Hamburg, Germany (16 July 2011) - Australian Brad Kahlefeldt got his 2011 Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship season back on track in the best possible style, claiming his first ever series win in a thrilling sprint finish in Hamburg.

 

Kahlefeldt just managed to hold off Great Britain's  William Clarke  and France's David Hauss, powering away from both in the final 50 metres in one of the most interesting series races so far this season.

Photo: Delly Carr / ITU

 

Without series leader Alistair Brownlee (GBR) in the field, there was plenty of cat and mouse games being played throughout the bike as several pairs tried to breakaway, but in the end a huge group of about 50 athletes hit T2 together, setting up a showdown on the 10km run. Just before halfway, a breakaway group of eight turned into six as Kahlefeldt, Clarke, Hauss, Javier Gomez (ESP), Joao Silva (POR) and Sebastian Rank (GER) started to build an unbeatable lead. Then with three kilometres to go, reigning Hamburg champion, Gomez tried to turn on his signature burn. But it wasn't effective this time as Kahlefeldt and Clarke stuck right to his heels. Then with one kilometre to go, Kahlefeldt, Hauss and Clarke went for it. The excitement continued to the final few steps, as until the last 50 metres it looked like Clarke had the win, before Kahlefeldt found that other gear he's employed so successfully in the past to burst through the tape. It was a blistering run, with the first four all breaking the 30-minute barrier and the top 13 finishing within a minute of Kahlefeldt.

 

It marked a big step in the Australian's season, after initially getting off to a great start to the 2011 season with a World Cup win in Mooloolaba, last year's overall bronze medallist didn't finish in Sydney and finished 51st in Madrid. But after a fifth place in Kitzbühel, and a period of sustained success in Hamburg, he said he wasn't settling for second this time.

 

"I've been to Hamburg many times, I think its my ninth time here - it's showing my age - but I got my first podium here in 2003 with a sprint finish between Andrew Johns and Bevan Docherty, so that was my first podium ever in a World Cup," Kahlefeldt said. 

 

"Then I think what was it after that, I think 2004 it was a top five finish and 2005 I think I was up there again, then 2006 another podium, 2007 another podium, 2009 another podium. So I've been very very close to winning many times but I just couldn't get the win, so I was thinking about that today and then on the final lap I knew I just finally had to try and get this win in. Because it's my favourite race on the circuit and I'm just very, very happy."

 

Kahlefeldt became just the seventh man to win a round of the Dextro Energy Triathlon Series since it was introduced as the new ITU World Championship series in 2009. It was also the first series podium, male or female, for an Australian triathlete in 2011.

 

It was also a huge breakthrough day for Clarke - with his first Dextro Energy Triathlon Series podium. His previous best was the fourth place he claimed in Kitzbühel just last month.

 

"I rounded that corner and I saw the finish line and I was like, just give 100 per cent now and I think I sacrificed myself a little bit early," Clarke said. "But I'm still absolutely delighted to get second, to be honest it's a bit more than I thought, I'm just over the moon I've been dreaming about this for a long time."

 

Hauss said his strategy had paid off, particulary after the wetsuit swim - which was confirmed after the water temperature was measured at 19 degrees - had initially put him back.

 

"I made a really bad swim with the wetsuit, but I keep going and I tried to push so that I was in control during the race and then after the bike I was in pretty confident with my run," he said. "So I wait for a chance in the race and then in the last bit I tried to break away and, I'm really really happy as I haven't got good results in my last races." 

 

The result also changes the top of the Dextro Energy Triathlon Series leaderboard at the halfway mark. Gomez's eventual sixth place was enough for him to take the lead from Alistair Brownlee - who didn't race in Hamburg - but the podium finishes really paid off for Clarke and Hauss, who moved up to second and third respectively. Gomez now has 2026 points, just ahead of Clarke at 1935 and Hauss at 1905. Sven Riederer (SUI) is in fourth overall and Alexander Brukhankov (RUS) in fifth. Kahlefeldt moved up seven places, to ninth, thanks to his win.

 

In other notable results, Chris McCormack (AUS) finished 26th in his second ITU comeback race. McCormack led the second chase pack as it aimed to bridge a 24 second intitial gap, and eventually did, and then crossed the line 26th place. It proved to be another unlucky day for reigning Olympic champion Jan Frodeno, who hasn't yet been able to win the race in his home town. Frodeno was at the front from the swim, before a problem with his bike in the final lap and eventually finished 43rd.

 

Hamburg marks the halfway point of the 2011 Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series, with London, Lausanne and the Beijing Grand Final to come.

 

Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Hamburg - July 16, 2011           

Final Results - Elite Men - Official - 1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run                                                                                   

Gold - Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) - 1:44:08                                                                            

Silver - William Clarke (GBR) - 1:44:09                                                                 

Bronze - David Hauss (FRA) - 1:44:09                                                                                

4th - Sebastian Rank (GER) - 1:44:12                                                                                     

5th - Joao Silva (POR) - 1:44:16                                                                                    

6th - Javier Gomez (ESP) - 1:44:19                                                                                     

7th - Tim Don (GBR) - 1:44:33                                                                               

8th - Reto Hug (SUI) - 1:44:35                                                                                   

9th - Jonathan Zipf (GER) - 1:44:44                                                                                       

10th - Sven Riederer (SUI) - 1:44:56

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1st 4:08:48  Swim - 30:10 (8th)         
Cycle -2:16:47(2nd)          
Run - 1:19:19 (1st)
 
We dive into Prairie Creek Reservior, I position myself to the right of all the other athletes. In previous races I've been swimming off track. I always veer right and find myself heading way off course. Positioning myself to the right to start may seem strange if thats the way I tend to head but I breath only to the left when racing. So this way I figure I will see myself heading off track if I do this. It worked. My swim coach, Zane King back in Brisbane also spent a lot of time with me before I headed to the states, teaching me to swim straighter. It did help that the swim bouys were huge, bright and many of them. I think one of the best marked swim courses I've done. I had a slow start, or my competitors had a fast start, I couldn't keep up. This may have been due to not warming up. I didn't get a swim before the start as I was frantically running around looking for a timing chip strap. Once everyone settled into their pace I found myself passing athletes, something I've never done before in the swim leg so this was encouraging. I ran out of the water in 8th place. There were 19 professional female starters. Obviously still not as strong a swimmer as the leaders who still managed to put 2min 50sec into me but I was fairly happy with my swim. 
 
We had a long transition to the bike. This was nice. It gave me a chance to get my legs going before I jumped on 'Buddy', my trusty Avanti Chrono TT bike. I lost a couple of spots briefly in transition as I tried to get my race belt on as quick as possible. I noticed I was one of only a few that didn't wear a speed suit over my tri suit. Many of the girls already had there race belt on under their suit. They must have been quick to get their suit off as they were off before me. 
 

I didn't know how far I was down on the leaders but I knew I had to work hard. My partner, Jared had given me the heads up that Cave was a very strong swimmer/cyclist and Williamson was a great swimmer/runner so I knew I had my work cut out for me. I couldn't let Cave gap me too much more and I had to try and catch Williamson on the bike. I had no idea where I was placed, how much time I was down and who any of them were so I just rode hard. My bike time of 2:16:47 was 2min 13sec slower than Cave but I had caught the rest of the field. The bike course was flat. Very flat. We had a few slight climbs but nothing you really had to get out of your saddle for. What made it a little difficult was the wind. We had long straight roads so we had a long time into a head wind but then also a long time into a nice tail wind. For the first half of bike leg my left leg felt 'dead'. It felt really tight and fatigued. But after about 40km I started to feel good.
 
90km complete, I quickly rack my bike, grab my SiS visor and head off for the run. I have an official course bike riding next to me. I'm puffing hard and my legs feel terrible and I yell to him "what's my position?". He said "your in second about 4min down". 4 minutes...whoa! That's tough but doable I think to myself. I later found out I was in fact over 5min down on the leader. After a mile I feel great. I get my running legs and settle into a comfortable pace. The course had some rolling hills and was an out and back course so you could only see your competitors once you hit half way. I'm about a quarter of the way through the run and some nice spectator tells me I'm 2min behind the leader. "Awesome" I think to myself. "I can keep up this pace and catch her by half way". But there is also this thought running through my head "I'm WAY ahead of the pace Jared told me I should sit on". I'm clocking every mile on my watch and I'm running too fast. I've only been back running for 5-6 weeks since taking time off after rolling my ankle. But I'm feeling good and it feels very comfortable. I tell myself, I'll slow a little and catch her by 10mile. This is what I told myself to do but I couldn't help myself, I kept the same pace and caught her at mile 8. I ran past still feeling great. "Ok, now slow down, your in the lead".  I put the brakes on a little but still kept the pace strong. You never know who else is coming from behind. And there was still Williamson...somewhere... don't know where...I'm sure running her way through the field...
 
I was running in my new road racing flats supplied to me by Nike ('Lunar Racers'). I haven't run in Nike before, they have just started helping me out last month. These shoes are fantastic. They're as light as a feather and you would expect them to be as hard as a rock but somehow Nike has produced this shoe that feels so soft and comfy it's like your running on clouds. 
 
Running down the finishing shute...I finally relax, give some spectators a high 5 and smile. I've done it... I've won my first race of my International season. It was an awesome feeling! My finishing time of 4:08:48 was 3:31 ahead of a fast finishing Williamson. I was 8th in the swim, I clocked the second fastest bike leg and I had the fastest run split.
 
Thank you very much to all my sponsors and supporters  Scody. Avanti. Connectel. Compressport. RudyProject. Continental. Nike. SiS. WRCC. Ifeelgood24/7. Aquashop. Rideoz. Cadence Cycling. 
 
And a special thanks to my manager Phil Stoneman - M5 Sport and Event Solutions, my partner Jared Hauschildt, and my swim coaches Brendan Capell and Zane King.

I also want to send out a big thank you to my Homestay family in Muncie, Melissa & Bill Greene and their two lovely kids Matthew & Emily. The Greene's were fantastic. They ran me around everywhere, fed me and gave me a bed and 

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Melissa Rollison

Whoa... It is hot here in Boulder. Coming straight from Winter days back home of 8deg in the morning, maxing out at 20deg during the day to over 30deg in the morning, and above 35deg during the day here in Boulder. Bit of a shock to the system. I'm hurting.

Back at home I'm usually out the door each morning by 4:30am to begin training. In summer this is great to avoid the heat but in winter I still have to do it as I have to ride to my pool in time for my swim session and also I work during the day. You get used to it though... I'm in bed at 8:30pm so I still manage to get 8hrs sleep most nights.

Here in Boulder however it's very different. I've had to slide my routine back a couple (or more) hours. I've been taken in by my awesome homestay family. They've helped to make things as easy as possible for me to find my way around the town the first couple days. We usually eat dinner here about 9pm.  After eating, talking and cleaning up I'm in bed around 11:30pm. Training here however doesn't start till 9am so I'm still able to get my 8hrs sleep. I just have to get used to shifting my daily routine back. This wouldn't bother me too much if it were cooler, but trying to run 60min in the middle of the day off the bike in 35+deg heat... I'm not a fan of that part...yet. 

I arrived Tuesday arvo. Knowing I'm at altitude, and that I'vee just come off a long plane trip, probably still dehydrated, and jet lagged, I head out the door at 9am Wednesday morning for an easy run. I feel ok running. It's hot but I'm doing ok. I get about 15min into my run and I have to stop briefly to cross a road. When I stop I feel dizzy. When I start back up I'm fine. So I keep plodding along. On my way back, I I stop again at the road, this time I have to stop a little longer for the traffic to clear. I start feeling dizzy again. This time however it's a lot worse. I see a fence so I walk over to it and lean on it. By now I'm really dizzy, I'm starting to see black patches. 'Oh no...don't pass out'. I can't make any quick movements or I'll drop. I hold tight onto the fence and try to take deep breaths hoping it'll pass. It did eventually pass, but not before getting worse and me realising that I was laying on the ground... for who knows how long.  

"Stop stretching your ankle, you've stretched it enough, it's starting to hurt, stretch the other one now". This is what eventually started running through my head as I started coming back to... I have no idea why I can't get off my ankle. Finally my eyes open... I'm on the ground, my right foot is crushed under me, I'm on my back, my sunnies crooked on my face. I get up and realise I passed out. I find a rock to sit on. I'm feeling sick. Very sick. My body is shaking, my stomach is cramping, I try to spew up but there is nothing in my stomach. I check my body. I have a lump and scratch down my shin. I have some bumps on my head, I've bitten my lip and my ear is sore. I was leaning over a fence so when I dropped I must have whacked the side of my head and ear on the fence, bit my lip as I slid dwn the fence scratching my shin. It was a long walk home... Not in terms of km's, it was only about 400m but I was sick... So sick I had to keep stopping every few metres to sit down and try to throw up. 

It's now Friday... I'm feeling better. Im taking it real easy and I'm training with people in case it happens again. I think I will be well and truly adapted in a week and I might start doing alot of my training alone again so I can leave a lot earlier in the mornings to avoid the heat. Another thing that I've noticed here is that there are very few drink and toilet stops on the rides and runs so it makes things a little more risky training in the middle of the day.

So that's the story so far from my very first cuple days here. Not the perfect start. Should only get better from here though right.

Until next time... Train smart and have fun :-)

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Pontevedra, Spain, 25 June 2011 - Emmie Charayron (FRA) once again reigned supreme as a European champion, this time in the women's elite division at the 2011 ETU European Triathlon Championships. While Charayron won the 2009 Junior European Championships, she failed to medal last year as a competitor in the elite division.

 

However, she changed that this year with a beastly run to win the elite title with more than a minute run to spare. The French woman even had time to slow down to pick up her country's flag and give a few high five's along the way.

 

"I'm very, very, very happy," Charyron said. "It was very good to race here. It was a very hard race because it was hot, I am very pleased to win. I remember my first junior title and I wanted to do the same here."

 

Early on in the race, top swimmers Sarissa De Vries (NED), Margit Vanek (HUN), Jodie Stimpson (GBR), Hollie Avil (GBR) and Aileen Morrison (IRL) looked to make a break on the bike, but were shortly caught by the chase groups. Although Charayron was nearly a minute down after the swim portion of the race, she pushed the pace of the second chase group to catch the lead pack after three laps on the bike.

 

The two chase groups fused into a large pack of more than 30 athletes to make up a heavy lead pack. Throughout the bike, it was anybody's game, as the women played a giant game of cat and mouse, each jostling for positions in the front of the pack. The bike portion saw no less than fiver different leaders in it's eight-lap course.

 

Mateja Simic (SLO) looked to be a strong contender for a podium position, as one of the most consistent athletes in the swim and bike segments. Despite coming out first in T2, it didn't take long for her to be overtaken. Charyron wasted no time in unleashing her speed on the run, quickly demolishing the competition.

 

After the first lap, Charyron owned a 20-second lead, a pace which she maintained throughout the run. By the halfway-mark, she owned a 40-second advantage. She managed to increase her distance even more, running smoothly to a comfortable minute and a half win.

 

"I was in the second group out of the water, but we rode so hard to catch up," Charyron said. "On the run, I felt very good and it was amazing"

 

Midway through the run, with Charayron out of sight, it became clear the race was for a podium position between Ainhoa Murua (ESP), Vendula Frintova (CZE), Annamaria Mazzetti (ITA). While Mazzetti rode strong in the lead pack, she battled back from a six-second deficit after the first lap to join the chase run group.

 

The three ran together through the final turn, when Fritova and Mazzetti switched into high gear and sprinted towards the finish, leaving Murua behind. Going stride for stride, Frintova found some extra strength in the final 100 meters to sail past Mazzetti for the silver.    

"I didn't want to finish fourth," Mazzetti said. "I wanted a medal. To finish third is a great result.

I am very happy. In the winter, when I was training, I was dreaming of this race - the European Championships. I am very happy."

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Port Macquarie 70.3 - my first race of the year. I was excited. I had a new Avanti Chrono Time Trial bike with Zipp 606 race wheels. All my previous races have been on my Avanti road bike. I had a new TT helmet and shoes supplied by Ride Oz. A new Ironman Wetsuit provided by The Aqua Shop. And my newest sponsor Rudy Project supplied my sunnies. On top of that I was also using SiS nutrition for the first time in a race, another sponsor I have recently started working with. From top to bottom I had new equipment. Now I looked the part.

Coming out of the water 3-4minutes behind still doesn't quite look the part though so this year I sought out a swim coach. After a week swimming under Brendan Capell and Zane King I could already see improvement in the pool.

9:30am, I'm waiting for the starters’ gun. Bang! We take off... I'm on their feet. I'm following their bubbles, I see the splashes. Then... nothing! I look up... The pack is too my left... Waaaay left. I'm heading off course. Noooo... It's only a couple of hundred metres into the race and already I'm off track. I've lost them. I panic and take a sharp left and get back onto the back of the pack. Ok, your fine, your back on, I tell myself. But it's not long before I'm veering way off course again. I finally find the finish ramp. I'm just less than 2min behind the lead girl but only about 1min 10sec behind the rest.

My favourite leg, the bike! I know... I'm a runner or 'was' but I love the bike. I'm a little way up the road and I hear Jared, my partner yell that I'm in 6th place. I start picking them off. I pass one girl and tell myself 5th! Then the next, 4th, 3rd, is that Belinda Granger??? Wow! 2nd, 1st... 8km completed and I'm in the lead. I work hard putting my Avanti Chrono TT to the test. The bike course was good. 10km of hills then

 

long flat rough roads. It's a head wind on the way out; I get low and grind it out making sure I'm staying above 30km/hr. We turn around and again long flat rough roads. But this time we have a nice tail wind. 48km/hr... Whoa! Maybe I should back it off? Nah... This is cool. I stick between 46-48km/hr. At one stage I hit 50 just to see if I can J

I come into transition, rack my bike, put my runners on and bolt out... I get only about 1km down the run course before I jump off. That's it. Unfortunately I rolled my ankle the night before and couldn't complete the race. I was hoping for the best, that it'd hold up but I couldn't risk it. It was sore and 21km on a sprained ankle could put me out for a lot longer than one race.

It was disappointing not being able to finish but I can take some positives from it. I still got to practice my weaker two legs. I had the fastest bike time by 8min 20sec. And although I swam anyway but straight I still had my best ever swim result. Overall I loved the ironman experience. The volunteers and supporters were amazing. I'm really enjoying my new sport and there's plenty more races to come J

 

Thank you all for your support ........................................ Melissa 

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Sydney, Australia (10 April 2011)- Javier Gomez labelled his performance in the opening round of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series in Sydney as one of his best-ever, as he fought back from a bike crash to claim an impressive victory.

 

A downpour of rain hit the course in the second lap of the elite men's bike and from then on it almost became a survival of the fittest, particularly when Gomez went down on the bike.

 

But the reigning ITU World Champion got back on, rode the last 10 kilometres by himself and then proved his class even further when he managed to catch the leading pack.

 

It was then whether Gomez still had the legs to drop Jonathan Brownlee, Alistair Brownlee, Sven Riederer, Brendan Sexton and David Hauss. For a time it looked like the Brownlee brothers would work together to get there, but Alistair came unstuck when he fell rounding a corner in the rain and dropped off the pace.

 

Jonathan Brownlee fought to match Gomez but he couldn't as the two-time world champion broke away and finished with scintillating 30-minute, 9-second run. Brownlee ended up second, and Sven Riederer ran his way into third. But the afternoon really belonged to Gomez, and after showing his emotion with a fist-pump over the line, he said he wouldn't forget the race easily.

 

"It was definitely one of the hardest ones," Gomez said. "It doesn't happen many times that you crash and then you get up again and catch the first group again and then be the fastest runner, I'm really proud. I will always remember this race."

 

He also said it helped him to realise just how good his form was.

 

"I realised that I was fitter than I thought," he said. "I thought maybe I should give up after the crash, the time (gap) was a bit far and I wasn't sure if I would catch them or not and the rain and I realised I was really strong today."

 

Overall, the British men's team had a strong day with Jonathan Brownlee making the podium, Tim Don coming in sixth - 11 years after he competed in the Sydney Olympic Games Triathlon - and Will Clarke finishing ninth. Alistair Brownlee finished in 29^th place, but if he hadn't have fallen, the Brits may have had four men within the top ten.

 

Sexton backed up his impressive silver medal from Mooloolaba two weeks ago with a solid fourth place here, top for the home team.

 

Last year's winner Bevan Docherty finished 18^th, 2008 Olympic champion Jan Frodeno finished 45^th, while 2011 Mooloolaba winner and last year's world championship bronze medallist Brad Kahlefeldt did not finish.

 

Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Sydney - April 10, 2011 

Final Results - Elite Men - Official

1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run

Gold - Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:50:22

Silver - Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 1:50:29

Bronze - Sven Riederer (SUI) 1:50:34

4th - Brendan Sexton (AUS) 1:50:41

5th - David Hauss (FRA) 1:50:49

6th - Tim Don (GBR) 1:50:58

7th - Jonathan Zipf (GER) 1:51:04

8th - Joao Silva (POR) 1:51:18

9th - Will Clarke (GBR) 1:51:20

10th - Dmitry Polyansky (RUS) 1:51:27 

Click here for full field results 

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 January 2011 - Epic Floods and Bursting Ear Drums

 

What a way to start the New Year! Only 2 months in and already packed full of ups and downs… well actually, lots of downs but one major up that I think trumps it all. To skip ahead, I’ve just returned to training after 2 months off. After an ear infection, floods of epic proportions, a foot injury, a brief state of homelessness and the stress of buying a house (then renovating it), all culminating with both Jared and I getting sick, I’m now sitting back writing this blog with a big smile on my face. Why? Because I’m healthy, I have a wonderful boyfriend and we now have our own house.

 

It all started on January 4 while out at the track for my Tuesday running session. I began my warm up and after a couple minutes, felt a stab in my foot. I thought it was cramping so I stopped to stretch, and then tried again, and again. 3 or 4 attempts later I knew it wasn’t going away today so I hobbled back to the car - session aborted. I’d been trying some new shoes that obviously did not suit my foot or my running technique. And I paid the price.

 

One week later came the raging floodwaters roaring down Brisbane River. On Tuesday the 11^th January Jared rings me from work and says the city is being evacuated and the trains are going to be shut off very soon. He gets home and we go for a walk in the rain as everyone is sandbagging homes and businesses all over the place. We comment that a lot of them are “going a bit too far aren’t they” and “no way the water can get up that high, can it?” Wednesday morning we wake up and try to go for a walk but we’re cut off in all directions. They didn’t sand bag high enough!

 

We usually live on a hill, but on this day (and for the next few days) we live on a little Island just 50m from waterfront. Instead of cars whizzing by, there are tinnies with furniture stacked to the skies going in one direction, jet skis in the other, then a couple guys paddling surfboards, surf rescue boats, a kayak here and there and one novel man in his bath tub. And then of course, Grant Denyer from the Sunrise morning show is already there at the end of our street broadcasting live. They’re quick, those news guys.

 

Ironically, the morning the flood hit was the first morning we’d seen clear blue sunny skies after weeks and weeks of solid torrential rain. We finally had good conditions to cycle, but nowhere to go. Luckily, I’d rushed out the day before to buy rollers so I could train at home just in case. And that’s what I did for a few days.

 

The next few days were just like camping. No power, TV, or news reports, no fresh food, meat, veges, or fruit. We had powdered milk in cereal for breakfast, toast cooked over the gas stove top, sandwiches through the day, and had to be home before dark each night so we could see what we were doing. It was almost an enjoyably peaceful trip away from the world for a while. We eventually had to leave though, because we had no food left and were being constantly eaten by mozzies.

 

After the floodwaters subsided, I was ready get back into training again. But the next issue to hit me started off as ear pain and eventually, over a few days escalated into deafness on one side, aching through the neck, sleepless nights and enough piercing pain across one side of my head to make me sick! I tried all the natural remedies first - reflexology, warm oil in the ear… it started to get better so I attempted a pool session but this sent be back to square one… the pain became so intense that I went to see a doctor.

 

At this point I had world cross country trials in less than a week, I needed to fly to Canberra but the doctor was very clear with me that with this ear infection the way it was, the risk of bursting the ear drum on the plane would be too high. He sent me away with eardrops and strict instructions of no swimming. But I couldn’t run or ride either because any movement was excruciating to the point it would make me sick. Consequently, world cross-country trials came and went without me. The weeks prior, I ‘d made specific changes to my tri training to be fit and fast for the trials. Training had been perfect and I was confident. The Doctors news devastated me. That was my January 2011!

The weather was warm, humid and muggy but this is something I am used to living in Queensland. I had journeyed to Phuket for the Ironman 70.3 Asia Pacific Championships.

I was just praying for no rain. The weather report had been for rain all week but luckily it stayed away. The reason I was hoping for no rain was that this course had hills. Now I don't mean your usual rolling hills. We had climbs at 21% and descents at 22%. The climbs were hard enough in the dry but in the wet I'm sure my tyres would be spinning out struggling to get traction. Then for the descents. Some were straight but many swept around sharp corners where leaves lay over the road. At times my garmin would auto pause; I was almost at a standstill.

Anyway taking you back to the start of my race, my swim. The gun went off and I bolted down the sand and dived into the ocean. The water was beautiful. So clear, so still and so warm. We swam a triangle 1280m then ran back up the sand, over a hill and then into a fresh water lake for the final 620m. I emerged 7th out of the swim. I was stoked. Swimming is definitely not my strongest leg. I have never taken part in swimming; I've come from a running background and preferred to keep my feet on solid ground.

Coming out of T1 I found myself jumping onto my bike in 5th position, somehow passing two girls in transition.

The bike leg was... different! It had character. At 16km we had to dismount and run our bikes up and over a bridge to cross the highway. The technical course took us through the local streets of Phuket, tight corners, bumpy concrete roads, dogs and scooters to tackle. Then we headed along the coast line before hitting the mountains. The scenery was fantastic. The hills were tough. I passed an athlete bringing me up to 4th place. At 66km we crossed the bridge again, dismounting, running with our bikes and mounting as quickly as possible.  

Some reasonable straight, smooth and flat roads followed until 72km where we hit the rest of the hills. I passed another athlete over these hills, now putting me in 3rd. The dismount line of the bike leg came up quite unexpectedly so instead of leaving my shoes on my bike I quickly unclipped and handed my bike to the catchers. I bolted down to the change tent and slipped up on my bottom and began throwing my shoes off while searching for my running shoes. The helpers in the tent were amazing. I was throwing stuff everywhere and they were helping me get out of there in the quickest possible time.



On to the run, we headed out on a cross country course before hitting the road. Again, so much character on the course. It was different. It was enjoyable. I'm was about 9minutes behind the lead girl, Caroline Steffen and about 3 1/2 minutes behind Belinda Granger. I catch Belinda in no time and I try to chase down Caroline. I had the fastest run leg by almost 4minutes but it wasn't enough to catch the speedy Swiss who put almost 3minutes into me in the swim and almost 6minutes on the bike.

My run time of 1:23:30 placed me 6th fastest in the pro men. My bike time of 2:29:11 was the 3rd fastest pro female and my swim time, 29:23 was 7th in the females. My overall time of 4:24:53 secured me 2nd place in the Asia Pacific Championships.