Third time is a
charm! I really love the event over in Busselton. This is my third year in a
row I have raced here and it's always a pleasure to come back to Western
Australia. Despite the 10 hour travel day, and what feels like international
long haul flight, the atmosphere and race organisation is what keeps me coming
back for second and third helpings (that statement also rings true for the
sticky date pudding that was on offer at the presentation buffet).
Lining up on the
sand for the start in a brisk 4 degree air temp was a little undesirable, and I
was really struggling to stay warm, despite a decent warmup in every layer of
clothing I had brought westside with me. The water was a much more inviting 19
degrees and during the swim I was determined to try and string it out as much
as I could. I lead for the first half of the swim and then settled into the
feet of Guy Crawford, who was setting a nice pace, for the rest of the swim. I
was happy to hear that a break had formed and there were 6 of us who navigated
the frosty transition to our bikes together.
In my mind, 6 was
still too many people to be riding with, so I immediately went to the front
once we were upon 2 wheels. I rode hard without looking back for a while. After
about 10 minutes, Terenzo Bozzone came around me with some words of
encouragement and we set about trying to do some damage. For the first 20
kilometers I had no fine motor control over my hands in the 4 degree air
temperature and I couldn’t even press my Di2 buttons to change gears. As you
can imagine, wet lycra is not the most suitable attire for these arctic
conditions. My toes and fingers were so numb it hurt, but the sun started to
heat things up by the second lap and I was able to resume basic motor functions
a little more easily.
Terenzo and I both
worked extremely well together, and it was great to see our hard riding was
paying off as the time gaps kept opening to the chasers. We continued to do
about 10 minute turns on the front, and we were both really motivated to lock
those first two podium spots down. We were rewarded with a course record 2:02
bike split, my fastest bike time over 90 kilometers to date.
We hit T2 and
Terenzo decided to forego socks, so I was immediately chasing from the start. I
bridged up to him after about 1 kilometer and settled into a much more
manageable pace. I sat on the shoulder of Terenzo who was pushing quite a
furious pace for the first 7km lap, but I tried to remain relaxed and just go
with it, tricking my mind into thinking I was comfortable. I was having
disturbing flashbacks to Geelong earlier this year where I was in a similar
position with Craig Alexander, who like Terenzo, is also a 5 time World
Champion. I let Craig dictate the race to me back then, and I didn’t want to
make the same mistake this time.
I moved to the
front about half way through and started to sense that Terenzo might be
starting to hurt a little bit more than I was. I was aware that he raced (and
won) in Taiwan a week prior, and perhaps that was starting to catch up to him
in the later stages of this race. With about 3km to go I picked the pace up a
fraction, not necessarily to drop Terenzo, but to just start to hurt his legs
coming into the finish. All of a sudden I noticed his breathing was a little
fainter than it was a moment ago and someone yelled out that I had a 10 meter
gap. I didn’t need any other encouragement and I got a surge of adrenaline and
picked up the pace even more. I didn’t dare look back and just pushed to the
finish line, absolutely thrilled that I didn’t get caught in another sprint
finish because the Appleton track record is currently sitting at 0 from 4
sprint finishes. It sounds cliché but running down that finish chute is an indescribable feeling, and it’s always over far too quickly.
Terenzo crossed
the line shortly after, he always races hard and he pushed me the whole way. He
has been someone I have looked up to for a while, so to go toe to toe with him
was an amazing experience. James Cunnama crossed the line in 3rd with
a very swift 1:11 run split to complete a Team Bahrain Endurance clean sweep of
the podium.
The crew of
Triathlon Western Australia put on a sensational weekend, and I think I speak
for everyone when I say this. They have achieved something special with this
event and I am elated to join the honour roll of champions at this event.
Thanks to everyone
for the messages, I really appreciate reading them all. Big thanks to my team
of sponsors: Bahrain Endurance, Giant Bikes, Rudy Project, Shotz Nutrition,
Scody, 3D Bike Fit, Hawkesbury Physio.
Up next for me is
Cairns 70.3 on June 14th. I’d imagine it will be warmer than 4
degrees up there!
Thanks for
reading!
