race again with such a flat course. In the end Tom placed a solid 10th, Luke came in at 13th.  The next day Angus and Holly backed up for the age group world championship qualifying race which was not a welcome sight after such a tough race the previous day.  We both finished on the podium with Holly taking out the Australian Championship.

The Caloundra was the next race for some of us where Ryan battled all the way to the finish with Courtney Atkinson to narrowly finish second.  In the other race the girls again dominated with Sarah taking out the win and Emily backing up from her outstanding performance in Canberra to again finish in second.  On the boy’s side of things Jake led as much of the race as he could, being forced to pull out at the beginning of the run due to injury.

Brayden and Nick then moved on to Geelong to tackle the National Sprint Distance Championships and were lining up with close to 70 others guys.  Brayden finished the race in 26th position and Nick came in 41st.  We were also joined by a host of age groupers for this trip and I was going to mention Courtney’s 4th place finish but I’ve realized that this was actually her lowest finish of the season so we’ll leave it there…

While the ITU junior races are the pinnacle of elite junior triathlon, for school aged kids the national titles are just as important they are what many strive for, as did the older high performance athletes when they were younger. This year 4 DAT athletes made their way to Busselton to compete. Their training paid off as Britt, Sophie, Wyatt and Billy all performed to their expectations. The boys finished well with Billy 20th and Wyatt 14th but again the two girls dominated the field showing their talent with Sophie placing third and Brittany taking out the national title again 2 years in a row this was an exceptional achievement as they were both racing against girls their own age as well as girls a year older and it is for this reason that Britt has taken out a spot in our top 5 performances.

Devonport was the next stop on the high performance calendar and with Olympic qualification on the line it also drew one of the highest quality fields in Australia in some time.  We were strongly represented in all of the races with Holly and Anna lining up in the junior girls, Tom, Luke and Angus in the junior boys, Sarah in the elite women and Brayden, Ryan and Nick in the elite men.  Unfortunately Emily’s injury kept her away from the start line but she still made the trip and was privileged enough to hear the Kangaroo and the Emu speech courtesy of that so many Australian elites have been witness to.  Anna was the standout in the junior women’s race to finish in 7th place and in the junior men Luke had a great race to finish 7th in a very tough field.

And after such a long season, Mooloolaba was to be one of our final races before a much earned break.  I could sum this race up very quickly because without doubt the race of the day that went to Sarah as she claimed her first international victory in the continental cup and also a spot in our top 5 performances of the year.  In other results, Tom again pushed himself to the limit and again found himself in the medical tent at the finish which seems to be a bit of a trend for him and Maddi finished 3rd in the open women’s race.

As I’m sure all of you are well aware the performances haven’t stopped since Mooloolaba but I’ll keep it strictly triathlon related because if I have to go in to too much detail I’ll have to reveal the event where Maddi managed to defeat myself, Tom and Ryan.  And although Ryan couldn’t be with us here tonight we couldn’t finish this speech without mentioning not only his debut in the highest level of triathlon racing in the world series event in Sydney but also his race in Jiaguyan last weekend where he won his first continental cup in convincing fashion and is now based in France for the next few months in the lead up to see him hopefully qualify for the U23 world champs in Auckland.  We also have Sarah heading over to Japan next week to compete in a few Continental Cups and Luke heading over to USA for a Continental Cup but we’re not sure whether Luke’s more excited about the actual race or the cowboy hats and dancing!  And Holly and Emily also heading over to Japan later in the season for their first dabble in international competition.  Both of these girls have also recently been named in the 6 girl ITU junior elite squad to be later cut down to 3 before Auckland.

So that basically wraps up the season from a high performance point of view and if anyone has been paying attention we only ever mentioned 4 of our top 5 performances for the season, mainly because with so many overseas races coming up and with Auckland high on so many peoples priority list we are sure there will be more memorable moments capable of filling this 5th position.

But apart from the great achievements of all the high performance athletes this season, without the help from Dan, Craig, Nathan and everyone else in this club that has shown interest or support in what we are trying to achieve, this season could not have been done. I’m sure I speak for all of us in saying thank you for a great season and I hope you enjoy the cold, dark, long mornings ahead. 

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