Airlie Beach always holds a lot of found memories for me. I first raced here as a junior many years ago and managed to win on my first outing. Since then I have been back to Airlie Beach for this race many times adding a victory each year. It’s hard not the come back to any race if you are the defending champion and a race in Airlie Beach which is quite possibly one of the most beautiful places in Australia is what keeps me coming back. I must say that having my name next to previous winners of this event such as triathlon greats Luke McKenzie, Courtney Atkinson, Miles Stewart amongst many others feels pretty good as well.
With the ITU Long Course World Championships two weeks after the Airlie Beach Sprint Triathlon it seemed to be the perfect preparation leading into my ‘A’ race of the year. Training in Airlie Beach is awesome and always amazing. Below are a few snaps of what I got up to in the days before and after the race.
Race morning approached and I felt ready to go. To be honest I felt a little sluggish in the swim but still hit dry land with a small gap on 2nd place. The bike leg has been changed over the years to 2 by 10km loops with some decent climbs and a short amount of flat. Years ago the race use to be a straight 10km out and 10km back and the new course really test the legs and doesn’t give you much of a chance to get into a good rhythm. During the first lap I built up a decent lead on my next competitor and proceeded to increase this going onto the second 10km lap. Some light rain had started to fall so I kept my wits about me and took it pretty easy on the descents and corners.
My legs felt good hitting the run and with the lead I built on the bike leg I kept it in 3rd gear for most of the run not wanting to extend myself too much with World Championships just 14 days away. Overall I was very happy to take my 5th win in 5 starts at the Airlie Beach Triathlon.
Up next is ITU Long Course Worlds Championships in China on September 21st
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