I was really looking forward to returning to
Subic Bay in the Philippines for Ironman 70.3 Subic Bay following some good
memories when I won the 5150 Olympic distance race in the same location the
previous year. The other great thing that I enjoy about racing in the
Philippines is that I know that their events really are the benchmark of
triathlon racing in terms of the professionalism and organisation.
Race Day.
The beach start was something I know really favors me as I
can usually get a few extra running steps done over my shorter competitors due
to my height. This really gave me a good advantage and after the run into the
water I took up the lead. After rounding the first turn buoy I made a small
navigational mistake and had some trouble with sighting the next turn buoy. The
result of this was actually a positive move as it spilt up the athletes behind me
meaning that myself and two others were the only ones left in the front group.
I took the final home stretch a little more conservatively to save some energy
and only made a small surge heading in towards the beach to lead out the swim
leg. The run towards transition was a good 400 meters, which gave me time to
pull up my prototype Scody sleeved tri top.
German athlete Patrick Lange managed to get away from me early on but I stayed calm remaining in 2nd place until 10kms into the bike
leg. At this point I was caught and passed by Craig Alexander, Tim Reed and Tim
Berkel. Reed and Alexander really rode strongly and I was left in 4th
for the majority of the bike leg. It was one of those rides where I never got
comfortable and honestly struggled physically in the hot and humid conditions.
Heading out of transition I led the group until the 1km
mark where I started to hit the wall. Tim Reed and Craig Alexander made the
pass on me and a few minutes later Tim Berkel also came past. I tried to hang
onto Tim Berkel for a few kilometers however the body was cooking and I just couldn’t respond. The rest of the run
leg was a battle and I was relieved to cross the finish line.
Deep down I was disappointed
with the result as I felt like training had been going really well and that I
was in better form than what the final result showed.
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