Kingscliff Triathlon - 1st

The Kingscliff Olympic distance triathlon is undoubtedly one of the most scenic courses you will find in Australia. The swim is held in pristine waters where you can quite literarily see the fish beneath you and the ride and run course is right next to the white sands of Kingscliff beach. With previous winners such as Courtney Atkinson and Craig Walton the prestige of winning this race, adding my name to the honour role next to these champions is something that I hoped to achieve.

Race morning started early for me making the driving down to the race after staying the night about 15 minutes away at Tweed Heads. Being that the race was in a different state I played it smart by booking a hotel closer to the race saving myself from a 2:30 am drive on race morning due to the time difference with daylight savings and woke up at a more reasonable 4:45am.

Upon arriving at the race I jumped aboard my Specialized S-WORKS SHIV to get the legs going after spending the previous day racking up 125 kms on my road bike including a cycling race. Honestly its been a big week of training and I was really unsure on how the legs would respond so getting in a decent ride warmup was a must for me. Even warming up I could feel the wind building which I knew would be a telling factor and make for a hard 40 km ride.

Training partner Sam Speechly and I warming up

With an 8 am start for the elite men I gave myself plenty of time to walk the 15 minutes from transition down to the swim start to ensure I could get in decent swim warm up. I positioned myself towards the outside of the pack on the start line with the intention of pushing the pace early and keeping out of the way of the carnage usually associated with the swim start.

 Sam and Sam in HUUB SKN-1 swim skins

Training partner Sam Speechly and I swam towards the first swim turn side my side with ace swimmer Bryce McMaster. The pace felt really easy (this might have been due to the fact that I was swimming in my new Huub SK:1 swim skin) so I pushed forward after the first turning buoy taking up the lead. I emerged from the water in front with Sam Speechly and Bryce McMaster along with a few others.

 Leading the swim

A quick transition and I got up to speed and pushed the pace early and after lap 1 of 4 my lead had grown to 30 seconds over 2nd place. From there I really struggled over the next 30 kms of the bike especially with all the wind along the coastal roads. After such a big training week and the 125 kms on the bike the day before my legs were quite unresponsive. Going onto the final lap of the bike New Zealand's Callum Millward (winner of multiple Ironman 70.3 events) overtook me. I pushed hard and played it smart, letting him push the pace and sitting 10 meters behind being careful to keep my distance and not risk getting a late drafting penalty.

I overtook Callum leading into T2 and went out onto the 10 km run at what was a stupidly quick pace straight up the steep hill from transition. My plan was to really push the first few kms of the run to crack anyone else who tried to come with me. The first 4kms were ultimately my quickest and once I hit the sandy section of the course just before the run turn going onto lap two of the run I really hit the wall. However I dug deep and kept pushing my body right to the finish line taking out the 2012 Kingscliff Olympic distance triathlon and what was my 2nd win within 7 days of racing.

Thanks to all my sponsors, coach, family, everyone out supporting today and those who sent me text messages and twitter messages post race. It really means a lot.

Post race. Shattered but happy

NBN News report

Gatorade Triathlon Series (Race 2, Robina) - 1st

After spending a few weeks doing some light training post Noosa Triathlon 2 weeks ago I set my sights on race 2 of the Queensland Gatorade Triathlon Series at Robina on the Gold Coast. The race distance was a 400m swim, 15km ride and a 4km run over what was a very flat and fast course. In addition to the race I was asked to present the medals to the kids triathlon participants at the finish line. It really was great to see how hard all the kids raced and helped add to my motivation minutes before my race start.

After a short warm up I positioned myself on the start line next to training partner Drew Box. After leading the 200m swim to the first swim buoy Drew Box and Byrce McMaster took the lead and kept up a solid tempo for the rest of the swim.

On the run into transition I lost a little time and really pushed hard to make up the seconds lost on the first straight towards the bike turn around. After passing the riders ahead over the first 2kms of the ride I pushed hard aboard my Specialized S-Works SHIV and established a solo lead of 1min 20 seconds by the time I hit T2. I knew that the run would be a real battle after pushing as hard as I did on the bike but kept cool under the pressure of the quick runners moving their way through the field. After the first of two laps on the run I could see eventual 2nd & 3rd place finishers Drew Box and Matt Brown pushing the pace but knew that the gap I had established on the bike would be too much for them to overcome over the 4km run. I enjoyed the final finishing shoot jogging the last hundred meters to claim the win in event 2 of the 2012/2013 Queensland Gatorade series.

Mens and women's race winners 

These events have become quite competitive in recent years and winning one of these races is by no means easy so I was really happy to take the win. Congratulations must go to my training partners Drew Box & Matt Brown for their 2nd and 3rd places respectively. Its great to share the podium with these guys as I know just how hard we all work in training pushing each other each and every day.

NBN News report & interview 

Results 

Pos	Athlete	Time	Cat	Cat Pos	Swim	Cycle	Run
1	Sam Betten	0:44:09	Open-Male	1	0:04:56	0:25:54	0:13:18
2	Drew Box	0:44:30	Open-Male	2	0:04:48	0:26:59	0:12:41
3	Matt Brown	0:44:45	Open-Male	3	0:05:01	0:26:47	0:12:56
4	Bryce Mcmaster	0:45:01	Open-Male	4	0:04:50	0:27:00	0:13:10
5	Christian Wilson	0:45:29	Open-Male	5	0:04:56	0:26:53	0:13:39
6	Angus Gibson	0:46:18	Open-Male	6	0:04:53	0:27:01	0:14:23
7	Giles Clayton	0:46:19	25-29-Male	1	0:05:11	0:27:46	0:13:21
8	Michael Hooper	0:46:36	Open-Male	7	0:05:28	0:27:40	0:13:27
9	Darren Westbook	0:46:36	Open-Male	8	0:05:25	0:27:43	0:13:27
10	Jamie Laverty	0:46:45	Open-Male	9	0:05:03	0:28:14	0:13:26

Noosa Triathlon 5150 - 7th

Noosa is unquestionably my favorite race of the year and one that any die hard triathlon aficionado must do. It’s a race that I desperately want to win before the end of my triathlon career as it is arguably the biggest triathlon race in Australia.

The caliber of elite athletes racing Noosa this year was undoubtedly the best seen in its 30-year history. Ironman World Champions Chris 'Macca' McCormack, Craig Alexander and Pete Jacobs along with ITU athletes Courtney Atkinson & Kris Gemmell just to name a few.

Race Day

I positioned myself towards the right side of the start line next to 2 of the quickest swimmers in the race. This enabled me to get through the first 300 meters of the swim without dealing with the carnage usually associated with the dogfight to the first swim turn. Trying to save as much energy as possible I sat quite comfortably in the front swim pack emerging with all the major players in a time of 17.20 for the 1.5km swim.

As soon as I was on bike it started pouring with rain making for some of the most treacherous conditions I have ever experienced while racing. Because of the camber on most of the roundabouts that the Noosa bike course goes through, it was a real mission just to stay upright. Every corner I was feeling my rear wheel slipping just holding enough traction to keep me on the road. Coming back into Noosa I managed to avoid Courtney Atkinson and a few corners later James Seear who both went down hard. The ride was slightly disappointing as it was without question the easiest 40km I have done in a race. It would have been nice to have a harder ride to take some of the edge off the stronger runners in the group but due to the aforementioned conditions it really wasn't possible.

Onto the run I sat with the lead group for the first few kms before my lack of run training started to show and I slipped back into 7th place where I stayed for the entire 10kms.

All in all I was happy with my race. I raced smart and did what I had to do to put myself in the best possible position for a great race. Sure it wasn't the result I was after but I think that it was reflective as to where I am at this point in time with the relatively low volume of run training behind me.

 Top 10 Elite Men & Top 5 Elite Female Podium