DEVONPORT AUSTRALIAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
Three or four days leading into
Race 3 of the Australian Junior Championships to be held in Devonport I was
doing everything I could to keep my mind off the race. even playing games with
myself just pretending it's a holiday. If you ask me I think it worked
perfectly! But of course that wasn't going to last very long. While I waited in
the gate lounge I saw one by one some of Australia's best athletes enter the
lounge to board the plane and I began to feel nervous and remember the
conversations with coach Keiran about this race and it's importance for me,
then the reality of it started to kick in.
Waiting for our bikes and bags
in Launceston Airport I was able to calm my nerves a bit by talking to other
athletes and coaches about everything and anything other than the race that was
to take place in less than 48 hours.
Friday, the day before race day,
was a very cruisy and fun day. The "sleep in" was great and made me
feel a lot better than the day before which was excellent. I started the day
with a nice and short ride down the race area and along the bike course. After
assessing the turns, U-turns and determining the perfect lines to take I was
able to let go of a bit of the pre race stress. After that I went for a nice
and slow 20 minute jog just to loosen the legs, it was definitely needed after
a massage 2 days before which left my legs feeling too heavy for my liking.
The next couple of hours I spent
sitting down saving as much energy as possible while I waited for the rest of
the Triathlon NSW athletes to arrive. Due to their delayed flight we were
pushed for time and had to squeeze a quick swim in before briefing.
We got down to the water about
12:30pm as planned - wanting to be there around the time of race start the
following day - put our wetsuits on and went out for a quick warm up then began
assessing the currents, tides, possible start positions and things to sight on
the way in which ended up being the giant blue inflatable swim finish banner, mainly
because there was no way you could miss it! We then practised a few starts
running into and out of the water and the fun part - catching some waves in.
Following this we headed up to
uniform check/briefing.
Having had dinner with the New
South Wales Institute of Sport athletes and packed my gear for race day it was
time for bed.
The morning of the race was
finally here. It seemed like only yesterday Keiran and I were preparing for
what I'll need to do for this race. I was extremely excited and couldn't wait
to head down to the race area. Once again and as always the atmosphere was
incredible but as I've been practising I held myself together and stayed
focused.
I planned my run warm up
perfectly and allowed for time to put my wetsuit on and get out for a quick
swim and reassess the currents and tides. Once this was done I collaborated
with Keiran and picked the perfect start position.
At last we were lined up and
ready to head onto the beach. One by one all 40 odd of Australia’s best juniors
were on the line and ready to start.
The horn went and I had an
awesome start sprinting with control into the water. A few long and high leaps
over some little waves and I had gotten to the perfect depth to take a dive. I
did so and after that a few dolphin dives and I came up took a few strokes had
a look around and noticed I was in clear water so I sighted the buoy and did
what I was told to and gave it to ‘em in the water.
After a few big waves rolled
through I was able to get another glance at the buoy and for some strange
reason I thought I was aiming at the 2nd turning buoy and I started to head
further left but thankfully I saw a swimmer a bit back and to my right, as I
took a breath, heading straight for the first buoy so I made a sharp right and
hit it hard to get there without losing any more ground. I was second or third
to turn and held feet to the next buoy and stayed there most of the way back
in. There were a few decent waves rolling in and just my luck, I missed them all!
There were 4 athletes who managed to get on a wave and ended up having up to 35-ish
meters gap.
Going through transition I made
sure I wasn't wasting any time and I was putting my helmet on and taking off my
wetsuit at the same time which id also practised because I never used to do it,
this proved valuable as I was in and out fairly quickly. This also helped me
extend a 3-5 meter gap out to about 10 on the athletes just behind me which in
turn prevented them getting on my wheel and me dragging them to the breakaway group.
The race leaders had about a
250m advantage over me that I had to close so once again I put my head down and
didn't stop till I caught them. A quick 3 quarters of a lap and I had managed
to bridge the gap. I stayed on the back for no longer than 20 seconds through
the little technical section and with the gap we had to the main pack in mind I
knew we couldn't fall asleep otherwise they would catch us in no time. So as
soon as I caught my breath I rolled to the front and helped Matt Roberts, Angus
Gibson and New Zealander Taylor Reid extend our lead. Gibson and I were
swapping solid turns and ever so slightly gaining seconds on the main group.
Coming into the start of the third lap I heard Keiran shout “don't fall asleep
boys” and thankfully at that time I was on the front and realised that I wasn't
pushing as hard as I should be so I dropped it down a gear and started
hammering it.
Starting the final lap I was yelling at the boys encouraging them to push it for the last lap. Gibson was pulling fantastic turns and finally we had Reid putting in some solid turns too, which really helped. Overall we gained about 10 seconds on the main group, which was a good effort from 3 of us.
Coming into transition I was
running as quick as I could but I could feel that my legs were struggling with
the stride rate I am supposed to hold. And I was definitely feeling the effect
that the bike had but I knew I'd done the work and all I had to do was pick up my
cadence and believe in ability. The pre race talk with Keiran
was mainly focused on my mental state on the run. He suggested I try a few
things that he and his wife Nicole Hackett worked so hard on when she was
racing on the professional circuit. So out on the run I was focusing on racing
to the next pole... And to the next
pole... And to the next pole, and so on rather than stressing about who's
chasing me down. He also suggested that I forget about the pressure of who is
behind me and just run with perfect technique. I think he said that mainly
because this would take my mind off the race going on behind me.
On the return of lap 1 I could
feel myself start to slow down and I knew I couldn't stop now if I wanted to
win so I picked up my cadence and relaxed my body just like I do in training. This
helped and I was able to pick it up again. Coming into lap 2 of the run was a
surprise to me, so far I hadn't lost my rhythm and I didn't feel like I was
going to.
Half way to the U-turn for the second and final time I was beginning
to feel the effects from the incredible ride the boys and I had. Fortunately
for me Michael Hooper offered encouragement and mentioned that I still had a
good gap, this clicked my mind back into the race that was going on and as I
turned and saw the gap, I could see that Birtwhistle had made a lot of time,
and I could also see the Sam Ward another New Zealand athlete was also having a
fantastic run and was chasing hard. But they hadn't caught me yet and I still
had the lead. So I picked it up again this time thinking about what Keiran had
said - don’t worry about the finish until the final 2km. So I held a solid pace
to the U-turn. On the way back with approximately 800m to go I could hear that
Birtwhistle had caught up. I was waiting and waiting for him to come around but
he just sat for a little bit. Then as expected he surged past making sure I
wouldn't be able to go with him. Unfortunately having the excellent swim, ride
and run I had, had so far and he being the fantastic runner he is my legs
wouldn't let me go with him. He managed to put in a decent 20m, which I was
able to maintain for the next 300 - 400m but then I began to drop off.
I ended up holding 2nd place and
finishing up having improved on my performance from Geelong and having had the
best race of my season so far.
It was good to be with the
Triathlon NSW athletes and coach Jonathan Grady as I hadn't been with that
squad for a while. With the experienced coaches Jono and Keiran both by my side
I was provided with excellent advice pre race regarding tactics in possible
scenarios. With their personal experiences and knowledge with similar
conditions that Devonport had put on show I was able to execute little things
perfectly which saved me energy and helped me have an almost flawless race. So
I would like to thank Jono and Keiran especially for their help and also to
Angus and Michael during the race who really helped me believe in my ability
and in turn finishing up 2nd in the under 20 Australian Championships.
Also big thank you again to
Giant Bicycles; the bike just keeps surprising me, It was able to handle
everything I threw at it on the course. It's fast and handles well in crosswinds,
which was a huge advantage in his race.
Bring on the fourth and final race of the Australian Junior Triathlon Series to be held in Wellington in 2 weeks time, can’t wait!
