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