Tuesday 6 November 2012

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 

No comments:

Post a Comment