In its 26th incarnation the “Benalla Sprint Triathlon” has been traditionally held on the 27th of December, timed perfectly for those who approached the Christmas lunch/dinner with the same zeal and disregard for bodily consequences as they would for an Ironman. On a personal level, my own dedication to an annihilation of the Christmas lunch had me feeling a little like the Michelin man.
This year the date had been changed to the 29th, meaning that unlike previous years, the annual EnduranceTeam camp would not start with the camp, rather we’d have two days at Bright beforehand (more will be written when I can find the time away from training/eating/being generally exhausted).
The 2.5hr drive down from Bright to Benalla was accompanied by James Chronis’ collection of early 2000’s RnB beats, think: Ciara “1,2 Step”, “I’m Back” by Akon and “I like that” by Houston. It was a journey back in time to a pre-pubescent year 5 with questionable music taster (the latter hasn’t changed much).
I was racing in the Elite division, unlike previous years there was not a bevy of Juniors (to make my sub-optimal swim times look less so), the elite field numbered four:
- Me
- Lachie Kerin (both went to same school and have done a few swim TT’s together, generally getting a decent flogging).
- My room buddy for the entire camp and multiple ITU Continental Cup podium getter James Chronis
- And the BIGGIE!! Two-time Olympian, five (or was it six) time Australian Elite Champion, two time World Championship Bronze Medallist and Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist (need I go on) Brad Kahlefeldt. WTF! Turns out he was staying with his family in nearby Wagga Wagga and was in the mood for a race.
To my further chagrin the elites weren’t allowed to use wetsuits (unlike the rest of the field). Over the 750m course that would cost us around 60seconds.
Swim
Starting with all AG competitors 24 and under meant that the swim was going to be quite congested, being without a wetsuit I would be swimming around people who would normally be out of my way.
My swim start (generally a strength, due largely to being an aggressive f-wit in the water) was terrible, I was boxed in by a rope on one side and for the second year in a row a member of our squad. If it wasn’t for that fact, I would’ve happily swum over him and proceeded to limit my losses to the elites. Stupidly I was a little soft and in not being aggressive enough I lost the feet of Lachie (who I normally come out of the water with in races). My destiny was sealed, I was stuck leading the second chase pack working a lot harder (whilst going slower) than I would have if I had been attatched to the chase pack (behind Brad and Chronis). I exited the water 20+ seconds down on Lachie and a minute behind the leaders.
Bike
The 20k bike is a simple out and back course which is generally windy. This year was no exception. I was on the road bike with clip-ons, again sacrificing 1-2mins on those who had brought their TT’s. My own TT bike had not been unpacked since World’s in October. I put my head down and was glad to see the speedo reading north of 40km/h.
Photo courtesy of EnduranceTeam
Levi Maxwell (an ET member who recently pulled out a 9.07hr debut Ironman) peddled past me closely followed by another ET member Nate Walsh. Nate was riding at a speed I could match. From that point 5-6k’s in to the end of the bike I stuck 10m behind him. The draft-marshals were out in full force; I saw them at least eight times. I was defiantly dicing with going inside that 7m draft-zone and copping a penalty, I checked with the marshal at one stage re my distance back and I was all good. With the cross-wind the biggest advantage probably came from mentally having someone to pace off.
Photo courtesy of EnduranceTeam
I haven’t had much TT practice, as my draft-legal focus has meant that I ride at the pace of the group I’m with or balls-to-the-wall trying to catch up to the group in front of me. Near the end I passed James Chronis who was having a poor bike, not helped by a mechaninal issue in the last few K’s. He has clearly been spending too much time with me (refer to my last Xosize race report.) Overall I was really happy with my bike performance, it was the first time in a while I felt really strong. On a final note, probably the highlight of the race was when I was nearing the turnaround. Lachie was sitting about 40s behind Brad, when he saw me he pointed up the road to Brad pretty much wetting himself he was so excited to be behind such a legend. In the heat of competition, I couldn’t help but laugh.
Run
It was bloody hot!! I was sitting in 5th overall. Brad had garnered quite a solid lead, with Lachie in second, Levi and Keiran (both on camp with ET) were running together in 3rd and 4th. I was running at a solid tempo, but nothing exceptional. I worked very hard on the bike (in the 30c+ heat) so my legs were trashed. I ticked the first K away in 3.21 and resigned myself to a ‘par for the course’ run.
At the halfway mark, I passed Kieran moving into fourth. I could hear my mum shouting (well more like barking) encouragement at me from the other side of the lake (150m away). My gains on Levi had stalled and I was stuck about 15s behind him, running at 3.30 pace. James was making a charge running at 3.15 pace. The run felt like it was taking an eternity, at the 4k mark I was passed by James and was bleeding time to Levi. With no-one in sight behind me, I let go of my podium aspirations and meandered in at 3.50 pace for the last K completely spent. I crossed the line exactly an hour after the race started (with a 17.48 run).
All in all a very solid time considering I was sans-wetsuit and on a road bike.
Post-Race
Overall I was happy with today, the Benalla triathlon is a fun local race, and it was approached in that spirit. We had ridden 3hrs in the morning and done a run so it was by no means a ‘target’ race. I really enjoy these local races, especially starting at a very civilised 5pm!
My mum, in all her unfilleted glory pulled out a few characteristic calls.
- Telling my coach that my stroke looked unbalanced (for record she can’t swim), only to find out that the said person wasn’t her son, but someone whose skin shade was about 6 shades lighter.
- Going up to James after the race (she is normally one of his biggest supporters) and telling him (jokingly…I am told) “you are not that popular in the cannon household anymore.”
I had planned to write up some stuff from our three-week camp at Falls. Clearly I had underestimated the amount of free-time I had. When I get back to Melbourne I will post up some stuff from the three weeks.
As my coach will (rightly) attest, I am never one to let a good video/picture of me (generally taken by him) to go to waste by not reblogging, retweeting, resharing across every social media platform ever invented. We’ve done some truly epic sessions in some of the most beautiful places in Australia. For more info (and pictures not just of me) have a look at our groups Facebook page.
