Noumea International Triathlon – 3rd

The Noumea International Triathlon is one of the longest running triathlons in the world with this year marking the 30^th anniversary of the race. When planning my racing schedule for this year I hadn’t originally planned to do this event, only signing up to race a month prior. The race location is pretty amazing with the swim in the calm and clear waters of Noumea and the bike and run being held on the coastal road overlooking the water. Being that I had never done this race before I arrived in Noumea early Friday morning which gave me enough time to do a bit of course recon.

The swim start in Noumea is a mass start with all the competitors going off in one wave. Being that all the announcements on the start line were in French it was a nervous few minutes before the race start to ensure that I didn’t miss the starting gun. After the first hundred meters of the swim, myself, Ryan Fisher and Peter Kerr broke away in a trio of 3. Peter kept the pace up taking the lead with Fisher and myself happy to sit back swimming side by side just off the feet of Kerr. The swim was 2 laps of a 750 meter triangular swim loop and by the time we hit dry land there was a sizable gap back to the rest of the field.

I have been riding well over the last few months and was excited to stretch the legs out on the bike leg and took up the lead early on. I had expected Fisher and Kerr not to be as strong on the bike purely due to the fact that they are more used to racing on road bikes than time trial bikes. At the end of the first lap Fisher came to the front over one of the small climbs before I took back the lead a short time later. I was happy to ride in front and didn’t really expect to be able to break up our pack of 3 due to the 5 meter draft zone imposed in this race. My goal for the cycle leg was to ride strong but stay comfortable while continuing to extend the lead to the chasers on the road.  With a 3 lap bike course I could see that each lap I was extending the lead which ended up being around 4 and a half minutes by the time I hit transition with Kerr and Fisher in tow. I finished the ride under the hour with a 43kph average speed and a nice 361 average wattage to show for it.

I had a quick transition and lead out onto the run for the first kilometer before ITU speedsters Fisher and Kerr came past me. I tried to hang onto them without too much luck and after the first 2.5km loop was around 15 seconds back. I pushed hard on the 2^nd lap to limit the gap and then backed off my run speed on the final 2 X 2.5km run loops with a 3^rd place secured. In the back of my head I knew that I would be racing Ironman 70.3 Vietnam in 2 weeks time so I didn’t want to overdo the back end of the run. I crossed the line in 3^rd place with Ryan Fisher taking the win and Peter Kerr in 2^nd place.

A big thank you to all my sponsors, coach, as well as the race organizers in Noumea who did an outstanding job with the running of the 30^th Noumea International Triathlon.

Julia Creek Dirt N Dust Triathlon - 1st

It doesn’t seem that long since I raced this event for the first time 7 years ago. My first outing at the Dirt N Dust Triathlon I finished 2nd to one of the greatest triathletes Australia has ever produced, Brad Bevan. Having won the event for the last 4 years I was excited at the chance to add win number 5 to my résumé.

Race Day:
Diving into the muddy waterhole I started on the inside and had a good start. I swam the first half of the swim quite hard and then settled into a good tempo for the second half of the swim leg. Getting out the water I saw that I had built up a nice lead and started the bike ride with a good gap over the rest of the field.

I have always enjoyed the tough 25km ride back into town braving the headwind. Every year there has always been a strong headwind which means a consistent tempo is required if you are after a fast bike time.

This year the first few kilometers were faster than usual with the headwind not having a big effect. This meant I could ride at around 45-50kph for the opening stages of the cycle leg.

After the opening section of the cycle leg the headwind picked up which was as expected and I settled into a good rhythm. I finished the ride with a nice 361 watt average showing on my bike computer.

Dismounting off my S-Works Shiv I started the 5km run leg through Julia Creek feeling quite good. The temperature at this year’s event wasn’t as hot as it has been in previous years with a ‘cooler’ 36 degrees. I really enjoyed the final 5km run and just keep ticking the legs over at a good tempo.

It was a nice feeling crossing the line just under the hour mark in 59:40 and with my 5th win in as many years at the Julia Creek Dirt N Dust Triathlon.

Photo Credit: Tom Adam / North West Star 

Tweed Coast Enduro Triathlon (1.9km/90km/21.1km) - 3rd

Tweed Coast Enduro (1.9/90/21.1) – 3rd

Leading up to the race my training has been going pretty well. After racing the ITU Oceania Cup at Mooloolaba just 2 weeks earlier I was feeling pretty confident about where the body is at for this stage of the year. I am swimming great, riding strong and the run speed is getting better and better. However this didn’t seem to matter when it came to race day on the weekend due to a few reasons which I will highlight below.

With a 3AM alarm I drove from the Gold Coast to Pottsville which hosted the event. The start time was pushed back due to low light which meant the open men’s field  started a little later than the planned 6:30AM. As soon as the gun went off I found my way to the front of the race and swam stroke for stoke with Clayton Fettell for the entire 1.9km swim with Shane Barrie just behind making up the lead group of 3. Hitting dry land we had around a 40 second lead which was enough motivation to ride hard and extend the lead. Clayton was first out of transition and set the pace for the opening kilometers of the bike before I took over and started to crank up the pace. I continued to lead until just before the end of lap 1  where Clayton came to the front.

Hitting the turn Clayton missed the turn around point and dropped back slightly meaning that I took the lead once more. Going onto the 2nd lap of 4 I cranked up the pace and rode away from Shane Barrie and Clayton Fettell. I have been riding quite strong in training over the last few months and was motivated to ride hard and build a lead.

Looking at my wattage/power output during the bike leg I was hitting around 380 watts and working hard. Being that the bike leg was 4 times out and back I had a chance to see what kind of a lead I was building up twice every lap. Each lap I had the chance to see the chase pack, which seemed to be doing a good job of a teams time trial with two people in particular deciding that they wanted to swap turns and sit 1 meter off the back of each other. In the race briefing before the race it was make quite clear that it was a 12 meter gap which athletes were required to maintain. Heading back on the 3rd lap of 4 I was caught by the group and proceeded to keep the required 12 meter gap to those in front of me. Just before the end of lap 3 Clayton crashed in front of me and with enough space between us I had time to get off the aero bars and maneuver myself around him.

I witnessed the riders in front continue the teams trial time for the remainder of the ride and when I had a word to one of the athletes involved about their draft distance I received some verbal abuse back. Honestly I was pretty angry about the situation on the bike leg with supposedly ‘professional athletes’ acting far from professional. Personally I think that I have a responsibility while racing to compete professionally and within the rules and it is disappointing to see other  ‘pro’ athletes completely disregarding the race rules.

Hitting the run I was feeling a little worse for wear but managed to keep the body ticking over and held my position to finish 3rd.

While 3rd isn’t a bad result I was hoping for much better and feel like my result didn’t match up to the effort exerted out there on the course. I am pretty angry at what I happened on the bike leg and received several Facebook messages after the race from those who saw what went on out there in the pro mens race. Reports of two particular pro male competitors swapping turns and blatantly drafting off each other while jumping on anyone who tried to come to the front is just one of the messages I received post race via Facebook from an athlete who was racing.  It is down right disrespectful to other competitors and those out there who choose to follow the rules.

On a positive note, for the first ever Tweed Coast Enduro event the organizers did a great job on the course and a big thank you to the organisers for putting on a race like this. The course was pretty awesome to race on and I can only see this race getting bigger and better in the future.

*Photo 1 & 2 credit: VeloShotz* 

ITU Oceania Cup Mooloolaba – 12th

After not having done an ITU Olympic distance event in over 3 years I decided to have a crack at the ITU Oceania Cup at Mooloolaba. My goal was to enjoy the day with no pressure on me to really perform against the ITU short course specialists. I knew that after transitioning to long course racing over the last 3 years I just wouldn’t have the speed on the run that the ITU short course athletes have. Having fellow long course athlete Clayton Fettell racing I was secretly hoping that a small group of us might sneak off the front of the race. Typically there has been a small group of athletes who have made a move during the swim/bike leg at Mooloolaba and put a few minutes into the chase pack. If I was able to pull off a move like this and get myself up the road in a small group I thought that I might just be able to catch a few of the younger ITU athletes out and beat them at their own game. 

Being that I haven’t done an ITU race for so long I was ranked close to last which meant that I didn’t have too much of a choice of my starting position on the beach. This meant having to start on the far side of the beach, well off the desired racing line. After some obligatory ITU ‘pump up music’ on the start line the gun went off and the race way was underway. I was a little slow off the mark but had a clean swim out to the first turn marker with next to no one fighting me to get in front. I hit the first turn buoy in around 5^th right on Clayton Fettells’ feet and noticed at the next turn buoy that a small group of us had managed to swim away from the main pack. Towards the final turning buoy I looked up to see the athlete swimming in front of me had lost touch with the lead group of 3. I didn’t panic as I knew that we had a decent 1km beach run into transition that I was confident I could make up the small time loss. The swim leg felt quite controlled for me and I was actually pretty surprised that the main pack had dropped off so much. Hitting the beach I was only a few seconds behind the leaders and made up the time quite easily during the 1km beach run. I really enjoyed the longer beach run into transition as Mooloolaba beach at 6:45am provides a pretty stunning backdrop.

Heading out of transition onto the bike leg our small group of 6 athletes hit the gas over the hills towards the highway. We all committed to the charge off the front and worked equally to build on the lead out towards the 20km turn around. At the 20km turn we had built up a nice 50 second gap over the chase group and continued to work hard all the way home along the highway. The entire ride felt nice and controlled for me and I didn’t really have to push too hard. I could tell that some of the younger athletes in the pack were hurting from pushing the pace and as much as I wanted to ride harder I knew that the smart thing to do was to hold back, keep our group together and try and keep the legs fresh for the run. 




I was pretty confident that if our group of 6 could build up a lead of 2 minutes that I should be able to run in the 33/34 minute bracket which would give me a good shot at getting on the podium. The chase pack however had different ideas and managed to peg back some of the time meaning that the gap into transition was only around 20 seconds.

I hit the run still feeling pretty fresh in the legs and settled into a good rhythm that felt comfortable. As I had expected there were a few specialist ITU young guns who were pushing the pace and took up the lead. Unfortunately with not a lot of run speed in my legs I kept tapping out what was a solid but comfortable pace. Heading towards the finish line I was forced to serve a 20 second penalty for not placing my goggles and cap into the correct box in transition. After not having done an ITU race for so long I totally forgot about this rule until it was too late. I crossed the line in 12^th and still feeling like I could run another 10km at the pace I was running at.

   

My goal at Mooloolaba was just to have a solid day out and brush up on my speed before the season really kicks off for me. As a pro it is sometimes not just about the result on paper but the process you go through during a race in order for you to move forward. Honestly I was very happy with my race and how I felt throughout the day. It was a great sign that the training is coming together well for this season and I am looking forward to the longer races still to come this year.

Overall Time: 1:52.51 (12^th)

Swim: 17:41 (6^th)

Cycle: 55.02 (4^th)
Run: 34.47  (21^st) *34:27 if you don’t include the 20 second penalty*

Photo Credit: 1 & 3 Stephen Harman, 2 Laura Wood 

'Hell of the West' Half Iron Distance Triathlon - 2nd

Having won this race in 2014 I was looking forward to the opportunity of wearing race number 1 and attempting to defend my title in 2015. No male athlete had defended the title before so this added to the motivation. The Hell of the West triathlon is a fitting name for this event as it is held in outback Queensland in often scorching hot and windy conditions. This year saw a milder temperature and unexpectedly light winds which made for some very fast racing.

Race Day:
Due to the high temperatures race start is before dawn at 5AM, which means being woken up by my alarm at 3:15AM. The swim had to be moved from the planned river swim leg to the Botanical Gardens due to high water levels. The 2km swim consisted of 3 laps with a 3km run back to transition before starting the 90km ride. The race organizers had decided that this 3km run would be deducted from the 20 km run leg.

The start was quite fast but never-the-less I soon found myself in the lead. Over the first lap I had a small gap on the pack behind and kept the pace nice and steady without exerting myself too much. By the end of the swim I had built up a small 30 second lead. I slipped on my Saucony shoes for the 3km run and again kept the pace quite steady. I was caught by Lindsey Wall with around 1km left to run with Sam Douglas close behind.

As soon as I got onto the bike I was motivated to push the pace and quickly took the lead and rode within my set power wattage. I stayed in the lead until the turn around point and with the calmer winds I was able to ride the first 40km in just over 56minutes.

Lindsey Wall was the only athlete able to keep up and at the turn I noticed that my hard work over the first 40kms had paid off as I saw there was a big gap back to the rest of the field. I pushed the pace for another 5km before getting Lindsey to take the lead for a few kilometers and then I took over in front until about the 65km mark when Lindsey once again came to the front. Credit to Lindsey as he stayed a good 15 meters behind me, well out of the draft zone for the whole ride. Despite pushing the pace up front I kept well on top of my nutritional needs downing all the water in the bladder of my S-Works Shiv as well as ¾ of a bottle of sports drink and 4 PowerBar gels.

Hitting the run I felt much better than last year and was looking forward to a good battle for the win. I had been doing a lot of work on my run in December and January and wanted to be the one pushing the pace. Lindsey and I went toe to toe for the first 2 of the 3 laps and it really was a solid battle. I noticed on my run watch that we were hitting just over 3:30minutes per/km pretty consistently.

With temperatures rising I kept taking in ice and water as well as 2 PowerBar energy gels during the first two laps. Soon into the last lap the surges started to come and I soon found myself unable to keep up. It was disappointing to see the win running away from me but that’s racing. I came over the line in 2nd place which I was honestly happy with. This race was a great stepping stone for me and with the training I have done at this point in the season it is a good sign that things are on track.

Queensland Triathlon Series Robina – 7th

Since early December I have been putting in a lot a training to get ready for the racing ahead this season. After a good 8 week block I was feeling the training load in the legs but decided to give a sprint race a good crack just to see where I was at. Admittedly I knew I was fatigued going into the race but after winning the event in the past I thought that I would have a good shot at getting a solid result. The race is only around an hour by car from home and so I choose to drive down that morning. After setting up in transition and doing a short warm up I headed to the finish line to hand out the finisher medals to all the kids racing the KoolKids event. It is always good to see the kids racing hard as well as the smiles on everyone’s faces once they cross the line. It is a good reminder that we were all once first timers and the positive effects the sport of triathlon has on the kids.

With the temperature reaching the high 30s this was certainly going to challenge the competitors. Lining up on the start line for the deep water start I positioned myself towards the far right hoping for a clean line to the first turning buoy. Once the gun went off I had the clean start I was after and after a solid 400 meters or so prepared to hit the first turn buoy. Rounding the turn I managed to get tangled up in carnage and dropped back a few spots. The water was very warm and so I tried to keep my heart rate as low as possible and tucked myself in just behind the lead swimmers. Rounding the next turn I felt someone grab my feet and then pull me back in an attempt to move ahead. The swim was pretty intense and rough and I was happy enough to emerge from the water in 6^th just 7 seconds off the lead swimmer.

Hitting the bike I was motivated to ride hard and establish a solo break which was a tactic that helped me to win the race last year. I had a small gap to make up in the first few kilometers of the ride, which I did without too much trouble apart from having one keen athlete decide he wanted to sit right on my wheel and use me to motor pace him back to the front group. Once I caught the leaders I proceeded to put the hammer down and move past the group with my goal being to put enough time into the other competitors as I could by the time we hit the bike to run transition. My efforts to do so were unfortunately not enough to get away as the group were all riding very close together and every time I tried to ride away I had the group sitting right on a wheel. 

For what is suppose to be a non drafting race it is disappointing to see athletes disregard/ignore the drafting rules altogether making it next to impossible for a clean race. After putting in so much effort to break the group apart I was really feeling the burn in the legs and knew that it wasn’t going to be my day. Rounding the final corner I narrowly avoided one competitor who was riding right on my wheel, so close in fact that he rode right into me and almost caused me and him to crash. 

I hit the run totally depleted and struggled just to get to the finish line. After such a big block of training and some decent fatigue in the legs the race went as expected however crossing the line in 7^th wasn’t something I was too pleased about. However, that's racing and sometimes that is just the way it goes.   

Looking at my power meter data I know that the body is in a good place and after 2 more weeks of training leading into my first half iron distance race of the season I can look forward to having what I hope will be a good performance.

2015 S-Works Venge in Rocket Red!

If you follow me on social media you would have read that I have re-signed with Specialized Australia for 2015 & 2016. After riding for Specialized as a sponsored triathlete for the last 4 years as well as riding on Specialized bikes for going on 6 years I was very excited to extend my relationship with Specialized Australia. Their support and passion is truly amazing and I feel very lucky to call myself a Specialized Australia ambassador/sponsored triathlete.  

For those interested I wanted to give you a look at my 2015 Specialized bikes and provide you with the details on what I will be racing and training on this year. First up is my 2015 Specialized S-Works Venge. For those who are wondering the paint work is what Specialized call 'Rocket Red' which is fitting for such a fast bike. This is my third S-Works Venge in as many years and I must admit, my new favourite. The paintwork is stunning and photos really can not do it justice. 

I have had a Specialized S-Works Quarq fitted to provide cadence and wattage data to help me to train smarter this season. I am also riding on the Roval CLX60 carbon clincher wheels fitted with S-Works Turbo tires. I have swapped out the 175mm S-Works crank arms which come standard on the 61cm S-Works Venge for a set of 172.5mm S-Works crank arms which I have found give me a better power transfer. Pedals are Shimano Dura-Ace which I use on both my S-Works Venge & S-Works Shiv.

These new Specialized Aerofly handlebars make the Venge just that much more aero saving a reported 17 seconds over a 40km distance versus the traditional shallow bend shaped handlebar. Very comfortable bars and a great addition to the 2015 S-Works Venge. For those with a keen eye you can see that this S-Works Venge is rocking a Shimano Dura-Ace 11-speed group-set. Personally I love the mechanical feel on the Venge as it is so direct with every gear change.