Matty White: Busselton 70.3
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- Matty White: Busselton 70.3
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It’s amazing what a week can make in this sport! After really suffering with illness and having a mechanical issue at Port Macquarie 70.3 I just rested and recovered by doing nothing all week in the lead up to Busso 70.3 as I really wanted to redeem myself as Port was not a true indicator of my current form. So my first swim bike or run session was race morning at the race! I still was not 100% with a bit of a chest infection hanging around but feeling 80% better than I did leading into Port 70.3.
The field was a cracker as was last week with a few of us backing up with sore legs and bodies.Tim Berkel, Tim Reed, Josh Rix, Ollie Whistler, Jamie Whyte, Leon Griffen etc where going to make the pace fast over this course, I knew race times were going to be quick as Luke Mckenzie posted a 3.47 the year before so the win would be around there if not low 3.50s. Race morning was bloody freezing as it was only about 8degrees C during the night, but the sun was coming up and and I knew it was going to be a clear day.
The swim started quite fast and I settled into a good pace swimming with Whistler, Griffen, Berkel etc coming out the water about a minute down on Guy Crawford and Bryan (don’t do your quid at the pro briefing) Rhodes and David Dellow. Due to being sick and not feeling great all week after Port I decided to conserve and really focus on a good run and just keep everyone in check. Toward the end of the bike things got a bit congested as we caught the age categories and that was when Rixy and Whyte made a small 30 seconds jump toward transition, myself and a few of the other guys had no idea as things were so congested on lap 2.
I managed to have a good transition and hit the run into a solid head wind all the while keeping Berkz in sight. I was caught at the 3km mark by a beer loving gnome like character Tim Reed and a heavy breathing Dellow and Leon Griffen and I held onto the back of these guys for the remainder of lap 1. I noticed Griff drop back and Dellow looked like he was hurting and so was I, so I let the boys go and just concentrated on my own pace knowing that Tim Reed had raced hard the week before and I thought the effort might catch up to him. At about the 10km mark I ran passed Dellow and noticed a small gnome creature up ahead who I was gaining on. I started to feel great and really light on my feet passing Reed who had run out of gnome juice for 2nd place and holding on to the finish line in a time of 3.52 just over a minute behind my good mate Tim Berkel who had his first 70.3 victory, Tim Reed had a great day in 3rd and Rixy proved that Adelaide is working for him by finishing in 4th place.
So another 2nd place in WA after finishing 2nd in Busso Ironman in December! I am very happy to be healthy and racing hard again and it was so good to see such a good pro field racing both 70.3 races, lets hope this is a sign of things to come now we have more 70.3 races in Australia. A quick mention must go out to the fantastic effort from the Triathlon WA crew by treating all the pro athletes like superstars all weekend and getting us involved in the whole festival, right from the VIP breakfast, the chat with the pro evening and the Kids Triathlon.
For me now its time to Buckle up or as my good mate Dirk Bockel says “BOCKEL” up for some hard training in prep for Challenge Cairns in 4 weeks. I am also racing the SA State Time Trial Championships on Saturday which I am really excited about then backing up with the State Road titles the next day..OUCH! so I will keep you in the loop.
