The Shepparton Ironman 70.3 will have been run and won by this time tomorrow and while this race was high on the priority list, it was unfortunately removed from this list just over a week ago. The timing of the race seemed perfect; two weeks post Noosa which would have given me plenty of time to not only get some solid TT time under my belt leading into Noosa but also freshen up, recover and taper to be all guns blazing for Shepparton. As it turns out my body has taken close to two weeks to completely recover from my crash at Noosa and I am still yet to pull the running shoes back on, in fact they are still sitting out on the deck from when I first got home after Noosa! But before I get too far ahead of myself, another Noosa Triathlon weekend has been and gone and it’s safe to say there is something about Noosa that will keep you coming back for more and there are already plans in the pipeline to get the DAT Loft up and running again and take care of some unfinished business from this year in 2013!
After last years DAT Dungeon experience we decided an upgrade was needed and between Tom, Sarah, Maddi, Emily and myself, the DAT Loft was created and became the place to be right in the heart of Hastings St
As usual the weekend provided a busy schedule of events and while the DAT contingent wasn't as heavily populated as in previous years, we still not only had athletes in almost every event but some very impressive results to go with it. Friday afternoon was the first of those events and had Sarah, Maddi, Holly, Anna and Wyatt lining up in the open waves for the Eyeline 1000 and Britt lining up in her age group. As one would expect Britt produced her usual stellar performance and took her position on the podium. All of our open competitors missed out on podium positions, swimming off against numerous Australian swimmers but swam strongly to beat many well established swimmers.
Saturday morning saw the usual pre-race ride to the top of Noosa hill and also saw Dan and Holly complete numerous hill reps in an attempt to get the perfect shot for the Noosa Triathlon Instagram Competition and top the efforts of Tom from Friday’s Eyeline 1000. For those of us racing the triathlon there was little more to do other than put our feet up and stay out of the dehydrating weather for the rest of the day. Sarah and Sophie didn't have this luxury as they were set to compete in the Asics 5k Bolt. Similar to the Eyeline 1000, this race featured several Australian and Olympic representatives but this didn't seem to phase either of them, mixing it with the best to be a part of the lead group of runners for the entirety of the race. The pace continued to increase and coming to the finish it was Sophie finishing in 4th position and Sarah not far behind in 6th place.
All the emphasis was obviously on Sunday mornings event and it certainly didn't disappoint. The elite men's field had attracted perhaps it biggest and strongest field in the thirty years the event has been running. Some of the names included three Ironman World Champions; Pete Jacobs, Craig Alexander and Chris McCormack, former winners Courtney Atkinson and David Dellow and a host of the sports biggest and brightest stars all vying to get their name on the Noosa winners list. The last two years I have finished 14th and 15th in this race and wit significantly better training under my belt and most importantly a whole new mental attitude I was primed and aiming at a top 10 finish and truly believed I was capable of this.
My day didn't get off to the smoothest of starts having an issue with my disc not wanting to co-operate with my pump and having to rely on Emily coming to my rescue and lending me her wheel that was in transition itself as she was set to make her return to training after a two week break with nothing less than a 40km TT. So thanks to Emily, Sarah and Holly for running down from our room to help me actually make it to the start line on time! I overcame this and was set to go on the start line with the rest of the field. The swim went off without too many issues and while I didn't exit the water with the front group, found myself about one minute off the leaders with a solid group of athletes. Almost as soon as we hit the bike leg the rain started and with the rain came the carnage! No more than 10km into the cycle leg saw the first causality from our group with Craig Alexander hitting the deck hard around one of the round-a-bouts. The rain only got worse from here and made for tough conditions for the rest of the ride and became even more troublesome as we hit the final 5km and the round-a-bouts coming towards the completion of the cycle leg. As we came through one of them I saw Chris McCormack slide out in front of me and heard another athlete do the same thing behind me. I thought I'd come away from this safely but things all came unstuck around the next corner when it was my turn to slide across the road. While I managed to get back up and keep going I had lost a fair bit of time on the lead group and the chase group that I was earlier a part of. The impact of the fall had its effect once I hit the run leg and while I felt really good for the middle part of the run I really struggled to get my body going to begin with and again tightened up coming into the finish. I finished the race in 16th position and while this isn't necessarily a bad result it isn't the top ten I was aiming for and had I not had the fall was probably more than capable of. Full credit must go to winner Peter Kerr and training partner Ryan Fisher on his second place finish to cap off a stellar season for him and Taylor Cecil in third. It’s podium that few would have predicted but shows some of the potential in Australian triathletes coming through the ranks.
While I was far from the only athlete to fall during the race (with Tom making up for some of those that didn’t by coming down twice but still managing to finish the race!) as mentioned earlier it has definitely taken its effect on my body. As disappointing as it is to pull out of races I know full well that there is no way to bluff your way through 21.1km off the bike and I would only be doing myself more damage by even taking to the start line. However I have signed up for my first race of 2013 which will be the Auckland Ironman 70.3 which also doubles as Asia Pacific Championships, nothing like jumping straight into the deep end! So there seems like no better time than now to knuckle down and clock up some serious kilometers!
