Ironman 70.3 Cairns - 5th

After racing this event last year and finishing 9th after exploding on the run I was pumped to show that I had what it takes to get onto the podium in 2014. I’d taken a confidence boosting 2nd at Coral Coast 5150 one week earlier and so I knew that the racing form was there.

I woke on race day to the sound of heavy rain, something that doesn’t bother me after having some good past Ironman 70.3 & 5150 race results in wet conditions. After setting up T1 I ventured to the start line ready to race against one of the strongest Ironman 70.3 fields in Australia this season. The choppy seas made for a great swim leg and I stayed right up front with all the major players.

Photo credit: firstoffthebike.com

My swim leg is always strong so I knew that all I had to do was stay in the top few positions to ensure that I was in the lead pack out of the water, heading out of T1. As many triathletes say, you can’t win the race in the swim but you sure can lose it.

Photo credit: Lucas Wroe

The first few kilometers of the bike leg through Palm Cove was chaotic, with several speed bumps causing many of the of pro men to lose their water bottles. I rode behind Tim Reed out of T1 and witnessed him lose both his sports drink bottle and water bottle off his bike. One of the great things about my Specialized S-Works Shiv is the integrated fuselage water storage inside my frame, which meant that I had no issues with loosing bottles. I also choose to run the rear bottle wing on the back of my Specialized Sitero saddle which I am also pleased to say held my bottle of Dextro Energy sports drink in securely. I think that I was the only one in the group to keep all my hydration attached to bike through these series of speed bumps.

Photo credit: Lucas Wroe

The ride was a true hard mans course leading us over the hills and around the tight corners along the Cairns coastline. Our group of 9 slowly started to drop riders with Joey Lampe the first to drop off the lead group soon followed by Courtney Atkison with a mechanical issue. I never really felt comfortable during the ride leg but stayed with the lead group over the hilly and VERY wet bike leg.

Hitting T2 I had a shocker of a transition and exited just behind the eventual top 4 place getters. The entire run leg I felt very flat and never really found my rhythm which was frustrating after having the fastest run leg at Coral Coast 5150 just 1 week earlier. At the end of the 21.1km run leg I finished in 5th place, which provided me with another consistent top 5 result giving me the confidence I need at this stage of the season.

 Photo credit: Lucas Wroe            

A big thank you to all my sponsors, supporters and the other competitors out there on course who took the time to cheer me on. I am always amazed with the support I get when racing at home in Australia. Another big thank you must go to my amazing home stay family who lets me stay with them during the 10 days I spent up in Cairns between the Coral Coast 5150 event and Ironman 70.3 Cairns for the past two years.

KAHLEFELDT, Brad 00:23:00        02:12:06        01:12:28        03:50:54        1

REED, Tim                00:23:06        02:12:00        01:12:51        03:51:22        2

FETTELL, Clayton    00:22:59        02:12:04        01:14:50        03:53:18        3

APPLETON, Sam     00:22:58        02:11:50        01:16:06        03:54:34        4

BETTEN, Sam          00:23:05        02:12:02        01:17:59        03:56:46        5

REITHMEIER, Alex  00:23:10        02:16:33        01:17:15        04:00:43        6

FRANKISH, Monty   00:23:44        02:14:54        01:21:26        04:04:04        7

RODGERS, Tom      00:24:31        02:10:24        01:27:54        04:06:32        8

CLARK, Bradley       00:25:29        02:18:39        01:18:41        04:08:14        9

FOX, Michael           00:23:31        02:20:25        01:21:45        04:09:31        10

I’ll be heading back home to Brisbane for the next 8 weeks for a big training block in preparation for my next race, Ironman 70.3 Philippines.

Coral Coast 5150 - 2nd

Coral Coast is a very unique event and is actually Australia’s longest running triathlon beating the Noosa Triathlon by a few months. The race always attracts a lot of the Cairns Ironman and Cairns Ironman 70.3 pro athletes, as these races are both held the week later. This means that Coral Coast 5150 is hotly contested and although used as a lead up race for the pro’s is still very competitive.

After finishing 5^th at last years race I was motivated to improve and at minimum get myself onto the podium in 2014. Race morning I made the 1 hour drive from my homestay in Cairns to Coral Coast. I was feeling good and ready to race hard knowing that I had experienced what this course had to offer 12 months ago at the 2013 edition of the race.

The swim was a straight shot out, across and back in along the beach. I started quickly and sprinted into the water to ensure that I hit the first turning buoy right up the front of the pack. The swim leg was very rough with the waves and I found myself drifting from equal 2^nd at 100 meters in to 4^th position after 1400 meters of the swim leg. Honestly I didn’t find my rhythm during the swim leg and felt very sluggish. I excited the water just off the lead 3 athletes and hit T1 with a small group on my tail.

Onto the bike Clayton Fettell (last years winner) hit the gas and established a 1 man lead on Tom Davison and Brad Kahlefeldt with myself in a small group just behind. I saw the danger of leaving Tom and Brad riding hard together and tried everything I could to limit the loss of time spending a good 80% of the next 40km’s leading my group over the course.  Going onto the 2^nd lap I spotted Brad on the side of the road with a flat front tire, which meant just Clayton and Tom remained in front of me.

Hitting T2 I felt good about my chances for a podium spot and hit the gas pretty early on in an attempt to catch both Tom and Clayton. The entire run is along the sandy beach of Coral Coast so it is always going to be a real battle. This year the wind played a big factor providing a very tough out and back, 4 loop course.

I managed to reel Tom in faster than I though catching and going past him early on during the 2^nd of 4 run laps. Clayton looked to be hurting and so I keep pushing hoping to close the gap but in the end I ran out of runway despite having the fastest run split of the day.

Overall I was very happy taking 2^nd place and it was a great sign that everything is well on track for Ironman 70.3 Cairns next weekend.

1st Clayton Fettell     01:48:11 00:19:32  00:00:59 00:51:18  00:36:20
2nd Sam Betten        01:49:24 00:19:45  00:01:05 00:53:36  00:34:57
3rd Nuru Somi          01:50:55 00:19:45  00:01:00 00:53:40  00:36:29
4th Tom Davison       01:51:34 00:19:46  00:01:01 00:52:14  00:38:32
5th Bryce Mcmaster  01:54:08 00:19:35 00:01:13 00:56:42  00:36:37

All images by Lucas Wroe and not to be copied without permission