Challenge Shepparton – 5th

Having finished 2^nd at Challenge Shepparton in 2015 I was really looking forward to the opportunity of improving upon this result. Following my win at the Bellevue 5150 the week prior in the Philippines I spent 72hrs at home in Brisbane before once again getting onto the plane this time bound for Melbourne. In the days leading into the race I started to feel quite good physically and felt excited for race day.  

Race morning provided some challenging conditions with 12-degree temperatures. I put in a decent warm up to prepare the body for a fast swim and when the gun fired this meant that I could really lay down a solid tempo from the get go. The ‘M’ shaped swim course was very simple to navigate and I found myself leading all the way to the far turn marker where ex-training partner Dan Wilson took up the pace setting. Having trained together previously for many years we both adopted the unspoken plan of swapping off the lead at each turn buoy. Sharing the work up front worked to our advantage and we exited the water side by side with a healthy 70 second lead on the chasing group.

I had a quick transition and headed out onto the 90km bike course in first and spent the next 25kms swapping the lead with Dan. 

Just before the 45km turn around Lachlan Kerin bridged the gap to Dan and myself to make it a lead group of three. At the 50km point I found myself really struggling to hold my usual power output and slowly dropped behind. With 15kms left to go Matt Burton came past and I came into transition in 4^th feeling totally gone.

Hitting the run leg I tried to keep thinking positively and just going about putting together the best half marathon that I could. The three-lap run course meant that it was easy to spot if you were gaining or losing time on the other competitors. By the end of the second lap I knew that I didn’t have the leg speed to run myself back onto the podium. The final 6kms were a huge effort to hold on and with 1km left to go I unfortunately lost 4^th position. With nothing left in the body I just tried to hold onto 5^th place and the final prize money position. I only just held off a fast finishing Levi Maxwell in a sprint finish to take out 5^th place.

In all honesty my result at Challenge Shepparton was a very hard one to process. Going into the race I felt as if mentally and physically I was in great shape however the final result just didn’t reflect this on the day.

*Images Getty Images* 

Bellevue 5150 Triathlon - 1st

Last year was my first time racing on the island paradise of Bohol and to win the event was a real highlight of my 2015 racing calendar. Coming back to the event in 2016 as the defending champion added some additional pressure and I was really motivated to win again. On a personal note, whenever I race in the Philippines it is always an unforgettable experience. The stunning event locations and professionalism with how the event organisation runs races such as Bellevue 5150 needs to be seen and experienced in person to truly be appreciated.

There had been some heavy rain the night before the race making the temperatures a little cooler than usual for race morning. Usually, the Philippines heat and humidity make racing that much harder so the rain was actually a welcome change. The plan was to go hard from the get go and just to enjoy pushing hard and testing myself out on the course. I hit the gas in the opening few minutes of the 1500 meter swim leg  and soon had a growing gap which extended to just under a minute by the time I hit transition over German, Henry Beck.

Image Anthony Yu

Image Jamil Buergo

I was careful to pay attention to the wet roads out on the bike course but still pushed the opening kilometres of the 40km bike leg quite hard wanting to extend my lead. 

 Image AsiaTri.com 

Image AsiaTri.com 

The bike course was flat and fast and I finished the bike leg with an average speed of 42.5km bringing me into transition in a bike split of under the hour.

Image Anthony Yu

The out and back 10 kilometre run course was deceptively tough with the humidity and heat rising steadily. I took out the opening few kilometres quite solidly before lifting off the pace during the final 5-6 kilometres.

 Image Anthony Yu

Image Jamil Buergo

Usually I would thrive in putting myself in the hurt box by running as hard as I could but with another race (Challenge Shepparton Triathlon) the following weekend the smarter option was to ease off the pace.

Running down towards the finishing line on the white sandy beach outside the five-star Bellevue Resort is something special and to win the race for the second year in a row was a great feeling.

Image Anthony Yu

Image AsiaTri.com