Mooloolaba Multisport Festival

What an action packed weekend of racing Mooloolaba has yet again given us!  With DAT athletes represented in almost every event over the weekend including the 5km fun run on the Friday evening, the Saturday morning superkidz triathlon and ocean swim and the main events; the Mooloolaba individual and teams triathlon and the ITU Continental Cup.  The only event where we didn't field any competitors were both the male and female ITU World Cup with the unfortunate late withdrawl of Ryan Fisher from the men's field so he can recover from a hip strain in time to be on the start line for the ITU World Series race in Sydney.  But with some of the results over the weekend (mainly Sarah Deuble's breakthrough victory in the ITU Continental Cup) it won't be long before DAT is apparent in these fields as well.

After searching through the USM results pages, reading everyones facebook and twitter updates and hearing stories that have been passed along in the days since the race I've managed to put together a highlights reel from the weekend of racing.  But I will take the precautionary measure of apologising in advance if I have missed anyone!

With the festival beginning on the Friday, there was considerable concern being shown by all involved after the deluge of rain and flash flooding that was all over the news from the Thursday but upon arriving in Mooloolaba Friday lunchtime there was little to no sign of the previous days events and the show would go on without fault.  As has become somewhat of a tradition with recent Mooloolaba and Noosa triathlons, a group of the high performance athletes pooled our savings to book ourselves a hotel room that has previously been referred to as the DAT Dungeon but with myself, Tom Ryan, Angus Gibson, Sarah Deuble, Elyza Codner, Emily Bevan and Holly Grice on top of our organisation skills we took it upon ourselves to rename it the DAT Penthouse with the ocean views of the 7th level of the Newport Hotel being our place of residence for the weekend.

Unfortunately I wasn't present for the first event of the weekend, the 5km fun run due to what many athletes competing in the ITU Continental Cup would describe as a rather unorganised race briefing raising more questions and concerns than providing answers but to the credit of USM Events our race, like everything USM put on ran without fault.  Tackling the tough 5km circuit from DAT Racing was one of our youngest members, Josh Buerckner and his father Craig.  Although not at the pointy end of the 16:12 ran by the winner of the U16 division, at the ripe age of 10, Josh recorded a very slick 23:55 and while I would say he is hot on his fathers heels, after looking up the results to see Craig's 26:44 I think it is going to be the other way around for some time!

Josh's busy weekend schedule didn't end there as he backed up the following morning to compete in the Superkidz Triathlon in the canal beside Underwater World.  While many of us were battling the blustery conditions on our morning spin before our big day, Josh was joined by his younger sibling Hayden and fellow DAThlete stars of the future Lawrence Sangster and Caleb Madders to do battle and were presented with their finishers medals at the finish line by Olympic hopefuls Emma Jackson and Ashleigh Gentle.  Even after their racing schedule, energy levels were still high and come Sunday afternoon when many of us were ready for a well earned rest, these kids were still hot on each others heels racing up and down the hill of Mooloolaba behind the DAT tent.

Shortly after the Superkidz Triathlon the action turned to Mooloolaba Beach for the ocean swim and while most of us were present to get in our swim to check out the conditions before tomorrow, many of us left the racing to the swimmers.  Not one to shy away from a swimming challenge, Maddi Allan toed the start line and finished in 3rd place in the open womens field in a very slick 13:07.  Priscilla Sangster also tackled the challenging 1km course to finish 15th in the 13-15yr girls category.

In order to minimise unnecessary rambling I will skip by the World Cup events except to say that both were very impressive races to witness and even better was seeing Erin Densham destroy the womens field on the run and stamp herself as a firm threat for one of those two remaining Olympic positions and I can't wait to witness both the mens and womens races down in Sydney with the remaining Olympic positions still on the line for the Australian athletes.

Moving on to the main event and the Sunday race; the day began at a very early 3:45am for myself and the majority of my room mates for the weekend because as my parents are very quick to remind me, I can't do anything quietly that early in the morning!  But with a 6:35am start time there was little mucking around and before we knew it we were all lined up on the beach and awaiting the starters orders.  Unfortunately for myself my current run of top form in training again eluded me on race day and after poor results in Geelong and Devonport I can now add Mooloolaba to that list and has left me searching for ways to convert my training performances into race results and as you could probably guess, the sooner the better!  I was joined in the ITU Continental Cup by both Brayden Tucker and Luke Farrell, racing his first continental cup after recieving notice his pro-licence application had been successful earlier in the week.  Both boys were well positioned after the swim and bike to be with the main group and out on the run managed to hold their own with Brayden finishing 20th with Luke not far behind in 24th.

Without doubt the most impressive performance of the day has to go to Sarah Deuble.  After failing to finish her first continental cup only two weeks earlier down in Devonport, Sarah completely turned that around to show the triathlon world what she is truly capable of.  In a field that contained former Olympians and numerous Australian elite, U23 and junior elite representitives, Sarah outclassed all of them in a performance that brought tears to her mothers eyes.  Sitting comfortably in the front pack on the bike and managing to stay out of trouble in the rain and avoiding a crash mid-way through, Sarah surged to the front mid-way through the run and never looked back.  With a very impressive 36:25 10km run split, Sarah crossed the line close to 1-minute clear of second place to claim her first major elite victory and I'm sure greatly enjoyed standing on top of the podium to hear the national anthem, a moment she won't forget any time soon!

The run of top performances didn't stop there with Tom Ryan claiming second position in the open mens field and pushing himself to the limit, so much so that he was again placed on a drip to aid his recovery immediately after crossing the finish line.  Maddi backed up her third place from the ocean swim to finish fourth in the open womens field and even more impressive is the fact she led this field out of the water by a minute and a half!  Angus Gibson also claimed second position in the 16-19yr division after narrowly missing the victory in a sprint finish and after racing both Thursday and Friday showed great determination to perform so well.  In the 20-24yr female division Courtney Dutton continued her run of impressive form to claim victory and the national age-group national championship but with her sights set firmly on Sydney in three weeks time, who knows what she is capable of there!  In the same category Elyza Codner finished 24th and is ever closer to making that Australian team for the World Championships.  As I have reported from both Geelong and Devonport, Robbie Mullins is on the continual improvement and after improving after both Geelong and Devonport, we wouldn't expect anything less than a better result again and with an overall time of 2:10:10 and finishing 22nd I think we can all say, "Job well done!"

In the always competitive battle between Dave Kelly, Dave Sangster, Dave Mcdonald and Simon Leeper, it was Dave Sangster who claimed the victory by finishing in 8th position in his age group in a time of 2:09:46 (look out Dave, you are Robbie's next target and he is closing quickly!).  Simon Leeper narrowly piped Dave Kelly in a time of 2:15:01 and 2:15:39 respectively to finish 11th and 14th with Dave Mcdonald hot on their heels in what I have been made aware was a lot shorter preparation period and still clocked a very impressive 2:16:21.  How close these guys seem to always finish race and race continues to amaze me and seeing them storming down the hill and past the DAT tent towards the finish line is an impressive sight!  In other results, Jamie Hanelt finished in a time of 2:13:38, Rob Murdoch finished in a time of 2:30:07, Kate Gibney finished in a time 2:31:25, Meg Boland finished with a time of 3:02:09 and Geoff Lemmon finished in 8th position in his age group in a time of 2:26:14 but I doubt many of his competitors can claim to being able to match many of the younger competitors in the dancing department as Geoff danced his race away with us all at the Wharf Tavern into the early hours of the morning!  Rob Buzacott finished incredibly well in a time of 2:33:11 to claim the bronze medal in his category.  And in the Madders household it is safe to say that Craig is on chores duty for some time after he was defeated by Sharyn who posted a very slick time of 2:20:37 to finish in third position compared to Craig's 2:29:12.

I do apologize to anyone I missed but that is a wrap on the racing side of things for another year at Mooloolaba.  The key word is on the racing side of things because the weekend didn't end there and after the presentations wrapped up, the Wharf Tavern was converted to the official after party and we were special enough to have our our VIP area set up courtesy of resident DJ, Jamie Hanelt.  Stories were told, drinks were shared and with no sign of any angry dragons or stunned wombats, a very enjoyable evening was had by all to bring the 2012 Mooloolaba Triathlon Festival to conclusion!

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Australian Youth Championships

It is safe to say that the Australian triathlon community is buzzing with action this weekend with two of the biggest races of the year taking place on the same weekend, being the Mooloolaba Triathlon Festival and the Melbourne Ironman.  The Mooloolaba Triathlon Festival has particular significance for many of the DAT Racing athletes as they continue to chase points to go towards World Championship selection.

However, for many of our junior athletes the weekend of racing commenced on the Thursday morning just around the corner from Mooloolaba at Twin Waters for the Australian Youth Championships.  For many of them the race came at perfect timing being just two short weeks before they jetset across the country to compete in the national schools championships.  For Angus Gibson, Holly Grice and Anna Coldham it was the conclusion of a heavy racing schedule after competing in the national junior elite series on the Gold Coast, Canberra and Devonport.  Not one to shy away from a challenge, Angus is also backing up from racing Thursday and Friday to compete on Sunday as well.  Unfortunately the weather was less than ideal for the individual races on Thursday and the teams races on the Friday and my time spent in the miserable conditions was limited to only the senior individual races and I have had to rely on the fast travelling word of mouth to recount the happenings of both the intermediate and junior races.

Our junior boys got the day off to a great start with new recruit, Harry Sweeney taking out the boys race and Nick Free putting the disappointment of his crash at school states behind him to show us all what he is capable of and rounding out the podium in third position.

In the intermediate race we were well represented in the girls race with the current Queensland Schools champion and defending Australian Schools champion, Brittany Dutton, with her list of accomplishments growing with almost every race she competes in.  Hot on her heels as always was Sophie Malowecki and on the boys side we had Wyatt Westmoreland and Lawerence Garufi.  For all four of these athletes it was to be their first draft-legal triathlon and from all reports they handled themselves with the professionalisms you would expect and can all be very proud of their achievements.  In the womens race, Britt finished in second place and Sophie rounded out the podium in third position.  In the boys race, both Wyatt and Lawerence finished with very solid races and after the slight mishap of over-shooting one of the bike turns before realizing his mistake, Wyatt fought back to have a really strong run.  However, the more impressive result came from the teams race on the Friday where these four athletes teamed up to take out line honors in an impressive display!

After leading out of the water in both Canberra and Devonport, we wouldn’t have expected anything else but to see Angus emerging from the Twin Waters lake in the lead and after having one of the quickest transitions got himself in a two-man breakaway.  Both boys rode superbly throughout the 20km and opened up a lead on the rest of the field as they began the 5km run.  In what many have described as his most impressive race of not only the season but in recent years, Angus an absolute boss of a triathlete held strong on the run to finish in third position.  In the womens race, Holly was narrowly off the lead two girls out of the water but rode with her normal aggression to catch them with ease after one lap and continue to push the pace with little assistance from either of these girls for the remainder of the bike to open up a significant gap on the chase pack that contained Anna.  Onto the run, Holly ran a great race to easily maintain her advantage on the chasing pack but just missed out on the top step of the podium to claim a very impressive silver medal with Anna outrunning much of the chase pack to finish in sixth position.

With many of these juniors taking on the role of spectators up at Mooloolaba for the weekends festival, it is up to those of us racing in either the age-group race or the ITU Continental Cup to put on an impressive show for them to witness.

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Friday Stingers

After the downpour of rain we were subjected to on our Wednesday morning rain I finally decided it was time to give the Malvern Star a much needed wash and clean is so dearly needed.  While I was doing this I also managed to re-mount my Bryton Rider 50T which has for some time been relegated to the back pocket after earlier model mounts kept failing but I can already say the new mounts are a significant improvement and there is no chance of the computer dislodging itself any time soon!  And with the aid of a few helpful youtube videos, I also created a nifty mount for a video camera in between my aerobars and with all this technology aboard I was able to collect plenty of data from this mornings training and thought I'd share some of it.

Our Friday mornings tend to bring out the best and worst of people in our squad who are normally hanging out for the afternoon off by the time the punishment is complete, hence the collective agreement on "Friday Stingers."  After an extended 2 hour swim set to start off the morning we transitioned to our bikes to tackle the Nundah crit track.  The mornings recipe for punishment involved a 20-lap TT (and for those not familiar with the track, it is 1.2km long).

Below is a small snapshot of the TT as well as the link to the Bryton data file showing a rather impressive 42.3km/hr average for the total 23.5km.  Enjoy!

The punishment was certainly all worth it for the coffee and most importantly a well earned afternoon off before tackling it all again in the morning. :)

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Devonport Triathlon

Devonport; the word that has been on everyone’s lips from the beginning of the season and with so much riding on this race for everyone including age-group world championship points, junior elite world championship positions, Olympic positions, world series spots and even New Zealand national championships it was always going to be a big weekend of racing and it certainly didn’t disappoint. 

It was the first time this season that the entire DAT Racing high performance group got the opportunity to travel together and we were also joined by age-group stars Robbie and Courtney and all kept in line by none other than Dan ‘the headmaster’ Atkins, Craig Buerckner and Jillian Grice.  And with what has been labeled as possible the greatest road-trip CD to keep us entertained for our trip from Launceston to Devonport, who couldn’t be excited!

There isn’t much to report on before the big day except for the standard pre-race rituals that everyone undertakes so rather than drag that on and with a heavy race day schedule to get through I’ll get straight to the important information.  But with my race not kicking off until 3:30 Saturday afternoon I’ve had to rely on a few well documented race reports and in this case co-editors and photographers to construct this blog from the entire high performance crew including Tom, Angus, Corey, Luke, Holly, Emily, Anna, Sarah, Brayden, Courtney and Robbie while I was locked away in the confines of my room for most of the day. 

With the first race of the day scheduled for 7:00am and the final race scheduled for 3:30pm, it was going to be a long day of racing for those few dedicated DAT supporters that stayed strong all day.  Robbie and Courtney were our first DAThletes to hit the chilly waters of Devonport for their Olympic distance race and having both come of very good performances down in Geelong in their first selection race for worlds later this year, confidence was high to get the job down and move one step closer to that illustrious green and gold tri-suit.  Courtney’s result in Geelong was nothing short of impressive, finishing in 4^th position so it comes as no surprise that she surpassed expectations to not only top her age-group by more than 6minutes to her nearest rival but also finish as the 3^rd fastest female for the day.  Moving up in an age category this season, Robbie was lining up as the baby of the age-group and this was perhaps the difference between his very impressive 4^th place finish and what could have been a podium finish, with only one second separating him from 3^rd and the fact that all of the guys around him looked much older!

As the temperature continued to increase so did the intensity of the racing and next up were the junior girls.  Unfortunately our presence in this field took a heavy hit in the lead up with Emily Bevan being ruled out with a stress fracture in her lower back forcing her to watch from the sidelines.  But coming off her 2^nd place finish in the junior elite national titles earlier in the year and the determination and commitment she shows in all of her training and racing, she will only learn from this experience and be back better and stronger than ever in the near future.  This left both Holly Grice and Anna Coldham representing DAT in a small yet highly competitive field that included last years world junior champion from New Zealand and this years junior elite national champion.  And it wouldn’t be fair to go on before going into what both these girls and our junior boys were about to tackle.  With this race offering the only certain position on the world championship team, the course was designed to simulate Auckland which while it may have included a flat 5km run, both the girls and boys were made to tackle one of the most brutal 20km cycle courses in recent times.  For those DAT athletes accustomed to our regular training venues, this hill made Chelford St look like a breeze and not only did they have to tackle it four times, there was also a second hill on the 5km loop that immediately followed the steep accent and decent.  Both girls were well positioned near the front of the field coming out of the water but unfortunately with the steepness of the hill it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Holly who suffered a pedal malfunction and was forced to run up the final meters up the hill before remounting and lost contact with the front group.  True to her cycling prowess she was quickly back in the game and fought her way up to the front pack again before the run.  It wasn’t long before New Zealand’s world junior champion stamped her authority on the run course to record herself another victory but Anna was never far behind finishing in a very impressive and perhaps one of the best performing DATletes for the day in 7^th position while Holly wasn’t far behind in 11^th place.  And with both girls still having another season in the junior elite category I’d be more than willing to wager a significant amount that both of their names will be at the top of the leader board and in contention for junior elite world championship selection in 2013.

The junior boys were next to hit the water and wasting no time in stamping his authority on the race, Angus Gibson again led the 60+ boys out of the water and onto the bike.  The boys were tackling the same challenging course that the girls had just finished but with the size of the field the packs were a lot bigger and more difficult to separate but from all reports the field was well and truly dictated by Tom Ryan who has shown blistering form on any hill we have ridden in the lead up to this race.  With all of the boys coming off the bike and heading out onto the run in close proximately of each other it wasn’t long before this seasons top performers, Marcel Walkington, Kenji Nener and Joel Tobin White cemented the podium positions.  The highest place DAThlete was Luke Farrell, who along with Anna was the most impressive result of the day finishing 7^th in the junior elite category.  Tom wasn’t far behind in 15^th place with Angus in 26^th and Corey St John in 49^th.

With a course change for the elite races to simulate the London Olympic games, we were to tackle a two lap 1500m swim, a completely flat eight lap 40km bike course and a four lap 10km run.  The women were first to begin and representing DAT in her first professional race was Sarah Deuble.  As I’m sure we can all imagine, lining up for your first time in a professional race is daunting but add in Olympic hopeful Emma Jackson among a host of other Australian and New Zealand’s best women her nerves must have been through the roof.  Unfortunately today was not to be her day and Sarah was unable to complete the course, being lapped out by a very fast moving and efficient front pack.  But having recently being only the second male or female in Australia to gain selection in the National Talent Academy, the future is certainly bright.

The final race of the day had perhaps the most on the line with Australia in a position to either retain or lose their 3^rd Olympic position depending on final positioning to the kiwis.  Tactics were rife prerace and it almost felt like the way in which the race would pan out had already been decided and it was up to the athletes to finish off the job.  The racing was always going to be fast with Australia’s entire Olympic shadow squad, including Ryan Fisher among a host of other Australian’s including myself and Brayden Tucker and the best that New Zealand has to offer with their National Championship also being awarded today.  As expected and predicted all the main players were in the front group on the bike but unfortunately after what we have both described as sub-par swimming performances, both Brayden and myself were in a group that began the bike about one minute down on this group.  While some solid group dynamics and commitment from all members of our group we could have closed this deficit, unfortunately this didn’t occur and by the end of the bike, much to mine, Brayden’s and one or two other Australian’s disappointment but not lack of trying we found ourselves just over three minutes down on this front group that contained Ryan.  Unfortunately his bike crash at Raby Bay is still playing havoc with his leg and once on the run was in noticeable pain and although personally disappointed finished in a very impressive 10^th position and with two weeks before he tackles the ITU World Cup at Mooloolaba will be out for redemption.  Brendan Sexton was quick to hit the front on the run course and posted a very slick sub-31:00 10km to win in impressive fashion.  Unfortunately the deficit off the bike was too large to close down and Brayden finished in 9^th place in the U23 category and 31^st overall and I finished in 36^th position.  There is now two weeks before we both tackle the ITU Oceania Cup at Mooloolaba.

Following the event and upon returning to our hotel we was ushered straight from the street (still in our race outfits!) into the on-site bar where a round of drinks was quickly ordered and a debriefing of the days events occurred.  Following an evening of debriefing and with a late flight on the Sunday there was plenty of time for some much needed relaxation with a visit to the local chocolate factory and go-karting track before still having time to kill at the Launceston airport where Holly made the most of the opportunity to get in some extra core training while waiting to board our flight!

With all of us now preparing to race over the Mooloolaba triathlon weekend in either the World Cup, Oceania Cup, age-group event or the national youth championships, rest and recovery will be on the cards for a few days to freshen up before fine tuning our preparations again to perform at our best.

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Raby Bay Triathlon

While the juniors enjoyed a well earned rest day following their individual races at States on the Friday and backing that up with the teams race on the Saturday, the rest of us made our way out to Raby Bay to compete in race 6 of the Queensland Triathlon Series.  And while the race wasn't of particular significance, with the much talked about and anticipated Devonport Triathlon only 2 weeks into the distance this was the race to fine tune our performances. 

Both open fields drew a number of the big players, in particular Olympic hopeful Emma Jackson lining up in the womens field along side Sarah Deuble and Anna Coldham representing DAT.  On the mens side of things it was one of the biggest open fields in some time with some of us forced to encroach on the womens and teams bike racking space in transition.  DAT was strongly represented with myself, Ryan Fisher, Tom Ryan, Brayden Tucker and Luke Farrell hitting the startline along with Jack Hickey, Bryce McMaster, Jesse Featonby, Matt Brown, Mitch Kealey and recently crowned Australian champion; Drew Box.

But before we even had the opportunity to get down to business it was the stars of the future who were first to dive into the Raby Bay waterways.  Both Josh and Hayden Buerckner were representing DAT and after putting on such fine performances in recent times, both boys stepped up to compete in the 7-9yrs division.  Josh finished a very impressive 7th position and posted the 2nd fastest run split in a very speedy 01:57 while Hayden finished only 01:10 behind his brother in 13th position and is one of the few people I have seen with a smile on his face no matter how fast or hard he is going!

Moving onto the main event, which was due to be held over the supersprint distance of a 400m swim, 15km cycle and 4km run and with the combination of such short distances and the quality of the field, it was bound to be a fierce race right from the beginning.  With the usual current of Raby Bay drifting the boys some 10-15m forward of the start line before the starters eventually got us underway, the swim was over in the blink of an eye and while the first pack contained not only all the DAT boys but all the main players, it was none other than Ryan Fisher leading the way.  Heading off onto the bike there was a distinct DAT influence in the front pack with Ryan heading the field followed closely by Brayden, Tom, myself and Luke.  However, this didn't last long and as we rounded the corner to head up the hill on the first lap Ryan hit the corner with too much speed and found himself very quickly hitting the pavement with some force.  Fortunately the damage was limited and although he was restricted to a single gear for the remainder of the ride, full credit must be given for not only finishing the race but posting one of the fastest run splits for the day. 

Unfortunately he wasn't the only DAT casualty for the ride and on the same corner on the next lap Tom suffered the same outcome.  Similarly he battled on gallantly and while not in the hunt for podium positions after his fall still finished strongly within the top 10 in a quality field. 

His fall did however come at an opportunistic time for myself as I took the opportunity to test the other guys legs and push the pace and found myself with a small yet noticable gap once I'd reached the top of the hill.  Knowing the running speed of some of the guys in the pack I took this opportunity to try and make the most of my opportunity and although I sat off the front for the remainder of the ride, it was always going to be a task to hold off what can only be described as a pack with no draft busters in sight and within reach of the dismount line I may have been at the front but my advantage was cut to a handful of seconds.  It is hard to keep secrets in this sport and the running speed of several of the top boys at the moment is no exception and this was evident as soon as we hit the run.  Jesse immediately surged to the froont and with only 4km to travel looked to have the race locked up from an early stage.  The other podium places went to Mitch Kealey and Matt Brown who had earlier been in a tussle for position with Brayden who narrowly missed out to finish in 5th position followed by myself in 6th position with Luke Farrell rounding out the DAT athletes in 8th position.

On the womens side of things it was always going to be a tough ask to topple Emma Jackson and she showed her class from the outset, hitting the front soon after the swim and never looked back to record an impressive win.  However we did manage to snare the final spot on the womens podium with Sarah Deuble running an impressive race to finish narrowly behind second place getter Chloe Turner.  The misfortune of the DAT athletes didn't end with just the 2 boys crashing out with the only girl to be in front of Emma at any stage in the race and swim leader, Maddi Allen suffering the same fate on the bike, although she did manage to navigate the boys corner, instead coming undone going around the round about.  Anna Coldham didn't have the luck on her side either and was dealt a 3min drafting penalty and can be considered somewhat unlucky after not only what occured during the mens race but from all accounts the womens race as well as she was one of three athletes handed out penalties who actually served her penalty before finishing with a strong run. 

Not to be outdone by the high performance athletes, Jamie Hanelt also tackled the Raby Bay course and was somewhat chuffed with himself after consultation with his personal timing devise to find he had recorded a very impressive sub-16min 4km.  However as could be expected, official timing puts him just off this mark with a 4:01/km average and a 16:04 total.  Never the less this still placed him in 6th position in his age.

While the misfortune can be looked at as the story of the day for the DAT team from Raby Bay, everyone can take something away from the performances and it is fair to say that things are well and truly on track to peak for the race of the season down in Devonport in 10 days time.

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School State Championships

It isn't very often that I am attending a race without the stress and nerves of competing and even less often that I have a complete day off training.  That being said, we were made to earn our complete day off with some fierce but friendly competition around the grounds of the Stafford pool during our swim/windtrainer/run session and there was more than one athlete commenting about some DOM action upon wakening this morning! 

Onto the reason for the complete day off, it was the junior's day to shine (and on a side note the athletes were the only ones shining because the weather out at Redcliffe was providing nothing of the sort!) at the School State Championships and those of us not racing formed the DAT support squad for the morning.  As mentioned, the weather was less than ideal for racing with the wind and normally wave-free beach proving less than friendly and when this combined with the persistent rain it made the spectating a game of ducking for cover.

The seniors were the first race to set off with the only DAT representitive being new member Billy Ryan and while I won't give a full recap of all of the days races, I have it on good authority that Billy left nothing in reserve and was well and truly spent on crossing the finish line.  Never the less, Billy is yet to stop smiling since finishing the race after finishing an impressive 5th to cement his spot on the Queensland team for a trip to Busselton for the National Championships later in March. 

DAT were well represented in both the intermediate boys and girls races, with previous Queensland representitives Jake and Wyatt lining up with Lawrence in the boys race and both Sophie and Claire Malowiecki joining last years national champion Brittany Dutton in the girls field.  The tough conditions in the water really split the field in both races and the wind and rain was of little assistance in both the swim and the run but to quote Britt's sister Courtney; "Nothing stops Britt Dutton.  Baby of the age group and smashes them all taking out the 2012 State CHAMPION.  Stoked for my champ xxx."  Sophie was hot on her heels the entire race and snared herself a shiny bronze medal for her efforts.  In such horrible conditions Claire was happy just to make it to the finish line without incident and did more than that finishing in a credible 26th position. 

On the men's side of things, last year's state champion Wyatt was stepping up to the intermediate division with many of the older boys on lookout for what he has already achieved and after watching the competition between him and Lawrence at training so they should be!  All 3 of the boys produced some great racing with Jake leading the DAT boys home to finish in 5th position followed closely by Wyatt in 6th place and Lawrence in 11th position.

The final races of the day saw the junior boys and girls toe the start line with the only remaining DAT representitive being Nick Free in the junior boys division.  Bearing the scars of battle after suffering a heavy fall out on the bike, Nick could be excused for only making it to the finish but in an impressive effort he did more than that, climbing his way back through the field to finish in an impressive 8th place and although shaken and disappointed after the race he should take heart in his efforts as it is not about how many times you fall that matters, it's how many times you get back up!

That brought to an end the individual races for the 2012 State Championships but all of the juniors will be at it again tomorrow morning for the team event and the announcement of the Queensland team, which barring incident should include Billy, Jake, Wyatt, Brittany and Sophie to compete in the National Championships over in Busselton in late March.  A huge congratulations must go our to all of the DAT athletes that have done themselves proud in what is the biggest race of their season and it was great to be able to enjoy the day off training with my fellow training partners to support all of them, some of whom even managed to sneak out of work for the occasion!

The day wasn't all fun and games and I also managed to sneak in a bit of market research for Chris from Nike who couldn't make it out to Redcliffe this morning so I was put in charge of tallying up what running shoes all of them were racing in and while it must have looked a bit strange me looking down at everyones feet as they ran past it is pretty cool to be able to say that almost one third of all the competitors were out there competing in the same brand that I race and train in, Nike. :)

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Time to get revived!

I spent some time trying to find a good definition for revive that would fit in with what I am about to share, some of which were completely useless but I did stumble across this fitting definition: "to impart new health, vigor or spirit."

Although it may seem somewhat abstract, there is some method to my madness and the reason for my recent Google searching is so I can share the exciting news that I will be working with the team at Revive Physiotherapy in Ashgrove to RESHAPE, REBALANCE & REFORM my body over the next 6 months.

Revive is more than just a physiotherapy studio and they offer every service under the sun including physiotherapy, massage, yoga, personal training and pilates, just to name a few.  The latter mentioned; pilates, is something that I have regularly heard about but never ventured into until 2 weeks ago and can happily say that I am already noticing the benefits of the classes at Revive.  And with a mission statement like this;

To provide first class Physiotherapy, Pilates and complimentary services to our clients in a professional, holistic and nurturing environment.  To empower our clients with the skills and knowledge to make significant changes to their health and wellbeing.

how could you not feel safe in their hands!

Going back to my earlier Google definition to impart new health, vigor or spirit, it is safe to say that Revive Physiotherapy well and truly fit in this definition and with their ongoing support I look forward to the benefits this will no doubt bring to my triathlon performances in the near future.

Be sure to check out all they have to offer on their website http://www.revivestudio.com.au/ and also back here as I share my time spent working with the Revive team.  Also check out Josh Amberger's Dynamic Gallery of Thoughts if you haven't already because he'll also be working with the team at Revive and his blog is well worth a read in your spare time.

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