QTS Robina Sprint Triathlon - 6th

After winning the previous race of the QTS Triathlon Series at Raby Bay I was really hoping for the same result at the first QTS race of 2014 held at Robina on the Gold Coast. I'd had a tough week of training leading into the race and was really feeling it on race morning but with a longer warmup I felt ready to go and give this race a red hot crack. With some heavy hitters on the start line this was to be the toughest field that the QTS series had seen in a long time.

After a brief delay in the start due to a snake in the water (a pretty standard practice with races in Queensland after a similar situation happened at the Noosa Triathlon a few months ago) it was go time. The swim start quickly produced two groups which fought their way to the first turn can. I myself swam with the front few athletes in the right hand side group which turned out to be a bad move with our swim group having to correct its course in order to get to the first turn marker. This meant that after only a few hundred meters I was already down time on the leaders.

Out of the water I saw that I was just off the back of the front pack which meant that for the first 2 of 4 bike laps I played catchup chasing down the lead pack who were working well together up front. It was a big effort however I finally bridged the gap, took a few minutes to catch my breath again and then proceeded to ride past the lead bunch in an attempt to put time into the others. This seemed to split the front bunch up a little with some of the athletes dropping off the pack unable to keep up. The downside was that because it took me so long to catch back up I didn't have enough time (or legs) left in order to try and put time into the lead bunch. This meant that after the bike to run transition I was caught within 500 meters of the run and a chance at a breakaway win was gone. I tried hard to stay with eventual winner Dan Wilson and the other 3 ITU running machines but the effort of the bike had taken its toll which mean that I was running for a top 5 at best. My training partner Kenji ran past me after the first of two run laps but I was able to hold off the rest of the chasers and come home in 6th.

Not a bad result but far from a good day out after winning the last race in the QTS series.

Results

1 Daniel Wilson 00:58:06 00:08:26 00:32:39 00:17:00
2 Mitch Kealey 00:58:40 00:08:26 00:32:39 00:17:33
3 Matt Baker 00:58:49 00:08:30 00:32:36 00:17:43
4 Ben Shaw 00:58:58 00:08:33 00:32:31 00:17:53
5 Kenji Nener 00:59:30 00:59:30
6 Sam Betten 00:59:39 00:08:38 00:32:24 00:18:35
7 Giles Clayton 01:00:33 00:08:48 00:33:42 00:18:02
8 Drew Box 01:00:50 00:08:36 00:33:53 00:18:20
9 Nicholas Hull 01:01:13 00:08:58 00:33:35 00:18:39
10 James Seear 01:01:19 00:08:33 00:33:00 00:19:45

The catch just out of transition... 

Training partner Kenji (5th) helping me to cool off

QTS Raby Bay Sprint Triathlon - 1st

In all the Queensland Triathlon Series races I have done I have never been able to pull off a win at the QTS Raby Bay event. I have had some great wins at both the QTS Robina and QTS Caloundra (even one on my birthday a few years ago) but for some reason the QTS Raby Bay event has never been a happy hunting ground of me.

After deciding to sign up the week before I knew that I might not be up to scratch but never the less wanted to try and break my winless record on this tough course.

I had a great swim emerging 2nd behind ace swimmer Shane Barrie thanks in part to my super fast Huub swim skin.

Onto the bike I rode very smart covering any major moves and even trying a sneaky attack off the front which the boys behind quickly closed the gap on. Due to the tight course I opted to race on my S-Works Venge rather than my S-Works Shiv as I felt that the Venge was better suited to the tight and twisty cycle course. A small gap opened up between myself and Callum Millward of NZ and Australian Commonwealth Games runner Mitch Kealey in the late stages of the bike leg which meant I hit transition with a small time gap to make up.

I went out onto the run chasing hard and shut down the gap to two leaders within the first 300m with only Mitch Kealey being able to stay in touch with me. As the run went on I tried hard to keep the pace high and by the half way turn around I had about 10 seconds on 2nd place and another 25 seconds or so to Callum Millward and Drew Box who were running in 3rd and 4th positions. I was able to put a few more seconds into Mitch by the end of the 5km run leg and take my first ever win over the 750m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run QTS Raby Bay event.

Sam Betten, 1st (54:53), 2nd, Mitch Kealey (55:14) and 3rd, Drew Box (55:45)

Race Videos by AusSportTV

Kingscliff Olympic Distance Triathlon - 2nd

After winning the 2012 Kingscliff Triathlon I was very excited to try and go 2 for 2 in 2013. I had only been back doing 2 weeks of some light training after a 2 week break post Noosa Triathlon so it was always going to be a tough ask. A big thank you to the event organisation for providing me with some amazing accommodation for the weekend.

Video race report

My S-Works Shiv the day before the race from my beachside accommodation.
1st & 2nd place

Noosa 5150 Triathlon

Its taken me a while but here is the first instalment of my video race reports. Noosa was a really tough day for me this year both physically and mentally. I really wanted to be right up there on the podium but it just wasn't to be in the end.

 Enjoy the video race report