Thomas Cook Ironman 70.3 Mallorca: The second edition of the European season opener starts set to go with 2,300 participants.

Alcudia, Mallorca is famous for its lovely landscapes and beautiful cycling routes. Every year there are thousands and thousands of riders who take in the Balearic island. But now the training’s done on Mallorca – it’s time to race: Thomas Cook Ironman 70.3 Mallorca is just around the corner for the 2,300 athletes from 63 nations. On Saturday, May 12th the second edition of this race will take place in Alcudia, which is located in the north of Mallorca.

In the men’s pro field race favorites are: 2000 Olympic silver medalist Stephan Vuckovic, from Germany, fast swimmer Johann Ackermann, who will likely challenge Michael Raelert during the swim leg & Xterra Asia Triple Crown Champion Ben Allen from Australia. Moreover, there are three more fast Germans in the competition: Swen Sundberg from the Abu Dhabi Triathlon Team, Stefan Schmid and Ironman icon Lothar Leder. From Switzerland there’s the strong swimmer and biker Manuel Wyss.

Race Day:

Tom Vander Hoogerstraete and Ben Allen managed to get out of the water slightly ahead of Michael Raelert, but that was the last time the other two athletes or anyone else in the race would be close to him.

At the 20k mark of the bike segment the younger Raelert was already up 2:40, and from their the advantage kept growing and growing. Behind Raelert a group of 6 led by Johann Ackermann tried in vain to keep pace and must have gotten quite frustrated when they got race updates. Raelert’s 2:13:26 race best bike split in fact allowed him to reach the bike-run transition almost 9 minutes up on the chasing bunch.

Raelert closed out his day with a 1:14:28 run and no one else came even close to that time. His finish time of 3:57:08 was over 13 minutes better than the time of runner-up Michael Goehner. Ben Allen from Australia finished third in his first Ironman 70.3 race.

Thomas Cook Ironman 70.3 Mallorca
Mallorca, Spain / May 12, 2012

Top men

1. Michael Raelert (GER) 3:57:08
2. Michael Goehner (GER) 4:10:11
3. Ben Allen (AUS) 4:12:51
4. Tom Vander Hoogerstraete (BEL) 4:13:25
5. Johannes Moldan (GER) 4:13:37
6. Stephan Vuckovic (GER) 4:14:27
7. Alejandro Santamaria (ESP) 4:14:41
8. Stefan Schmid (GER) 4:14:50
9. Cedric Lassonde (FRA) 4:16:18
10. Kamil Van Beijnum (NED) 4:16:42

Busselton was my first 70.3 since winning Canberra back in December. I was excited to race and was going there with one objective in mind: to win. 

That's of course with respect to the strong pro women also racing, all of whom have been competing the last few months and are in prime race fitness.

Busselton means a lot to me as it was where I had my first ever win as a professional in the half ironman distance back in 2007.

I got out onto the bike course and within the first 5min dropped my front aero bottle. Not a good move. It contained my water. I did know that at 10km there was a drink station so I rode with what I had until then.

I made sure to pace myself carefully early in the run especially as I hadn't run 21km since December. At each turn around point I saw Kate closing in on me. I picked my pace up at the 10km mark, feeling really strong, but by 14km the pace caught up to me and I developed a stitch. As a result, I slowed a bit and that's when Kate, then Felicity passed me. I ran through my stitch to cross the line in 3rd place.

I arrived in Busselton on the Thursday after getting up early at 4am and leaving Adelaide on the “Redeye” at 6am to Perth, incidentally I actually woke up with a “Redeye” as well which is quite ironic as I had a burst blood vessel in my right eye, so I was thinking this was going to be “one of those weekends!” Once arrived in Perth I made my way down the Highway toward Busso stopping off at Bunbury Primary along the way for a school talk with Ollie Whistler. This was going well until Ollie asked the assembly of grade 4’s why the young girl at the back was wearing a different coloured uniform! I cringed at this point thinking maybe she was a special ed student or had some sort of issue, but lucky for me she was in the school skipping team, so we were obligated to watch a skipping show from the skipping team. So a big thanks for bunbury primary for making us feel welcome.

I arrived in Busso at 4pm after a long day on the road and was eager to build the new Specialized Shiv TT bike back up and go for a quick spin to loosen the legs up. I just signed with Specialized a few weeks before the race and had only been on the bike twice before the race. I was lucky enough to get a BG fit from Craig at the concept store and this was a massive gamechanger for me as I had never been fitted on a bike before and suffice to say I felt amazing the day before I left with a whole new setup which included different size cranks, seat length, change ring, bar width etc. I am lucky enough to be part of the Shimano Global team which have awesome componentry and a lot of the gear is fully adjustable such as the Missile aero bars which we changed dramatically.

I had a great night sleep Thursday night as it was my first night away from my new born baby girl so I took full advantage and got a solid 12 hours! Suffice to say I felt great and Saturday was quite cruisy with the press conference in the morning and the kids triathlon in the afternoon which a lot of the pro athletes attended and we had a blast handing out the medals to 200 kids.

Race day was an early one which is always good in Perth as being on eastern time its easy to wake up early! The weather for Saturday was quite pleasant with a slight chance of rain, but the biggest factor and main talking point was the ocean, non withstanding the “wildlife” but most of all the chop which had come up on shore. This would favour the stronger swimmers for which there were numerous with names like Mcniece, Hodge, O’Grady, Bell, Mckenzie, Crawford, Bailey etc. On paper I knew this would be a factor as when you throw in a few short course ITU athletes it can make the pace a lot quicker, which I wasn’t ready for and quickly ended up in a group with Whistler, Millward, Mackay and a few others. We went the wrong way a few times in the chop and this caused us to slow down and eventually we came out in a slow 28 minutes which was disappointing as my swimming has been going great. I decided to put this behind me and put my head down in chase of the leaders up the road.

I felt really great as soon as I jumped on the Shiv and managed to find a good rythm straight away. I looked behind a few times and noticed I had Millward and Mackay with me as Whistler had a crash on the first corner coming down hard but with no major damage luckily. At the first turn I noticed that Hodge had a good lead on a group containing Mckenzie, Bell and O Grady. By the end of the first lap I had reeled in Crawford and Bailey and was feeling good as I put the hammer down on the main straight at the start of the first lap. There was a slight tail wind along this section and I remember hitting 53km/h at some points, this enabled me to get away and try and hook up with the leaders which I did at about 70 km.

Once I caught the group I sat back a bit and decided to save my legs for the run as I came in to T2 with Mckenzie who had a great transition and left me chasing in 3rd with Hodge 1min 30 up the road. James Hodge was having a great day and I was told about him by Joe Gambles in Melbourne at the ironman as a man to watch, he is only 20 and won the U23 race in Devenport ITU and he was super strong across all 3 disciplines so I was not surprised with his performance. On the run I caught Luke at the first turn and started to feel really good as I got to within 45 seconds of Hodge but the hard chase on the bike started to take its toll on the last lap. A big shout out must go to Justin Grainger who helped me out on the 2nd lap of the run by allowing me to sit behind him into the head wind section, so thanks Jus.

Overall I hung tough for another 2nd in Busso (thats three 2nd placings in four races) with Callum Millward in 3rd about a minute back on me. Times on the run were a lot slower than last year with the wind where last year I ran 1.14 and overall times were slower as I came across in 3.56 a minute behind Hodge. Some great positives came out of this race for me with a super strong bike time of 2.06 and a solid run.

A big thanks to all my sponsors which include Nev from Ryders who is a local WA resident and is always fun to catch up with out west, Shimano, Specialized, Saucony, SIS, Back in Motion, Scody, Wattbike, ATS Altitude, Xterra.

For me now its back home to my girls and time to get the kms in for Cairns Ironman next month, I finished 2nd there last year and hope to go one better so fingers crossed!

Thanks for all the support.

Matty

Huatulco Mexico, a seaside holiday resort town would be my second World Cup of the season. I was excited and ready to rumble after an ideal preparation in hot and steamy Florida, special thanks to John at AAA Tri Camp for once again accommodating Nat and myself in the lead up to this race. This is how the race unfolded… The pristine waters of Santa Cruz bay greeted us for the 2 lap 1500m swim. With a flat out sprint to the first buoy at 450m I was positioned ideally though got dunked and smashed a bit which caused me to lose a few fast feet. Regaining my composure for the remaining portion of the swim I had my mind locked on small processes I have been working on in training. In return I would exit the swim in the middle of the first pack.
With a quick T1 I was ready to tackle the 8 lap bike course. The first lap up the infamous hill (24 percent gradient and 300m long) was sedate and gave me a chance to scope out how everybody was feeling. The second time round up the hill was different as Josh Amberger pushed the pace slightly over the top and we were able to get away. From this moment on we were both committed to the move and had a Canadian join us and we quickly caught the Frenchy who was up the road after the swim. From here we all worked well as a group and managed to maintain a gap of around 50sec to what was know a large chase pack going out onto the run.

The four lap run course was never going to be a quick run. It was always a question of had I worked too hard on the bike? With two hills a lap and the temperature now rising above thirty five degrees it was a case of who could settle into a rhythm and hold it best. Sounds easy but not on this course! Mindful of how tough this race is I started the run conservatively with the mindset of building over the second half. Unfortunately the bike had taken more out of me than I had thought and it was a matter of getting into a rhythm and getting across the finish line. I was caught by a pack of 6 starting lap 3 and I tried everything to hold there pace for as long as possible. This did not eventuate for long and I again found myself running scared with more people chasing me down. Giving the last lap everything I had left I would eventually cross the line finishing 10th, with nothing left in the tank. Upon reflection I'm satisfied with this result and I know I left nothing out on the course. Ultimately I wanted a podium though I wasn't good enough on the day and tried everything to make this happen. It's very pleasing to see my swim is improving with every bit of extra race experience I gain and it is allowing me to be in the game from the get go. With more strength gained throughout the remainder of the season my run is only going to get better. It's a tough way to race off the front though one where a lot was learnt.

 6:55am.  The wind is blowing and the sun only just starting to rise.  I’m standing in my Blue Seventy wetsuit, game face on, ready to tackle my first ever Busselton 70.3.  To my left, Kate Bevilaqua and Lisa Marangon.  To my right, Belinda Granger and Felicity Sheey-Ryan.  In front of me, the iconic Busselton Jetty poking out into a great big angry washing machine of sand, seaweed, salt water and sharks.  Yes that’s right. Sharks!  Fortunately they were nowhere to be seen that weekend!  The normally flat and calm Geographe Bay this was not!  Needless to say the heart was pounding and the butterflies well and truly zooming around inside me! 

 You sure there are no sharks out there???

 Swim:

7:01am.  The talented Pro Female field were sent off 1min behind the Pro Men.  I was pretty happy with this as it meant no big karate battle with the boys!  The gun fires and away we go!  Even with the small field I still get punched, kicked, and squished as we all fight for positions, the waves and the choppy water.  All I can say is this was no time for being nice or polite!  I had positioned myself at the swim start with the faster swimmers, with the plan to jump onto the feet of one of them.  It seemed to work as after the initial crash and bash, I find myself sitting nicely behind Belinda Granger.  Perfect.  Just where I wanted to be!  With the recent shark activity in the Busselton area, the swim course was changed this year to run parallel to shore instead of alongside the Jetty.  The choppy waters made sighting the buoys almost impossible.  Forget beautiful swim stroke technique too.  Just freaking swing those arms over as fast as possible!  I was glad I had Belinda to follow for the entire swim as I really didn’t have a clue whatsoever where I was!  We seemed to be swimming for a very very long time and I almost began to wonder if the swim exit would ever come!  Finally it did though and boy was I glad to be out of there!  5^th out of the water and with the group of girls I wanted to be with.  It was a good start!  Especially since the only swim training I do in Canberra is in a pancake flat swimming pool! 

 Bike:

90kms of dead flat terrain and good road conditions.  I exit T1 with Belinda and immediately put my head down and went hard.  Along with Kate, the three of us reached the far turnaround point together.  So far so good!  Lisa had a great swim and was pushing it ahead of us.  Knowing how strong a cyclist she is, my goal was to keep the gap to as small as possible!  On the way back was a nasty headwind and it was here that I began to struggle.  Kate and Belinda slowly pulled away from me and despite trying as hard as I could, I eventually lost contact with them.  Bummer!  I didn’t let it faze me too much though and I continued to push on as hard as I could, telling myself to stay strong and positive.  Out for the 2^nd lap, I continued to give it everything my legs could and was happy to see that the girls weren’t quite as far ahead as I thought.  Always a good thing!  Finally back to T2, 4min down on Lisa, 1:30min down on Kate and Belinda.  Time to run!

Run:

3 laps of 7ks, dead flat, and very exposed to the wind!  Right from the word go however, I knew I was in for a long 21ks.  I had an awful stitch for the entire 1^st lap which was incredibly frustrating to say the least!  All I could do was shuffle along! 

Not quite smiling here running with a stitch!

A very fast moving Felicity Sheedy-Ryan passed me at around 6ks.  At the speed she was moving I was pretty sure she would pass all of us girls and take out the win – which she did!  I caught up to Belinda at the start of the 2^nd lap.  Although the stitch had eased a bit, I struggled to pick up the pace.  It was getting rather warm with the sun now shining and the wind not making things any easier.  Normally, I would pass Belinda and continue to build a gap on her, but full credit to her, she stuck with me this time and sat behind.  Probably a smart thing given the windy conditions!  We ran together for pretty much the rest of the run and it was going to come down to a sprint finish for 4th!  This was the first time I had ever been in such a situation, and to be honest, I didn’t really know what to do!  Do I go now?  Or wait?  I didn’t know how far or where the finish line was to be honest, so I didn’t want to go too early.  Then all of sudden Belinda went!  I tried to respond, but it was too late.  She had made the gap (only 10m or so) and there was nothing, absolutely nothing, I could do to close it.  Her years of racing experience definitely showed.  We both ended up collapsing at the finish line.  I was well and truly, completely and utterly spent! 

Congrats to the podium finishers, Felicity, Kate and Lisa.  It was fast hard racing out there in tough conditions!  I’m certainly happy with 5^th J.  My swim and bike were strong and solid and certainly improving.  Just unfortunate I couldn’t put together the run I know I am capable of!  I made a few nutritional mistakes on the bike which I paid for.  I usually take 4 gels spaced apart, but I was so focused on minimising the gap to the girls ahead that I forgot to take my 3^rd and 4^th one, until quite late on the bike.  Two gels so close to end of the bike leg isn’t such a great idea!  I also ended up being quite dehydrated on the run, even though I thought I had taken enough fluid on the bike.  I guess I needed to take more.  But, it’s all lessons learnt.  I believe you take away more from these races compared to ones where you podium/win.  “Be The Best You Can Be Today”.  I’m proud and happy to say that on Saturday, I did just that J. 

 Overall a great weekend away!  The town and community really get behind the event making it one of Australia’s best triathlons.  The spectator friendly course and organisation is world class.  Many thanks to TriWA and special mention to Ashleigh Davis – Event Manager for all her hard work supporting us professional athletes for the weekend. 

 Finally, a huge thank you to all my friends and family for the amazing support, and of course to my sponsors; Scody, Ceepo, Profile Design, Saucony, Compress Sport, Hammer Nutrition, Ryders Eyewear, Blue Seventy, Computrainer, TLC Cycles, and my manager Phil Stoneman.  Without you all, I would not be racing at this level!

 Next up Cairns 5150 and 70.3!  Looking forward to escaping Canberra’s brutal winter! 

Hope everyone is well and happy and healthy!

Shell

BUSSELTON 70.3 Wow what a big few months. All starting with IM New Zealand, followed by 70.3 Singapore, Karri Valley Triathlon,

WA State 80K TT, Kalgoorlie Olympic , Thailand Samui Long Course Tri and finally 70.3 Busselton. It's been a fantastic start to the year and now the body has 4 weeks to get ready for Honu 70.3 then IM Coeur d Alene in Late June. Back to Busselton 70.3 Race morning rolled round rather quickly, i felt like we'd just gotten off the plane from Thailand. However even with all the travel i felt mentally and physically strong. 

We got in for the swim warm up and it wasn't like swimming in a pool AT ALL. The chop was quite servere and once i came in from my warmup i had a quick chat with Paul Newsome ( super swim coach ) and he told me to "Swing baby Swing"…I feel i should define that further. That means when its choppy you need to swing your arms over more and recover with more of a straight arm. His words rang through my head for a good portion of the swim and i got myself into the perfect spot behind Luke Mckenzie and Luke Bell, All and all i had a great swim and was happy with the way i felt and my positioning.

Onto the Bike and Luke Bell put in huge effort to close a 25 sec gap to Mckenzie and to say my legs were screaming is an under statement. I tried to go with Bell, but had to settle into my own rhythm after a few K's.  I ended up being caught by a few guys and riding the remainder of the cycle leg with them. We Came off the bike 2mins back from the Luke's, White and 3:30 down on the leader. I wanted more from my cycling legs, Not quite sure why i didnt have the legs i usually do but happy i felt strong towards the end of the bike. ( good sign for IM )

Out onto the run and i was on a roller coaster ride, i felt great then i felt crap, then great, then crap.. At the end of the day i felt like i ran strong, unfortunately it wasn't as fast as i would have liked. I ended the day in 7th place. A happy 7th, i gave all i had today and while i wanted more i am happy in the fact i gave 100% of what i had.

It's time for Kate and i to pack up our gear and get ready for our 6 month stint in the USA. Thanks again for all the support. I'm looking forward to kicking off my US season in a few weeks time.

Cheers Guy

Every year I say it’s the last time, yet every April I seem to see myself make the journey to outback Queensland to take part in the Dirt’n’Dust triathlon in Julia Creek. A weekend long festival including; Australia’s best butt competition final, PBR rodeo, race meet with a red claw luncheon and the most unique triathlon race, I think, worldwide. Now being my 3rd time back to Julia Creek it’s like going home- I run into many people I have met throughout the previous years- like Thelma and Louise (aka Deb and Jess) and local legends like the weekend’s mascot- Fred.

The ever wonderful event organiser, Margie Ryder, outdid herself yet again- not only with the entire weekend but for the royal treatment she shows me each year. This year organising flights, bussing me from Mt Isa to the creek, putting me up in the living quarters of the Catholic Church (Haha!!) and backing me to reclaim my title….. Even though I knew from the outset that that was going to be a one in a million!!!

Up until the Thursday the field was looking very light on, that was until one of our Olympic hopefuls, Emma Jackson, made for a last minute entry L Still that is triathlon and in the muddy creek, epic headwinds on a bumpy road and a seemingly long 5km run in the middle of the hot hot morning, anything could happen.

Race morning as usual was freezing! Even though it’s enviable for the temperature to soar into the mid to high 30s it’s always fairly chilly at 6am in Julia Creek. Into town to get numbered, set up T2, do a quick interview with ABC radio, load our bikes onto the cattle trucks and then bussed out to Eastern creek where the trucks were unloaded and our bikes were set up in a dusty dry T1. With 30athletes being left behind in town, race start was pushed back about 30-40mins which meant by this time it was sweltering! The gun was off and I found myself not too far back from the front swimmers but swimming on my own, leading out just ahead of local legend Max Feagen but a minute down on Emma. I felt good on the bike pushing well into the wind and ever so slowly putting time into Emma. I was hoping to come into T2 first but unfortunately ran out of real estate, closing the minutes gap to only 10seconds. I knew that I was nowhere near Emma’s speed on the run leg and unless she passed out from the heat knew that the race was on for 2nd….. Luckily enough 3rd was daylight. Next the goal became not to be lapped by Emma! Seeing her blistering through the run, putting 3minutes into me and passing the leading male (her on her 2nd him on his 3rd lap) shows why she’s one of the best women in the world right now. 2nd was to be mine. I was happy with my race and a one minute PB on this course. It just confirms I am NOT a sprint athlete as I am not fast enough with the swim and run legs, though it’s great to be able to race a girl who has the potential to be on top of the world one day, and she’s a nice one at that.

After the race was done and dusted it was off to the races for lunch and finished the night off with the rodeo. Well let’s just say finished off Sunday morning at 5am after dancing all night at the concert in the dust!

Now to get strict, put my head down and focus hard on the next 6 weeks of training with some racing in order to get prepped for my trip to the USA.

Special thanks to Sally Eales for my ticket to the luncheon at the races and the VIP treatment at the rodeo, Margie for another amazing weekend away and needless to say this will be my last time at Julia Creek….. well that is til next April

Rachie xo

Season 2011-12 has been enormous!

Previously, due to my living and working arrangements I was required to undertake lengthy blocks of solo training around a full time work schedule then travel long distances to compete. This season I took a gamble adjusting my entire life including altering my working arrangements and relocating my family to give me the opportunity to ‘be where the action is’ training and competing amongst some of the best triathletes in the country.

In September 2011 I relocated from Darwin, NT to Torquay, VIC. For the first 10 weeks I was living alone as my heavily pregnant partner remained in Darwin before her maternity leave commenced in November when she finally joined me in Victoria.

The transition was very difficult moving from a very hot and humid climate and immensely busy and structured lifestyle to the freezing cold costal Victorian winter/spring months and a very flexible lifestyle where all the hours in the day were my own to just get the training and my work done. However, my results were immediately encouraging as I adjusted to the climate and lifestyle embracing the once in a lifetime opportunity I knew I was living. I won the first multisport event I competed in, placed 4th in the Geelong Cycling Club road championship and I won a couple of running events within a month.

In October I joined our squad on the first of my training camps for the season where we traveled to Bendigo for 4 days of ‘eat, sleep, and train’.
The timing of this was unfortunate for me as it fell during my first recovery week since arriving. The constant battering of my body and fatigue showed in the sprint distance race we contested at the conclusion of the camp as I finished 4th behind my teammates Jaime Huggett, Ross Young and James Chronis – all athletes of the highest caliber. There was a silver lining however as I set a new personal best time for my 400m swim to start the race – all the hard work was paying off!

From here the Victorian elite racing season commenced – This is why I moved here! Victoria is home of the premiere triathlon series in Australia where the best in the business hone their craft and I was ready and confident to get amongst it.

Devastatingly, in the days leading into the first race I collided with a teammate during a training exercise and suffered bruised ribs and was sidelined for the event – what made this even more disappointing was that this race coincided with my partners arrival, and, my parents had flown it from Queensland to see me compete. There is nothing worse than standing on the sideline watching something you so desperately want to do!

One advantage of being in Victoria however is that there is always another race, and, I was on the start line a couple of weeks later for the first race of the Gatorade series. The swim was cancelled due to heavy rain but I finished an encouraging 7th in the revised duathlon format.

One week later I built on the recent experiences and entered the Olympic Distance Triathlon as part of the inaugural Ballarat Multisport Festival.  This time I got to put my swim to the test and exited the water in the chase pack with only one athlete up the road. With my new time trial bike in its first race outing I was determined to make my mark and I gave it everything – by the end of the 40km I was 5 mins clear of my nearest rival. My race was now against the ‘Dream Team’ comprising Olympic Bronze medalist, Jan Rehula, professional road cyclist (Green Edge) Simon Clarke and running legend Steve Moneghetti.

The teams event started 2 minutes behind the elite field and the team cyclist caught me at the halfway mark of the race – I managed to keep him in sight until the completion of the bike and was within reach of Moneghetti at the start of the run. After 80 mins of maximum intensity racing and chasing a fresh athlete, on a running trail named after him, was always going to be a huge ask.  At the turn of the first lap I saw I had a massive gap to the next individual and with a nod of acknowledgement from Moneghetti I soaked up the experience and was able to ease up towards the end and enjoy my first elite victory.

Next up my partner and I took a road trip to Canberra where I was to make my debut in 70.3 (Half Ironman) racing. I was extremely confident leading into the event following recent results and in the knowledge that I had raced successfully in the ACT in the past winning a national championship there in 2010. All signs indicated that I was in for a great result, despite entering completely uncharted waters in long distance racing.

Race morning everything was going to plan and I was relaxed and ready. It was a terrible day – freezing cold, raining and windy. The elite field was strong and we were the first to tackle the course. Within minutes I knew something was not right, and by the time I had exited the water I had vomited half a dozen times – I had no idea what was going on. Despite this I was still in a reasonable position and had covered the 1900m in 26 minutes (which is surprising considering I had to swim with my head out of the water so often). I got onto my bike and tried to regain my composure and replace some of the food and fluid I had lost, but, I just could not get anything down.  I vomited a dozen more times on the first 30km lap of the bike. I had lost significant time now and I was in big trouble, shivering uncontrollably and losing focus I pulled over at the roadside and my partner and a friend helped me off my bike as I vomited again. Wrapping me up in warm dry clothes and trying as quickly as possible to get me out of the pouring rain I ended up spending more time in the medical tent than I did on course.

I ended up with mild hypothermia, but, that was not the issue, I was perplexed and had no idea what went wrong – A bug? Did I overcomplicate my nutrition? Something else? I guess that is the thing, there are so many elements to getting this right and there is no single answer.
All I could do was dust myself off, take away what I could from the experience and move forward.
Over December – January I attended an altitude training camp starting with the iconic Lake Benella Sprint Triathlon. Here I collected another podium finishing 2nd behind Luke Bell.
From there it was up into the mountains where we based ourselves in Bright and Falls Creek to undertake the major camp for the year. I was twice awarded the in house prize, the ‘Hard Rock’ – once for being the first to summit Mt Hotham then motor pacing home after 150km in the saddle @ 90km/hr. Training camps are always very tough but great fun and this dedicated block saw my performances elevate significantly, and, set my expectations for 2012 very high.
We have a very strong and close knit squad of talented and hardworking athletes making training very enjoyable and at times very competitive.

I was in peak condition and all season had been geared towards the next 2 months of racing. 

On 21 January I was involved in an accident during a bike race and fractured 2 ribs. I tried to limit the damage by maintaining as much work on the stationary trainer as my body could handle, but over the next 4 weeks I lost much of what I had worked so hard to gain.
Of my 4 priority races, 1 was cancelled and I was unable to contest 2 – devastating!

The last of my priority events was held on 17 March and it was my next attempt at long course racing. I started the race with no expectations and just wanted to swim, ride and run well.  I came away 3rd Elite in what was a solid performance – definitely a different ball game racing over 4hrs but indications are that my strength for the future may lie in this style of racing.
By far my greatest result of the season came on 23 January 2012 when my partner gave birth to our first child, a little girl, Imogen. Starting our new family has been an amazing motivator for my training and racing and it gives perspective and purpose to the hours of sacrifice and continual hard work. Having her at the roadside to cheer me on during my last race of the season was a real highlight.
I say again, the season was enormous not only with the physical challenges of training and competition but mentally and emotionally adjusting to a new life and overcoming a season plagued with injury, illness and setbacks.
The objective in moving to Victoria was to see what I was made of and to ensure that I would not die wondering – I have achieved everything I wanted and more, as, despite all else my results both justify the sacrifices and are encouraging for the future!
It is a very fortunate athlete who gets the opportunity to live the dream and I am very thankful for the support I have received.
I am without doubt provided with best products available on the market with swimming gear from Xterra, cycling equipment through Trek and Cecil Walker, running shoes and apparel from Saucony all supplemented by industry leading hydration through PureSport, nutrition form Hammer, the pioneers of compression clothing in SKINS and eyeware from Ryders.
My most sincere thanks to you all, were it not for your support quite simply I would not be here. It is my privilege to proudly wear your logo.
It all started for me in Darwin with the support of local businesses especially Cate Killiner Real Estate and the NT Government in continually in supporting my endeavors. Thank you.
But, it does not end here! The Triathlon season may be over in Victoria but for the winter months I am heading to Queensland where I will be contesting a series of running events including my debut over the Marathon distance.
I look forward with great anticipation to the future and bigger and better things to come.
“Want to run a great race? Simple! Live a great life and just run naturally”

2011-12 Multisport Results

Let’s hope the competition will be seeing a lot more of this in the future!

www.chadanderson.net.au

What an opportunity was presented to me when I was nominated to race the first round of the World Series in Sydney at the weekend.  It was an amazing experience to be able to race at the highest level on home soil in such an iconic city.  Unfortunately the race didn't go how I would have  liked it to and here is my reflection and thoughts about the race.

Standing on the pontoon ready to dive in with 70 other athletes awaiting the two lap swim, I was ready for the brutal nature a start like this throws at you.  With a nice smooth sailing start I was able to get onto some good feet and stay out of trouble for a change, which enabled me to exit the water in contact with a large front pack.  This swim was a great improvement on other races this season and it was great to turn how I have been swimming in training into a race.

Out onto the revamped new bike course this year I was positioned towards the rear and needed to put in a solid lap to establish myself into the large pack. With the technical nature of this course with a few dead u-turns a lap positioning was vital to reduce the lackey band effect out the corners and u-turns. With the pack swelling with all the main contenders mid way through the bike positioning came more vital. At times I was found towards the front of the pack and seen as setting the tempo.

To tell you the truth it was easier to ride at the front then what it was to ride mid pack.  Dismounting my bike in T2 I managed to hold good position which was a massive fight to hold. Unfortunately as I was leaving my bike an athlete who racked his bike next to me knocked my bike over causing me to return to pick my bike back up. All this good work leading into T2 was undone and I would now exit out onto the run almost last.  Running out of transition I immediately felt flat and one paced.  It was very frustrating as the mind wanted to go but the body had other ideas. Nothing felt fluent and the whole run was just a struggle and I ended up crossing the line 45th.

This was disappointing as it doesn't reflect how things have been progressing in this discipline.  It was definitely a run leg that will be erased from the memory bank and move forward.  A massive thanks to Triathlon Australia for providing great Accommodation as well as the best support staff you could have asked for.  Also to everyone who yelled my name and got me across the finish line, your support means a lot.

For now though it is “Onwards and Upwards' as I get ready for my overseas assault where I'll race my second World cup of the year in Huatulco in a few weekends time.