Challenge Half Forster - 6th

After finishing 7^th at Noosa Tri over the very fast Olympic distance course just one week earlier I was feeling very good about my chances of a podium performance at Challenge Forster. I had raced hard at Noosa and I had the feeling in the week of the race that I had a good shot at the win but unfortunately this ‘feeling’ didn’t end up translating over to my race day performance. Ultimately I did what I could on race day and 6^th was all that I had. No excuses needed.

Race Day: I was very relaxed for what was my last half iron distance race of the year. I know that when I am relaxed it usually means that I am ready to race hard and am confident in my ability to perform well. 

The swim was two laps over a rectangular course and I had a great start and clear water. Not surprisingly super fish Clayton Fettell hit the lead early leaving myself and Sam Appelton to lead the front pack. Going onto the second lap of the swim I kept the pace up and moved in front of Sam keen not to let Clayton put too much time into me. I hit dry land in second place not too far off Clayton and with a small group in tow behind me. Running into T1 I unfortunately struggled to get my wetsuit off and this extra time moved me from the front of the lead group out of the water to being the last of this group out of transition. 

I chased hard early on during the ride however just couldn’t catch the trio of Clayton Fettell, Sam Appelton and Casey Munro up front. This was a pretty decisive move and I was angry with myself for not being in this group. I am in the front group 99% of the time on the bike so this was unknown ground. I kept trying to reel in the group up front with next to no luck. I had one athlete with me during the next 50km’s and we exchanged a few turns trying to limit the time lost. After the first 50km lap we were joined by a few other athletes which meant that heading into T2 I was in the second group of 3 athletes. I hit the run and pretty early on felt terrible and unable to find any kind of running speed. Over the first 7km’s I tried hard to keep focused and by lap two of the run started to come good again. I found myself catching athletes who had passed me during my bad patch at the start of the run which keep me motivated to run hard. In the last kilometer I ran past Sam Appelton to run into 6^th place.

In a nut shell I swam great, had a shocker T1, rode very average and had a very up and down run. It’s races like these where you really find out what long distance racing is all about… just sticking at it and giving what you’ve got. I had a shocker of a day but still managed to hang tough and find something in me to give what I had and finish in a respectable 6^th. At the start of the run I thought that I would be lucky to finish let alone finish in the top 10.

It’s been a long season and I am looking forward to heading up to Hamilton Island this weekend for one final sprint distance race before having a few weeks break from training and racing.

Thanks to Elite Energy/Challenge for a great event in Forster and as always to all of my amazing sponsors and supporters.