Airlie Beach Sprint Triathlon – 1st

Airlie Beach always holds a lot of found memories for me. I first raced here as a junior many years ago and managed to win on my first outing. Since then I have been back to Airlie Beach for this race many times adding a victory each year. It’s hard not the come back to any race if you are the defending champion and a race in Airlie Beach which is quite possibly one of the most beautiful places in Australia is what keeps me coming back. I must say that having my name next to previous winners of this event such as triathlon greats Luke McKenzie, Courtney Atkinson, Miles Stewart amongst many others feels pretty good as well.

With the ITU Long Course World Championships two weeks after the Airlie Beach Sprint Triathlon it seemed to be the perfect preparation leading into my ‘A’ race of the year. Training in Airlie Beach is awesome and always amazing. Below are a few snaps of what I got up to in the days before and after the race.

Race morning approached and I felt ready to go. To be honest I felt a little sluggish in the swim but still hit dry land with a small gap on 2nd place. The bike leg has been changed over the years to 2 by 10km loops with some decent climbs and a short amount of flat. Years ago the race use to be a straight 10km out and 10km back and the new course really test the legs and doesn’t give you much of a chance to get into a good rhythm. During the first lap I built up a decent lead on my next competitor and proceeded to increase this going onto the second 10km lap. Some light rain had started to fall so I kept my wits about me and took it pretty easy on the descents and corners.

My legs felt good hitting the run and with the lead I built on the bike leg I kept it in 3rd gear for most of the run not wanting to extend myself too much with World Championships just 14 days away. Overall I was very happy to take my 5th win in 5 starts at the Airlie Beach Triathlon.

Up next is ITU Long Course Worlds Championships in China on September 21st

Samoa Warrior Half Iron Distance Triathlon – 1st (Course Record)

When planning my race calendar at the start of this year I must admit that I had never planned to race this event. A chat another athlete several months ago during my time up in Cairns for Coral Coast 5150 (2nd place) and Ironman 70.3 Cairns (5th place) sparked my interest. 13 days prior to this event I finished 2nd at Ironman 70.3 Philippines in very hot and humid conditions and so I thought that another half iron distance event in the heat and humidity would bode well for my ITU Long Course World Championship preparations.

I had heard what lay in front of me from those who raced the event last year and was looking forward to racing this very challenging course. Tim Berkel and Cam Brown had raced this event last year with Tim suffering 3 flat tires and Cam with 2. After hearing this I made sure that I was very well prepared and chose to ride my Specialized S-Works Shiv with Roval CLX60 wheels front and rear. For racing I almost always use the S-Works Turbo clincher tyres however with rough roads ahead I swapped these for a brand new set of Specialized Roubaix tyres which I hoped would provide just that little extra security of the added puncture protection.

Race Day:
The swim course was held over two by 1km loops on a triangular shaped course. I knew that last year’s winner and course record holder Graham O’Grady would be the man to watch in the swim and sure enough Graham joined me at the front end of the field early on. The water temperature was very warm and so I didn’t swim particularly hard due to the fact that I didn’t want to cook myself too early on in the race. I exited the water right on the feet of Graham and made the call to put on running shoes for the 600 meter run into transition. Over this run I pulled up my Scody A.I.R tri suit which I had tucked into my HUUB swim skin during the swim leg. I have been loving racing in my custom Scody A.I.R sleeved raced suit as I feel like it actually keeps me cooler by keeping the sun off my back, shoulders and arms.

I came into transition in first and hit the bike leg with a small gap over Graham O’Grady and Ollie Whistler. The ride consisted of four by 5km loops in town before heading out onto the very rough roads of Samoa. I felt strong early on during the bike leg and so I pushed the pace and established a small gap within this first 20kms. The rest of the 70kms was out and back over some of the worst roads I have ever ridden. The entire ride was littered with potholes making it very hard to keep a high average speed. I went through the first hour with an average speed of 39.7kph and keep the pace as high as I could. The heat and humidity were now starting to take full effect and I made sure to keep on top of my hydration. I had some good company during the ride in the form of two police motorbikes (one in front and one behind) which came in handy as they helped to flag motorists off the road that I caught which gave me a clear path. The added bonus was that they also helped to stop the many dogs and one large pig from crossing the road in front of me. The last 4kms towards the bike turn around was up a very steep mountain road and with the humid and hot weather it was quite tough and a total sweat fest. I had a chance to recover on the downhill before the final 30kms flat section back into town over the pothole filled roads. I got off the bike with numb hands and sore shoulders due to holding onto my bars so tight during the ride. The entire ride I pushed as hard as I could to build my solo lead and so I finished the bike feeling quite spent.

At the half way point of the first of four by 5km run loops I had my first chance to see what kind of lead I had on second place. Ollie was looking strong holding onto second place with the gap being around four minutes. The run was scoring hot and reminded me a lot of my race at Ironman 70.3 Philippines just 13 days earlier. I made the most of every aid station grabbing ice and cold sponges to cool my core body temperature down. If I have learnt anything about racing in the heat it is that keeping your core temperature down in extreme heat is by far the most important factor in getting to that finish line.

So in saying this my goal on the run leg was simply to stay as cool as I could and hold onto my lead (two of the pro men were forced out of the race on the run leg due to heat exhaustion). Over the four out and back laps I was able to get a good idea of my time gap to second place and managed to keep this at around four to five minutes for the entire run. I was very happy to hit the finish line and take the title of 2014 Samoa Warrior Half Iron Distance Champion in a new race record time. This course was totally brutal and one of the most honest and hardest courses that I have ever raced on and well and truly worthy of the ‘warrior’ title given to this race.

 Results

1. Sam Betten, 4:20:26

2. Ollie Whistler, 4:25:48

3.Stephen Farrell, 4:49:11

4. Jared Bowden, 5:24:58

5. Darren Young, 5:33:28

*Photo Credit MeadNortonPhotography *

Specialized 2015 Product Launch

A few weeks ago Specialized Australia asked me if I was interested in coming along to their 2015 dealer event/product launch held on the Gold Coast. After a massive day of travel back from Ironman 70.3 Philippines (where I placed 2nd) I landed in Brisbane on Wednesday morning at 7am and then drove down to meet up with the Specialized Australia team. The entire event was professional, informative and not to mention massive! Having the chance to checkout the new products for 2015 was an amazing opportunity and there are already a few Specialized bikes, apparel and accessories that I have my eyes firmly fixed on for 2015! For those interested I thought that I'd share some of what I saw at the event and what I am excited about for 2015.

This S-Works Venge is totally stealth and the paint work is even more amazing in person

 New Specialized Venge bikes all lined up

 The new S-Works Tarmac is truly amazing. An incredible amount of r&d went into the new Tarmac.

 The S-Works TT helmet is something that I can't wait to get on my head. Matt black is my pick! 

 Just one of the outdoor setups. A full demo area was also going on. 

New S-Works Amira has one of the coolest paint jobs i've seen.

 Always so good to catchup with the man himself Mark Cote (aero r&d for Specialized). 

A big thank you to Specialized Australia for supporting me for close to 4 years now. It was very cool to be given the opportunity to attend this event and keep your eyes out for when the 2015 range hits your LBS. 

Ironman 70.3 Philippines - 2nd

It’s crazy to think that this is just my second year of 70.3 racing since making the switch from ITU/short course racing. In just this short amount of time I have finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th (one of each) at various Ironman 70.3 events around the world. With this being said I must admit that I am pretty desperate to get on that top step of the podium as soon as possible. Ironman 70.3 Philippines I hoped would be the place to finally get that elusive win I have been chasing. I had spent the last few months since Ironman 70.3 Cairns in a rather large training block and therefor knew that I was in great form leading into this race.

My Specialized S-Works Shiv getting racked and ready for race day

Race day:

After flying into Cebu on the Thursday prior the race I had stayed pretty relaxed and come race morning felt ready to get on that start line and go hard right from the gun. The swim course was without question the most amazing swim leg I have done as it started on the resort beach with a coral reef filled with fish just meters below you. Once the gun went off I started hard and quickly took the lead within the first hundred meters. I have been training with a great swim squad over the last few months, which has really transformed my swimming ability making me a lot more efficient and faster in the water. I enjoyed setting the pace up front and managed to gap most of the field quite early on with just Brent McMahon, Casey Munro and Michael Murphy able to stay with me. I exited the water first feeling very relaxed and picked up a nice swim bonus paycheck for being the first athlete to reach dry land.

Leading out of the water

After the swim to bike transition the four of us hit the open road together with Brent setting the pace up front for the early part of the bike leg. I pulled through and did my share of the work up front with Casey keen to sit back and let Brent and myself do the majority of the work up front. Casey after the race told me that he felt quite sick during the ride, which made sense, as he is usually a very strong rider. With guys like Cameron Brown (10 time IM New Zealand Champion) behind I was eager to keep riding hard to extend our gap to the rest of the field chasing hard behind. After 20km’s Michael Murphy dropped from our group of 4 with, what I found out later was a bike mechanical issue. The back end of the course consisted of a 8 by 6km out and back ‘double M’ course which meant that we had a good mix of head wind and tail wind with each out and back section. I have never taken onboard any extra bottles during a half distance race before but with the extreme heat and humidity I decided to grab 2 ice cold water bottles to pour over my head and drink as much as I could at the 30km and 60km sections of the bike ride. I also took onboard another bottle towards the end of the bike leg, which I poured over my head in an attempt to cool my body down only to discover that this wasn’t in fact water but Gatorade. The entire ride was very windy not to mention scorching hot, which made for quite a tough 90 kilometres.

Getting off the bike I was ready to run hard and was feeling quite good even after such a hot and windy 90km ride. The 2 loop run course had spectators lining both sides of the road and the support and cheering was totally insane. Brent hit the gas as soon as we left transition and I pushed myself hard to try and keep the gap to a minimum however the duel Olympian showed me a clean set of heals and was just too fast.

The heat on the run was totally crazy and I felt like I was melting into the ground on each lap. At the aid stations there were small buckets of ice-cold water that people poured over your head to cool you down. This effect lasted for about 30 seconds before you were scorching hot once again. In addition to this there were also large baseball sized chucks of ice given out on the course, which I shoved down the front of my Scody tri suit. These large chunks of ice lasted roughly 4 km’s before completely melting. After the first lap I got a few words of encouragement yelled at me from Jensen Button (Formula 1 driver) who was just heading out to start his run leg. Hats off to Jensen for taking the time out of his race to give me some words of encouragement.

The run was a real war of survival and was more about just making it to the finish line than running fast. I held 2nd place and crossed the line feel totally cooked from the insanely hot run. The event organization had put small swimming pools just after the finish line (filled with cold water, big slabs of ice and cans of beer floating around in them), which I spent a good amount of time in to try and bring my core body temperature back down post race.

All in all I was very happy with 2nd place. I went into the race wanting the win badly but Brent had the goods on the day to take the win in the Philippines. Unfortunately this means that I am still chasing my first Ironman 70.3 victory, which I hope will come in 2014.

A huge thank you once again to all my sponsors, coach, family, support team and supporters. I honestly wouldn’t be where I am today with out all of your amazing support.

July/August Magazine Cover Shots

I am very excited to be on the cover of both Triathlon 220 Magazine AUS/NZ (with a 6 page feature inside) as well as Triathlon Plus South Africa. I always get excited about getting on being on the cover of any major triathlon publication and 2 cover shots in a month is pretty amazing.

Ironman 70.3 Cairns - 5th

After racing this event last year and finishing 9th after exploding on the run I was pumped to show that I had what it takes to get onto the podium in 2014. I’d taken a confidence boosting 2nd at Coral Coast 5150 one week earlier and so I knew that the racing form was there.

I woke on race day to the sound of heavy rain, something that doesn’t bother me after having some good past Ironman 70.3 & 5150 race results in wet conditions. After setting up T1 I ventured to the start line ready to race against one of the strongest Ironman 70.3 fields in Australia this season. The choppy seas made for a great swim leg and I stayed right up front with all the major players.

Photo credit: firstoffthebike.com

My swim leg is always strong so I knew that all I had to do was stay in the top few positions to ensure that I was in the lead pack out of the water, heading out of T1. As many triathletes say, you can’t win the race in the swim but you sure can lose it.

Photo credit: Lucas Wroe

The first few kilometers of the bike leg through Palm Cove was chaotic, with several speed bumps causing many of the of pro men to lose their water bottles. I rode behind Tim Reed out of T1 and witnessed him lose both his sports drink bottle and water bottle off his bike. One of the great things about my Specialized S-Works Shiv is the integrated fuselage water storage inside my frame, which meant that I had no issues with loosing bottles. I also choose to run the rear bottle wing on the back of my Specialized Sitero saddle which I am also pleased to say held my bottle of Dextro Energy sports drink in securely. I think that I was the only one in the group to keep all my hydration attached to bike through these series of speed bumps.

Photo credit: Lucas Wroe

The ride was a true hard mans course leading us over the hills and around the tight corners along the Cairns coastline. Our group of 9 slowly started to drop riders with Joey Lampe the first to drop off the lead group soon followed by Courtney Atkison with a mechanical issue. I never really felt comfortable during the ride leg but stayed with the lead group over the hilly and VERY wet bike leg.

Hitting T2 I had a shocker of a transition and exited just behind the eventual top 4 place getters. The entire run leg I felt very flat and never really found my rhythm which was frustrating after having the fastest run leg at Coral Coast 5150 just 1 week earlier. At the end of the 21.1km run leg I finished in 5th place, which provided me with another consistent top 5 result giving me the confidence I need at this stage of the season.

 Photo credit: Lucas Wroe            

A big thank you to all my sponsors, supporters and the other competitors out there on course who took the time to cheer me on. I am always amazed with the support I get when racing at home in Australia. Another big thank you must go to my amazing home stay family who lets me stay with them during the 10 days I spent up in Cairns between the Coral Coast 5150 event and Ironman 70.3 Cairns for the past two years.

KAHLEFELDT, Brad 00:23:00        02:12:06        01:12:28        03:50:54        1

REED, Tim                00:23:06        02:12:00        01:12:51        03:51:22        2

FETTELL, Clayton    00:22:59        02:12:04        01:14:50        03:53:18        3

APPLETON, Sam     00:22:58        02:11:50        01:16:06        03:54:34        4

BETTEN, Sam          00:23:05        02:12:02        01:17:59        03:56:46        5

REITHMEIER, Alex  00:23:10        02:16:33        01:17:15        04:00:43        6

FRANKISH, Monty   00:23:44        02:14:54        01:21:26        04:04:04        7

RODGERS, Tom      00:24:31        02:10:24        01:27:54        04:06:32        8

CLARK, Bradley       00:25:29        02:18:39        01:18:41        04:08:14        9

FOX, Michael           00:23:31        02:20:25        01:21:45        04:09:31        10

I’ll be heading back home to Brisbane for the next 8 weeks for a big training block in preparation for my next race, Ironman 70.3 Philippines.

Coral Coast 5150 - 2nd

Coral Coast is a very unique event and is actually Australia’s longest running triathlon beating the Noosa Triathlon by a few months. The race always attracts a lot of the Cairns Ironman and Cairns Ironman 70.3 pro athletes, as these races are both held the week later. This means that Coral Coast 5150 is hotly contested and although used as a lead up race for the pro’s is still very competitive.

After finishing 5^th at last years race I was motivated to improve and at minimum get myself onto the podium in 2014. Race morning I made the 1 hour drive from my homestay in Cairns to Coral Coast. I was feeling good and ready to race hard knowing that I had experienced what this course had to offer 12 months ago at the 2013 edition of the race.

The swim was a straight shot out, across and back in along the beach. I started quickly and sprinted into the water to ensure that I hit the first turning buoy right up the front of the pack. The swim leg was very rough with the waves and I found myself drifting from equal 2^nd at 100 meters in to 4^th position after 1400 meters of the swim leg. Honestly I didn’t find my rhythm during the swim leg and felt very sluggish. I excited the water just off the lead 3 athletes and hit T1 with a small group on my tail.

Onto the bike Clayton Fettell (last years winner) hit the gas and established a 1 man lead on Tom Davison and Brad Kahlefeldt with myself in a small group just behind. I saw the danger of leaving Tom and Brad riding hard together and tried everything I could to limit the loss of time spending a good 80% of the next 40km’s leading my group over the course.  Going onto the 2^nd lap I spotted Brad on the side of the road with a flat front tire, which meant just Clayton and Tom remained in front of me.

Hitting T2 I felt good about my chances for a podium spot and hit the gas pretty early on in an attempt to catch both Tom and Clayton. The entire run is along the sandy beach of Coral Coast so it is always going to be a real battle. This year the wind played a big factor providing a very tough out and back, 4 loop course.

I managed to reel Tom in faster than I though catching and going past him early on during the 2^nd of 4 run laps. Clayton looked to be hurting and so I keep pushing hoping to close the gap but in the end I ran out of runway despite having the fastest run split of the day.

Overall I was very happy taking 2^nd place and it was a great sign that everything is well on track for Ironman 70.3 Cairns next weekend.

1st Clayton Fettell     01:48:11 00:19:32  00:00:59 00:51:18  00:36:20
2nd Sam Betten        01:49:24 00:19:45  00:01:05 00:53:36  00:34:57
3rd Nuru Somi          01:50:55 00:19:45  00:01:00 00:53:40  00:36:29
4th Tom Davison       01:51:34 00:19:46  00:01:01 00:52:14  00:38:32
5th Bryce Mcmaster  01:54:08 00:19:35 00:01:13 00:56:42  00:36:37

All images by Lucas Wroe and not to be copied without permission