Alarm went off at 5.15am (NSW daylight savings time). Took my time having my breakfast and two visits to the toilet in the comfort of my hotel room. A short walk to transition but I just had enough time to get my bike and gear set up before the marshalls were shooing us out as the sprint wave was about to start. Had a bit of banter with the people from my former Logan tri club, whose tent was conveniently located next to South Bank's. And then a relaxing 15 minute stroll to the start, as it was a point-to-point swim.
1.9km swim
Prior to the race, there was talk about the swim being shortened or cancelled altogether, due to debris from fires and flooding. Which would have been real pity as this race prides itself with the downhill swim being tide assisted, flowing from the creek out into the ocean. The swim was shortened in the end but only by a fraction. We used to do a short u-turn before swimming down the creek. This year, we just head straight out without doing that turn. I had a pretty average start, I always get beaten up a bit with the crowd. It was a wave start and there were about 30 participants in the Males 35-39. But once I settled into a rhythm, I had started overtaking many in front. I passed Philippe, about halfway through and I swam harder to grow the gap a bit. I managed to latch on a good pair of feet and stuck all the way until the finish. Overtaking some of the earlier waves later on gave a further boost. As always, held my breath a bit as we went under the bridge, don't know why but it creeps me a little. And then it was the final couple of hundred meters to the beach. I hit the lap button the moment I pass the first set of flags, clocking 27:31 for 1,815m according to my Garmin, averaging 1:31 per 100m thanks to the tide. The first timing mat was about another 200m run further ahead and gave me swim split of 28:23, in 11th position in my age group at this stage.
Transition 1
Stripped off my swim skin - yes, I didn't forget! I probably took a bit longer than I should wiping my feet and putting socks on. Helmet on and had a second look as to which direction I should go. It's always a bit confusing, for me anyway, in these smaller races. There were a few others at the mount line, so I was a bit cautious getting on the bike but glad that I could pedal off without any dramas. Time taken 3:25.
90km bike
4 lap bike course in an L shape. A couple of short climbs just before the southern turnaround. Garmin recorded a total elevation of 250m for the whole ride, so mostly flat. Road conditions were average, with a few potholes and I noticed many dropped bottles and other stuff on the course. But I actually thought the roads were better this year, either I'm imagining things or I've just gotten used to it. It was forecasted to rain but it didn't. However, it did get very windy and at some sections, the cross winds were borderline dangerous in some sections. Generally, it was headwind on the way out, cross wind in the middle, then tailwind on the way back. Philippe passed me early on the bike, which was expected. But I did not expect to pass him again. This off and on overtaking with him was something very new to me and he clearly wasn't himself at the race. This occurred with some other cyclists as well and there were a few whom I was able to drop later in the ride. Hey, perhaps I'm a pretty decent cyclist after all! Philippe finally put the gap on me just before the last lap. But I was able to come into transition just a few seconds after him. My Garmin recorded bike split of 2:29:59 (yay sub 2:30!) at bang on 89.9km, average speed 36.0kph and power output of AP 188/NP 198. Official bike split was 2:34:07 which included both transitions. My 2nd best bike time here, pretty happy given the conditions. I was 8th place in my age group, after the bike. Gaining 3 positions, again who would have thought!
Transition 2
Li-Ann and Sebastian were cheering from the other side of the fence. Philippe and I gave each other encouragement as I ran through the bike racks. But I can't help myself rushing to get my shoes on so I can leave transition earlier. And I did! Time taken 1:47.
Run 21.1km
Run course is 3 laps, shaped like a T, about 2km out, short left detour and another longer detour just after 3km. A mix of road, grass but mostly on footpaths with a couple of short, sharp climbs as we go around the park. There was a section on the path where it was flooded from the overnight rain and people were running up the incline on the grass next to it to avoid getting submerged in the puddle. There was quite a bit of cloud cover but it did feel warm and humid. I started my run in the 4:20 to 4:30 per km pace and I knew it wasn't going to be a fast run that day. But I kept it steady and I was still overtaking those ahead, one by one so I must be running well in comparison. I was also growing my gap from Philippe and I guess it was the only time I could finish ahead was when he wasn't at his best. The 3 laps course has it's pros with more frequent crowd support from the tri club tents at the end of each lap. But it also has it's cons, I felt that I mentally surrendered more and more and slowed the pace by 15s per km after each lap. True enough I averaged 4:30 then 4:45 and finally 5:00. Giving my total run time of 1:39:44, an overall average pace of 4:42. Overall finish time 4:42:15, my best time on this course by a small margin, making it 3 out of 5 times of finishing in 4:42:xx. I ran myself to 5th position in my age group, an improvement from last year's 14th. Gave Philippe a man hug as he crossed the line shortly after, well done in toughing it out despite not being at his best, looking forward to the next battle!
Lunch with the family, can't thank Li-Ann and Sebastian enough for putting up with my obsession. Pack the tent up, thanks to Logan tri club crew for giving us a hand. And then the drive back home, thankfully traffic was good. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the race result. I'd like to go faster but given the conditions, I can't complain that I was able to maintain the same time and even a small improvement. On to the next race - Desaru Coast 70.3!
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