My first post in a while. I have been very busy over the last few months with races in Kinloch, Takapuna and most recently Wellington. These have come with some success and some valuable learning experiences.
The race in Kinloch didn’t go so well for me. I was up against the big boys in the Oceania sprint champs. In this kind of race those little skills really are emphasised and in my case my lack of bike criterium racing limited me hugely. After a hard day I came away a disappointing 32nd overall, the positive however was I ran quite well over the 5k.
Next up was Takapuna. I had tried to train myself in the short period after Kinloch to learn to hold a wheel better and boost out of the corners. I was feeling pretty good in the lead up and ready for a good performance, however again this race wouldn’t go my way. I had a decent swim exiting within reach of the leaders. On the bike the plan was to get in a bunch and hang on for a fast hard run. After one lap of ten I was sitting well and pushing to get in a good position. Nek minut I was on the ground!! My tubular tire had decided it didn’t like the hard fast cornering so rolled of the wheel causing me to take a spill and ruin my race. Lesson learnt, always check glue on tires! The positive out of this I guess I got some TV coverage, check out tvondemand for my crash!!
Next up was the last race of the contact series in Wellington. I was looking forward to this after racing only sprint and super sprint since January. Wellington put on a brilliant day, even the chilly 14 degree water didn’t dampen my enthusiasm to do well. I exited the harbour in third place of the first wave, I quickly settled in the bike and picked off the first initial leaders early on. After only briefly leading the event I was the one now being picked off by an obviously determined and lean looking Rob Creasy. The position remained like this until a steam rolling Tom Francis zoomed past me with about 15km to bike. I started the run about one and a half minutes down on the front athletes. I was feeling pretty heavy but tried to push through it. By the end I had lost a bit more ground as the front two athletes pushed each other leaving me to run solo the entire run. I finished a solid third place, a decent result which should set me up well to race in my final event of the season Mooloolaba.
For race coverage check out this link, I get a bit of coverage early on.
As I write this I am in the Gold Coast training with coach Greg O’Connor and his Redline Squad. Weather has been nice and training awesome. I leave for the race next Wednesday and race on Sunday, can’t wait for a good hard race.
Cheers to Greytown Plumbing, Greytown Sport & Leisure, and Wairarapa Sport Education Trust for helping to fund my sporting pursuits.
Thanks to R-Line, Specialised and Blueseventy for keeping me racing strong with the best products.
