After a three-week hiatus it was nice to have another hit-out at Sandringham this morning. Below is my race report sans images (they will come later). Also my first article (regarding the Oceania Sprint Championships) for an online sport journal ‘The Substitute’ will be online in the coming 24hrs. This blog, apart from my love of writing, was initially set up to build a writing resume in the hope of landing some published articles (starting to see some success) and accrue some sponsorship (massive failure).
Triathlon Victoria has shown remarkable disregard to the National/International triathlon calendar by accomplishing a rather remarkable feat. Namely scheduling the state Olympic Distance Championships on the same weekend as the World’s and the Sprint Distance Championships on the same weekend as nationals. Hence it was an extremely sparse (massive understatement) elite field that dived into the waters on a picture-perfect Melbourne morning.
The leadup to the race had been punctuated with some good-natured twitter banter after Joel Tobin-White (22nd at the World Junior Championships) had chosen to make this race his post-injury comeback rather than contesting the Australian Junior Championships in Devonport. An opportunity for a most undeserved win (as I had been salivating about) had most likely been shut. In all honesty his racing gave the race a little more credibility to a field that was unbecoming of the state championships (no disrespect to those who were racing).
The 750m swim (nee about 800-900m) was, dare I say it a rather scary experience, yet not for the usual reasons. I lined up next to Joel and managed to have a firm hold by his side (thereby a good draft) for almost the whole swim. To my horror I realised that I had dropped almost the whole field. We were leading!! As someone who is accustomed to scavenging on the bike for the dregs of those who miss the front pack, this was an unusual experience.
With the sun in our eyes and a complete lack of lifesavers guiding us it was a little hard to follow the buoys. There was some wayward swimming by both of us. With about 150m to go Joel veered right, which to my mind was going to extend the distance of his swim. I remained straight. In hindsight this was a tactical error having lost the drafting benefit and I eventually exited the water exactly 10s behind him. With one other guy a few seconds behind me. I was stoked, especially as I was 35s up on Leigh who has been about that far ahead of me in races this year.
The 1k run up to the bikes was a killer, the HR hit stratospheric levels let alone the feet screamed out in protest, as an almost healed blister under my big toe decided to re-open.
Onto the bike Joel had a 12s lead over me. Calling out to catch up, I did my best, but to his credit his strength on the bike was too much. The gap was maintained at about 10-20s for the opening 9ks. At this stage the remainder of the field (about eight people) had formed a group and were 30-40s behind me. With my compatriot on the bike, unable to take a turn, and continually falling off the back. I made the tactical decision that my chase would be futile. I doubted I could catch Joel and a gap of at least a minute on the chase pack would be needed to compensate for running on trashed legs. I sat up on the tops, took in some fluid, stretched the legs and prepared myself to rejoin the chasers.
It was a frustrating experience to say the least. Some of these people had exited the water 65s behind me! Yet with gun biker Leigh Strablya and first time elite Nate Walsh both being strong bikers, I was really left with no option. I sat in the pack taking turns and trying to mark the more dangerous attacks.
Leigh and I took control of the group, hurling abuse at a certain person (he had the new BMC aero-bike, which immediately prejudiced me against him…ok I was a little jealous) who decided to continually attack us but not take a turn on the front.
Poor Nate copped a barrage from me, urging him (in not the politest terms) to push hard when he was on the front. This was part tactics (I wanted to burn his legs) and part hope that we could catch Joel. Also it acted as a good vent at my frustrations to how the race was panning out. At one stage I pretended us two had a gap on the rest (we didn’t), it acted as quite a good incentive for Nate to keep pushing (helped by some of my abuse). It’s these types of tactics/race within races that make draft-legal such an addictive form of racing. My belief is if you race elite, your feelings are of little importance ;)
Out of T2 I held a small lead on our group, trailing Joel by 44s (according to an onlooker). I ran the opening 1500m like a man possessed. As the announcer said: “Will Cannon is running like he has been shot out of a Cannon.” Lacking points for originality!!
My legs, trashed from the opening 9ks at MAX caught up with me, and I was caught by Leigh and Nate. Running with them for the next 2k’s I was in a world of hurt. Taking a wrong-turn near the turnaround, I was forced to climb over a fence (the lack of marshals on the run-course was disappointing!) This was not helped by aforementioned blister, my first off the season.
At the 3.5k mark, I started to slip back with increasing velocity. By 4k’s I was gone…game over. With no-one behind me, I lost some heart and backed off the pace. Ultimately disappointed that I had let those two go past. The run course was long, with Joel (eventual winner) running mid 17’s (non one got near sub 17). I had by far my slowest run of the season at 18.30 (my last K would’ve been around 4mins). It was a slower pace than I ran during the Olympic Distance triathlon on the same course (albeit with an earlier run turnaround) three weeks prior. I ran a 35:40 then, a considerably faster average pace!
I crossed the line as 3rd Open Elite, and 4th Elite Overall, 1.50mins behind the winner. It was a solid day, which was good in parts and frustrating in others. My swim was the highlight. My two best swims this year have been non-wetsuit, moreover a change in my technique (I finally worked out what my coach has been saying to me about high elbow after three months) has had an instant positive affect on my stroke. I’m at the stage in my development where it is about the process, not necessarily results. This was a positive step in that sense. Albeit I would’ve liked to have held off the chasers on the run. Last time I raced State Champs (on the same course) I came 68th overall, and that was with a wetsuit (AG’ers were given such an option today, but no the elites) 7mins slower than today!
Full credit to Joel, who spent all bar a few seconds as race leader. It was a good old fashioned and thoroughly well-deserved victory. Also to Nate (I will be hearing about it at training this week) on such a good result on his first Elite Race.
My personal highlight was Joel telling the announcer that he went flat-out during the swim. I think those around me would’ve been a little frightened to see such an excited reaction from me (something similar to crossing the line first).
It was a succesful day for EnduranceTeam in general. With Sarah Lesterdominating the girls race. Nate Walsh finishing one spot ahead of me, and Age-Groupers Craig Davis and Kieran Paton having two of the three fastest AG times of the day.
