Hervey Bay Triathlon 2013

All of the event organizers and the locals made the 2012 Hervey Bay Triathlon such a memorable event that it was with no hesitation that I accepted an invitation to return in 2013.  Last year this race drew a pretty stacked field with some very good prize money up for grabs and this year was no exception.  With returning champion Joey Lampe headlining a field including former pro-cyclist Casey Munro, Josh Maeder, Luke Farrell and Brad Clark; among others it was always going to be a well fought out race.  As if this wasn’t enough Brad Kahlefeldt threw his name in there for good measure to ensure whoever came out on top of the podium was going to have to earn their money on race day!

I travelled to Hervey Bay off the confidence of my second place a few weeks back at the Gold Coast Triathlon but also knowing my mind hasn’t been 100% focused on my own training of late.  Free time has been a bit elusive of late while I have been starting up my own triathlon club and coaching business, Personal Best Triathlon or PBTRI.  Nevertheless I knew I had the form under my belt and was keen to post a good result as my first race under the PBTRI banner.

I was lucky enough to be asked to help out Codie Grimsey of Grimsey’s Adult Swimfit put on an open water swimming tutorial on the Saturday afternoon.  We had about 40 participants sign up and I really enjoyed being able to share my coaching knowledge about triathlon swimming with everyone that took part.  Grimsey’s Adult Swimfit put on regular open water session every Saturday afternoon at Sutton’s Beach, Redcliffe and I would definitely recommend them to anyone that can get there!

With a 6:30 start time it was an early start to the day on Sunday but when you are greeted with the views out over Hervey Bay it is hard to complain!  With relatively small open fields both the men and women started together, unfortunately resulting in me having to run up the beach into transition with the humiliation of being “chicked” after a less than impressive performance in the water by myself.  I hope my swimming tips from Saturday afternoon helped all of those there more than they did for me!

I knew I had my work cut out for me on the bike so there was no mucking around and straight into eating away at the lead of anyone in front of me.  One by one I was reeling in some of those ahead of me but nowhere near as quick as what Casey Munro was who came out of the water behind me and must have gone by so quick I didn’t even see him!  When you look at the timing splits and see a 40km time of 52:30 there is nothing you can do except acknowledge how blisteringly quick that is.  Naturally Casey led off the bike followed by Joey Lampe, Brad Kahlefeldt and then myself.  Thankfully my 57:06 bike split was not only enough to make up for a slower than expected swim but also enough to give me the equal second quickest split with Brad Kahlefeldt. 

This was one of the first races where I decided to run with my Bryton Cardio 60 GPS watch (I’ll have a review up of this bad boy shortly) and after this race I think it’s something I’ll be doing a lot more often!  With a one lap course there was little chance to see how far ahead the three guys were but the spectators out on the course gave me great support and encouragement to keep chasing hard and at the half way turn around all three of the guys were within reach.  Continuing to surge and build the pace on the way home I finally got a glimpse of third place with about 2km left and managed to get past Casey Munro to cross the line in third place, just 0:22 off Joey and 1:46 behind Brad.  And surprisingly record the fastest run split of the day in 33:31.

Hervey Bay put on a fantastic weekend and all of the organizers and locals go out of their way to look after you in every way possible.  And after a 5^th place in 2012 and a 3^rd place in 2013 maybe 2014 is my year, either way book me in now for another great weekend when it does roll around!

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