Sunday 8 June 2014

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.

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