Rebekah Keat Interview: Busily dominating

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Champion Australian Professional Triahtlete Rebekah Keat has been a busy girl of late. After a slow start to the season due to injury and a bike crash, Bek has been on fire in the last month with a win at the inaugural Challenge Cairns and a sub nine-hour finish at the legendary Challenge Roth event in Germany.

Bek spoke to us during some “recovery time” before she tackles the Alpe d’huez Long Course Triathlon later this month.

First of all, congratulations on your win at the inaugural Challenge Cairns at the start of June! As a long time supporter of the Challenge brand, it must have been so exciting for you to win the first Challenge event in Australia. Tell us about your race there.

Yes I always love to do any Challenge event!! And I can say that the Challenge Family did put on such an amazing race. To finally have one here in my own backyard is so exciting, and to win the inaugural event is fantastic for me! The race for me was ok for the late start to my season. Unfortunately I had had to take 4 weeks forced rest and only 4 weeks later (the month before Cairns) I was hit by a car.I don’t like to line up with excuses, but my preparation to be honest was limited. I went in a little ‘underdone’ and that showed during the run. It was a great start to the season to be able take the win though, and a good stepping stone to the rest of the 2011 season!

How did you find the course at Cairns? Any highlights and general feedback about the festival of events that were ran? Do you think this event will grow into a “must do” race?

I think the event is being talked about a lot and for many it is already a ‘must do’ race!With the likes of ‘Macca’ saying it may surpass races like ‘Roth’ one day, then we know Challenge Cairns is going to grow into something massive!!

For me the highlight was the beautiful bike route, along the coastline and the spectator friendly run finishing right in the middle of Cairns was awesome!

I stayed with my partner and family for a few days after the race! We ate at some great restaurants, did the cruise to the Great Barrier Reef, some snorkelling, a jet sprint and a yacht ride! I will never forget how much fun and how relaxing beautiful Port Douglas was!

You backed up your great race in Cairns with a third place finish at Challenge Roth in Germany in a lightning fast 8.58 just a few weeks ago. Were you pleased with your race?

Again without sounding cocky, I was disappointed in my run as I have run a 2:55 marathon PB there just two years ago when I broke the world record alongside Wellington. This year, I came off the bike around 10 minutes down and went for it during the first 10km of the run holding a great pace. However, the fitness just wasn’t there to do that yet, but again stepping stones and building a good foundation for the end of the season to finish it with a bang!

You have now raced at Roth several times, what keeps drawing you back? Would you recommend it to other Australians?

Wow I get asked this all the time, and until you have experienced Roth yourself its so hard to explain the ‘electric atmosphere’, I just can’t do it justice! I compare Roth to HAWAII and I must say the atmosphere during the Roth event and at the finish line surpasses even the Hawaii Iornman World Championships!

 Roth is such an iconic event on the world stage and is famous for its fast times. What can you attribute this to?

Well the rumours were always that the course is short, this year they added 2km to the bike course, 3 of us compared computers after the race and all got 178-179 km , so it may be 1km short, farely  insignificant! I think the main reason its fast is firstly the swim is dead flat, no chop and in two straight lines, thus you don’t lose time weaving or turning. The bike road surface is superb, fast hot mix and sealed perfectly which is at least 1-2km faster than some of the ‘Aussie’ roads. The run is now through town and defiantly not short, but it is fast again because of the surface. Your legs are not as pounded by the hard road surface as we run on a dirt trail almost the whole marathon. I believe that is what makes the run fast, the legs are not as fatigued as quickly.The final thing is definitely the 150,000 or more people they have watching throughout the course. You are never alone and constantly cheered on by spectators! This definitely helps you to push that little bit more and go that little bit faster, I’m sure all would agree! ;)

Speaking of fast.....Chrissie Wellingtons 8.18 is just unbelievable!! What is it like to race her? 

In 2009 at Roth I was only 7 minutes behind CW, but now she is at a new level!! She is really mixing it up with some of the more average pro men, in the run she is mixing it with the best male runners, and that’s scarey.  When girls like myself race her, me personally I don’t have her in my race, it’s just the other woman I am racing.

Obviously you are a fan of the events run by Challenge :) What other Challenge events have you done around the world? Why do you find them so enjoyable and which races would you recommend to our readers?

I have raced a lot of them including the Half Challenge in Kraichgau Germany, Challenge Wanaka NZ, Challenge Copenhagen Denmark and one in France. I would definitely recommend all of them, they all have that amazing atmosphere and they all are fabulously run events!

 

So what’s next for you? Which races have you lined up for the rest of 2012 and will you be competing at the Hawaii Ironman this year?

 

Next for me is a big few weeks, I have had one week easy since Roth and feel great again. Brett (coach) has me racing Alpe Dhuez long distance where we finish by riding the 110km up Alpe Dhuez. The run is at 2000 metres for the final 20 km leg, it hurts. Did I mention we actually ride there from Switzerland which is around 180km then we also ride home after the race!!!...Crazy No not really, it gets you fit!

Two weeks later on the 14^th August I race the beautiful Challenge Copenhagen right in the middle of the city. I can’t wait for that one! Then I am off to the USA to race Rev3 Cedar Point full ironman distance, and finally back home to Australia!

This year my coach and I decided not to race Hawaii. I needed a mental break from it more than anything! Next year it will be my goal to get a top 5 there!

Thanks Bec, good luck for the rest of the year and we look forward to catching up with you again!

No worries x