Regent 5150 Triathlon - 1st

I have been doing a big training block over the last few weeks in preparation for the ITU Long Distance World Championships. It just so happened that the Regent 5150 fitted perfectly into this preparation as well as my travel to Europe for the World Championships. The week before flying out I had pushed the envelope a little more with my training but still felt quite good. With some good work in the legs done, coach Stephen Moss gave me a few days to freshen up for the race which fell in nicely with my travel from Australia to the Philippines.  

Race Day:

One thing you have to expect racing in Asia is that it is always hot and humid and race day in Subic for the 5150 was no different. As soon as the gun went off I swam hard to the first turn buoy hoping to separate the field and ensure that it was a smaller group that hit transition heading out onto the bike course. Unfortunately my efforts was unrewarded with 4 others still in the group after the first 400 meters of the swim out towards the first turn buoy. I swam in front trying to keep things conservative until just before the final turn buoy towards shore when Clayton Fettell took over the lead. Running into T1 I pulled down my HUUB swim skin and pulled up the top section of my Scody AIR race suit in preparation for bike leg. 

The first 10km was held on the Subic Bay International Airport runway and consisted of riding to the end of the runway 3 times. Clayton was riding like a man possessed and I had to really push hard to stay in touch. I was looking down at my bike computer and seeing close to 400 watts during this flat and fast section. This move by Clayton helped to split the group of 5 down to just myself, Clayton and last year's winner and defending champion Casey Munro.

The bike course was very hilly with not much flat after the opening airport runway section. The heat and humidity were building steadily but the 3 of us spilt the workload to extend the lead over the rest of the field. I led for most of the final stretch back into T2 before Clayton picked up the pace hitting transition first with Casey & myself just a few seconds behind in 3^rd and 2^nd respectively.

After some big run weeks in training I really backed myself to run strong and had a very fast transition to hit the run course in first. I went out quite hard keen to build up a lead out towards the first 2.5km turn around point. As I hit the turn I noticed that my lead to Casey and Clayton had extended out to a decent sized gap and I kept pushing to keep my pace high. 

I started to fade slightly with just 4kms left to run but held onto a sizable lead to Mitch Kibby who had run himself into 2^nd place. I crossed line in just under 2 hours to take the win at the Regent 5150 Triathlon. This was a big win for me and more importantly it was so rewarding to see that all of the hard work in training and discipline outside of the training sessions themselves are paying off.  

The Philippines have been a happy hunting ground for me with this win as well as my 2^nd place at last year's Cobra Ironman 70.3. I am looking forward to racing more and more in the Philippines in the years to come and hope my results continue along the statuesque. I now head to France to finish up my World Championship preparation before flying into Sweden in late June.