Yesterday I competed in my final race for 2011 at the Canberra 70.3. Its been a big year and as my major goal race at the moment is Challenge Wanaka in January, my focus was to get out and race strong from start to finish but enjoy the day, without placing too many expectations on myself. Whether its a goal race or not though, when I get on that start line I always fire up and give it my best on the day! The forecast was not great but the rain at least managed to hold off until after we were out of the water and about 5 minutes into the bike leg, when the downpour began. I didnt feel flash in the swim and came out in 2nd place, but with 3 of the other girls hot on my heels. It was a pretty long run out of the water and my transition was slow, so unfortunately I lost touch with the others when we hit the road. It was at about 20km that I finally started to feel good. Something clicked and I felt fantastic for the rest of the bike and I got faster and stronger with each lap. I hit the run leg in 4th place and had 2 minutes to make up to put myself on the podium. I felt really strong on the run and I made the pass into 3rd at around the 14km mark. In the end it was a great hit out and another successful podium finish, to give me confidence that my training is all on track for the New Year and my major races to come in 2012.
It was fantastic to have so much support at the event; Blue Seventy, Newton, High 5, and DTR Sports management, thanks for your support on course. Cycling legend, Michelle Ferris from Shimano, was not only there but was also competing in her first ever 70.3 event- congratulations Michelle on an amazing effort! It was also special to share the day with so many of my training buddies, many of them competing in their first 70.3 event. I absolutely loved my new custom race kit, which was so comfortable and was a real hit, thanks to Scody.
Thank you to each of you for your invaluable support in 2011 to ensure that I have the best products in the market and all the support that I need to succeed in my triathlon journey. Without my sponsors (Shimano, Trek, NashysPix, High 5 Sports Nutrition, Blue Seventy, Newton, Oakley, Turramurra Cyclery, Foot Levellers) and such a strong support crew (Energy Link Coaching, DTR Sports Management, Narelle Simpson Swim School, Bay Chiropractic, SJF Massage, The Body Coach and of course my husband Bern and my family), I would not be able to follow my dreams and achieve results. I am thoroughly grateful for the investment that you all make in me and I look forward to continuing to share my journey again with you all in 2012.
Take care and all the best for a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous New Year!
We had some fantastic entries to the Honey Shotz SCODY Tour Down Under competition.
And the winner is... University of Queensland! It was so tough to award a winner as we had so many great films, but we think you'll agree that this was hard to beat.
The UQ team has won a VIP trip for 5 to the Tour Down Under, including flights, accommodation, tickets to the Legends Night Dinner and entry to the BUPA Challenge Ride presented by The Advertiser. Congratulations guys!
Here is their winning entry...
We have also awarded runner-up prizes to Wolf Stoermer and Michael Young who both submitted fantastic short films. A prize pack is being sent out to each of you shortly. Both Wolf's and Michael's entries are below.
What makes SCODY garments so good? High quality technical fabrics, cutting edge design and made in Australia. See it for yourself with this short video.
My final race for 2011 was in beautiful Phuket, Thailand.
The Asia Pacific Championships is definitely one race I won't forget. It is the most unique course I've done and
one of my favourites.
The swim starts up on the beach. As the gun goes, I run down and face plant into the water as I get tangled in someone’s feet. The pro men and women start together so it's a fast and crowded start. After a 1300m triangle in the crystal clear, warm ocean I exit the water, run up the beach and over a small grassy hill then into the lagoon where I swim the final 600m straight across to the other side.
I have a good swim exiting the water in 6th place just seconds behind Belinda Granger and only about 1 minute down on
the rest of the field, except for Amanda Stevens, an absolute gun swimmer who came out of the water with the top pro men. She was 3 minutes 20 seconds up the road by the time I got to my bike.
I'm in 5th place by the time I get through T1 and jump on the bike. The first 15km is very technical with windy roads and tight corners. At 16km I dismount, run my bike up and over a bridge to cross the highway. I know...different hey! On the other side of the highway it's relatively flat roads where I can finally get down on my aero bars and pick up some speed. But not for long. At 40km the hills arrive. A 21% incline on damp roads causes my Garmin to auto pause. My back wheel is slipping as it tries to get traction on the bitumen. The climb is too steep to stay seated so it's a slow standing grind to the top. Once at the top the windy road continues followed a 22% decent that sweeps around a tight corner on a cliffs edge. Very sketchy, so it's a yellow flag zone which means no passing and a maximum of 20km/hr to keep it as safe as possible for everyone. My forearms get a massive workout here as I constantly squeeze the brakes. Lucky it's not raining I think to myself.
10km later and it’s pouring...the heavens unleash incredible monsoonal rains. I can hardly see but I leave my Rudy Project sunnies on so the rain doesn't hit straight into my eyes. At 66km I dismount again to cross back over the bridge. The next really steep hills come at about 70km. Again, ridiculously steep climbs, and scary descents. With less than 10km to go we are being flagged to slow down. I thought the windy roads were over. I take a corner and then see the road is completely flooded. Not knowing exactly how deep it is, I figure the guys ahead of me must’ve gone through, so I try to stay somewhere in the middle of the road and hope for the best.
What an epic ride. Although a very hilly course, I'd have to say I got off the bike the freshest I’ve ever felt after the bike. Being so conservative most of the time with such technical turns, slow descents and then the crazy weather it provided plenty of recovery throughout. I started with four gels taped to my bike but two disappeared somewhere on the course. The overnight rain as well as heavy rain throughout must have loosened the electrical tape I had used. I was glad to have made it safely through the bike leg. I get onto the run course and see Jared standing on the sideline. "That was CRAZY out there" I yell to him.
Coming off two shorter races, the Noosa Triathlon and the Nepean Triathlon which were both 10km runs, I had a little more speed in my legs so I knew the hardest part of my race was going to be trying to slow myself down on the run. With 21km to run and 90km of cycling already in my legs I didn't really want to be running 3:30/km pace to start with like the previous races. The plan was to make sure the first few k’s were more conservative so I could stay pretty comfortable the whole run. I missed the first two k markers. Probably because I was too busy talking to Jared and thinking about how I’d just survived all the hair-raising adventures out on the bike. Lol.
I'm approaching kilometre 3, I hit my watch and look down to see 3:34. Too fast. Slow down! Kilometre 4 - 3:33. 5 - 3:33. I'm gonna pay for this. 3:38, better, 3:45, ok good, that’s about where I should be…starting out at back at km 1 that is. But by now, I’m already 7k’s in- I wanted to start at 3:45 and then finish faster through the last 10km. I get into a good rhythm and start picking off the km's.
The run course is really cool. It's two laps with a few out and back sections and the entire run course stays around Laguna Resorts so you're never too far away from transition and plenty of spectators. As usual Jared (my fiancé) seemed to be everywhere, on every corner of every lap. I never knew where I was, it was a maze and if there wasn't arrows on the road, volunteers directing me where to go and km markers I think I'd be lost. I start out on sandy grass then hit bitumen for a while, I run over a brick path, past the wedding chapel (maybe we should get married here, I think to myself), through the golf course, wind around the hotels, back over grass, then sand then out and back past the beach...continuously passing other competitors and always seeing plenty of cheering spectators.
I have less than a km to go... I pass Jared for the last time and head back through a line of spectators. As I approach the carpet on the final straight, Lilly the baby elephant joins me for the walk down the last 100m of the finish chute. Gorgeous little Lilly and I wave the Aussie flag as we walk to the finish - well I did most the flag waving while Lilly was waving her trunk around and smiling to the crowd. I finally crossed the line I gave Lilly a hug and then she wraps her trunk around my hand and shakes it. Awesome!
It’s hard to put into words just how well put together this whole event is. Aside from being the most interesting, exciting, beautiful, and challenging course I’ve raced, it’s also incredibly well organised. Monsoonal weather conditions couldn’t even falter the event. Somehow, the race continued on without a hitch, thanks to meticulous planning and execution from the event staff and all the friendly volunteers with beaming smiles on their drenched faces. It seemed every athlete I talked to agreed that the event was so well done in every aspect from the lead-up to the weekend, right through to the now-infamous after party. And everyone seemed to constantly remark on how refreshing it is to have such an adventurous course that breaks the mould. And to top it off...who doesn’t want to stroll down the finish chute of a race with a baby elephant by your side!
