IRONMAN 70.3 Cebu - 13th

To me, IRONMAN 70.3 Cebu is one of the best IRONMAN 70.3 events anywhere in the world. The location is amazingly beautiful and the crowd support on the course is hard to believe with huge numbers of locals watching and cheering on the athletes. I have had some of my best IM70.3 results at the event including a 2nd place as well as 3rd when it also doubled as the 2016 Asia-Pacific Championships. 

Race Day:

To keep things simple, this was one of my most disappointing 'performances' at any event while racing as a professional athlete. The day started out well as I exited the water in equal first place and then started the ride with Tim Reed and Ryan Fisher in a lead trio. For whatever reason it was only 5kms into the bike leg where my body just refused to respond to any effort at all. I struggled big time throughout the 90km ride and then proceed to walk/jog the majority of the final half marathon. There were many times where I thought about a DNF however no matter how terrible the race was going I refused to DNF. One thing that was always in the back of my mind is that I was going to cross the line no matter how long it took in respect for all those out there racing as well as to honour the support that the race organisers give the athletes who race in Cebu. This was one of the toughest days mentally and physically that I have experienced while racing and unfortunately no real positives to take away from the race except for a lot of motivation to move forward. 

 

REGENT 5150 SUBIC BAY - 1st

3 years ago I won my first ever 5150 title at this event and then last year, managed to defend the title. Having this track record at the REGENT 5150 Subic Bay and being the 2 time defending champion of the race the pressure was on once again to defend the title.

Heading into race day my training had been progressing well after what has been a rough start to the year. The multiple flights to get to Subic Bay in the Philippines were easy enough thanks as always to some great advice from Flight Centre Sports & Events on the travel front. Arriving at the race hotel on the Friday before the race meant that I had a chance to check out the new course as well as have the opportunity to award the IRONKIDS event along with the usual media commitments.

Race morning was certainly a wet one with the rainy weather in Subic Bay making the race much more challenging. Talking with my coach Lance from LifeSport Coaching in the days leading up to the race the plan was pretty simple, just race hard right from the gun. I really attacked the beach swim start (see photo) and was able to open up a good gap early on which extended out to around 1 minute and 30 seconds by the end of the swim leg.

The rain really started to come down as soon as I hit transition which meant that the corners were super slick and the only option was to play it safe around the multiple u-turns and right angled corners. 

With the multiple looped bike course I was able to get a good idea of the time gap to the chasers throughout the bike leg which looked like it was increasing steadily. Without question the rain storm out on the bike leg made for a hard 40km ride as you had to slow right down for each corner and u-turn and then gradually wind up the power out of each corner to avoid any risk of crashing. 

Despite this I was able to put together a good bike split of 59min30sec for the 40km ride.

With a healthy lead built up during the swim and bike I wanted to try and push the run leg and see what kind of 10km hard run I could achieve. The rain had left some huge puddles on the run course and there were multiple times when I was running through ankle deep water which made it slower than I had hoped. 

Coming down the finishing line to win this race for the third year in a row was a pretty special feeling. With the great support from the event organisers – SUNRISE EVENTS, along with ALASKA MILK it always means something extra special to be able to win these races in the Philippines, as it has almost become my second home for racing outside Australia.  

To get my first win for 2017 was certainly a weight off my shoulders and as always it is not possible without the support from my amazing sponsors, coach and support network.

IRONMAN 70.3 Vietnam - 6th

Having had to DNF at Challenge Melbourne a few weeks prior due to sickness I had not bounced back as quickly as I would have liked in time to race at my best for IRONMAN 70.3 Vietnam. The race is one of the most amazing events on the IM70.3 circuit and so there was no way that I wanted to miss the event despite not having the fitness that I would have wanted leading into race day.

I knew that the swim leg would be a fast one and I swapped out of the lead a few times but was able to get the jump out of the water to be first into transition.

Despite a slower T1 I hit the bike leg with the main group with Michael Raelert rocketing off the into the horizon. I was really struggling durning the ride to hold the power numbers that I would have liked and unfortunately dropped a few minutes before the end of the bike leg.

The run was a tough out and back course and I tried to just keep the legs ticking over at a sustainable pace from start to finish and crossed the line in 6th.

S-Works Venge ViAS

As a professional triathlete I spend a good percentage of my training on S-Works Shiv (Click Here) In saying this I really enjoy riding my road bike to mix things up as well as the occasional cycling race. Going from my previous S-Works Venge (Found Here) to the new S-Works Venge ViAS was an exciting experience.

When you first get up close and personal with the Specialized Venge ViAS you will start to notice and appreciate the level of detail. There is fully integrated Di2 cabling which snakes its way through the bars & stem and inside the frame. Even the Di2 junction box has been neatly hidden in a custom mount located under the bottom bracket area of the frame.

In addition the brake calipers are molded into the Venge ViAS frame and creates zero additional aerodynamic drag as they act as an aerodynamic ‘faring’. This particular braking design cleverly works around the UCI cycling regulations for road bikes which state that a bike can not have any ‘non functional’ aerodynamic design components.

The Venge ViAS feels as comfortable to ride as any bike I have ever ridden but with a sense of speed usually only reserved from riding a top end dedicated time trial bike. One thing that I love about riding the Venge ViAS is that it is such a fun bike to ride. It seems to make you want to ride faster and faster with the speed it delivers and is just so utterly addictive. Quite simply, the more your speed increases the more the Specialized Venge ViAS rewards you for your efforts.