Heading over to Melbourne for my Sister’s wedding on Thursday (Congrats Sis), also makes me the last Gee to be married, that’s right the last one...very exclusive now haha. This will be first trip of possibly 3 in the next few weeks. Once I’m back from Melbourne I’ll be heading down to Busselton for a 5 day training camp. Always super relaxed in Busso, so I’m looking forward to this. Convincing my training partners to swim around the jetty after 3 fatal shark attacks in two months off the WA coast, may be hard.
The travel is one of the cool things about the sport of triathlon and it got me thinking during this morning’s swim set the great places I’ve been. Time for a top 5
Number 5 – Port Macquarie 70.3 23 Oct 05
This was in my first year in the sport and I’d just finished my first half ironman at Busselton in May. I travelled over with my dad to check out the course before the Ironman next year. We went for a paddle with a local to check out the swim course. He gave me some good tips about the local currents and as we paddled back we went past a fishing boat and pulled up for a chat. On board they were gutting and cleaning three 10 foot Tiger sharks, it was pretty cool to see these beasts up close and not in the water. The guts, were going over the side (right were the Ironman swim starts from now), our paddle guide told the fishermen about the race tomorrow. An awkward pause and then I said “don’t worry, it’ll make me swim fast”. I did set a PB in the swim, but the race ended in my only DNF. I had ITB issues and should never have started; it did fire me up for Ironman 6 months later, which went well.
Number 4 – Bintan Olympic distance triathlon 26 May 07
After having a good day at the Bussleton Half, I got an invite to go up to Bintan and race in the pro race. After finding out where Bintan was, I checked out the bank balance to see if I could scrape together an airfare. Thankfully Tiger airways had just started flying to Perth, so I decided to go. Had been told the field was weak, saw Brad Bevan at the ferry terminal (crap!) and then on the Bus to the hotel at sat next to Levi Maxwell (Another I’d watched in the F1 series, again crap!) and Richie Cunningham who’d been doing well in the US on the 70.3 series (yep crap!). To top it off, hello Courtney Atkinson! Saw him at the start… that was it.
Being put up in a 5 star hotel was nice and I had been advised to stay in the air conditioning to cope with the humidity, so watched plenty of old Phuket race videos before going too stir crazy. The race was in the arvo and was started a bit early, I soon learned why. Onto the bike and I was hit by a monsoonal downpour! I’d never been in such heavy rain; there were streams of water coming out of everywhere on to the road. Soon adapted to the conditions and enjoyed it before going over a cobble stoned section (cobble stones, heavy rain and speed = not good). I don’t know how I stayed upright. Later I heard it claimed quite a few age groupers. It was quite an experience, but the rest of the race went south as I stuffed up my nutrition by not reducing my intake once the downpour hit and the humidity left. The experience did help in Singapore later in 2007.
Number 3 Northern Territory Long Course Champs 15 Aug 2010
This was my comeback to long distance racing and had headed up to the territory with my Physio JA. The race was in Lake Bennett, 80km south of Darwin and we arrived two days before the race to an empty resort. I had picked up a cold, but couldn’t let JA go for a swim by himself, even though they had told us there were no crocs. We swam out in zero visibility and did about 7-800m before turn for home. Halfway back I stopped to wait for JA and looked above to see 10 or so kites circling us… I was telling myself to stay calm and hoping they didn’t know something I didn’t. It was a fast swim back after that.
I thought the race briefing for the swim was nice “If you can’t see the swim buoy, just sight off the saltwater crocodile trap”.
Race day went ok for racing with a cold and pretty sure I sweated it out on the run as it was the hottest race I’d done. The hot winds coming off the desert made it feel like I was running in an oven! Soaking sponges were bone dry 500m after picking them up, but it was great to be racing long again. The other guys from Perth didn’t think much of the race, but I think they were comparing it to a 70.3. I love the low key laid back country races.
Number 2 Singapore 70.3 2 Sept 07
I headed to Singapore with my coach at the time Paul Newsome, Janet Musker, Andrew Mencshelyi and Sally O’dea. We all crammed into a dorm room located underground in Little India or as we named it our concentration camp. I hadn’t been to Asia before (apart from my quick trip to Bintan) and I was enjoying the different culture and environment. Running in places ya just shouldn’t was quite fun dodging anything and everything and somehow resisting the very cheap Tiger beers in perfect beer drinking weather. The sacrifices I need to make…
After walking everywhere and riding in 40+ temp to drop our bikes at transition we all decided that this was the worst taper ever. But I had a great day, winning my age group by 15minutes and taking down a few pro’s to come in 13th place. We also learnt that if you 6 foot 7inches, you should race in hot humid conditions as Andrew upgraded he’s accommodation to a Singapore Hospital with 6-7 drips for the next 2 days.
Number 1 it’s not a race
December 2010 I rode around Tasmania with my two best mates Clint and Frankie. It was meant to be a build for New Zealand IM for them and a solid build for my season, but panniers (custom fitted on carbon road bikes, wrong I know…) and the 1000km took their toll and only Frank finished.
It was a great way to see the state and there was some brilliant riding, strong winds, heavy rain and some hyperthermia. All good fun with some great run’s as well in strahan and cradle mtn.
I am planning to travel again this season with the Abu Dhabi triathlon and either IM Germany or Challenge Cairns to finish my season off. But you don’t need to go overseas, Karri Valley, Busso and Albany races here in WA are some of my favorite weekends away.
Races I’m keen to get to in the future at some stage
Phuket Triathlon
Hell of the West Goondiwindi
Port Macquarie 70.3 or IM
If there is any great races you’ve done, let me know your favorites?
Seeya
Bugsy
No comments:
Post a Comment