Mooloolaba ITU World Cup - DNF

Mooloolaba is quite possibly one of the hardest ITU World Cup courses there is. The course is brutal with the bike and run scaling the infamous Mooloolaba hill a total of 24 times. Add the hot and often windy conditions into the equation and you've got yourself a real race of attrition. I did my first ever ITU World Cup at Mooloolaba back in 2009 and this would be my 4th time doing the race.

I really hadn't planned to race the ITU World Cup but was given the opportunity the week out from the race by Triathlon Australia. I really felt that the course suited me and being that there was a smaller than usual field assembled I thought it could be a good opportunity for me to race hard off the front.

On the Friday night before the race I somehow managed to pick up a throat infection and come race day I was feeling less than great. I tried to put these thoughts out of my head and get on with the job at hand and just give the race everything I had.

The swim was moved from the traditional beach start to the river due to dangerous surf conditions. It was a real shame as I really enjoy the Mooloolaba beach swim as it seems to suit a stronger swimmer such as myself. The gun went off at 3pm sharp and within the first hundred metres I moved to the front of the main swim pack. Honestly the pace felt very slow and so I moved up into 3rd with just two other athletes sitting 20 meters or so in front. I managed to have a peak under my arm and see Gomez sitting comfortably on my hip with a large group behind us. It was very different to the ITU World Cup swims I remember and to be honest it felt a lot slower than any 70.3 swim I've ever done.

As soon as we hit the ride I put the hammer down and tried to get away with no success. It seemed like the chasers would shut down any move that went away only to slow right back down when they caught back up. About half way into the race my body was having none of it and I dropped off the group with around a lap left to ride. I couldn't drink or eat on the bike because of my throat infection and was even struggling to breathe in the final few laps.

I headed out of transition onto the run wanting to run hard but with less than a lap done I was forced out of the race. Although I really wanted to push through and finish it just wasn't worth it being how sick I was. It was such a hard call to make but it had to be done to avoid any more damage to the body.

I'll have a few days off now to get the body right and then continue my training for my next block of races in the USA. It's a trip I've really been looking forward and it will be my first time racing in the USA.