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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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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