The inaugural Forrest 6 hr MTB enduro was held on the weekend. I was riding solo and Grant teamed up with Sam Maffett from the Rapid Ascent crew.
The tracks down at Forrest are simply awesome. Fast and flowing single tracks usually end with a sweeping berm, there are virtually no rock gardens and despite being in the Otway Ranges there was a minimal amount of climbing. Despite being wet in the lead up to the race, the tracks held up pretty well. During the middle part of the race there were some sections which were failry heavy and slippery, but this was more than compensated by the super fast downhill sections.
I finished up 2nd in the vets to local rider Dalen Court with a total of 9 laps of the 10+km course. Grant and Sam came in fifth in the pairs amongst a top class field. Congrats to Dam O’Connell (Torq) who cleaned up nearly the whole field despite riding solo, Katherine O’Shea (Torq) who took out the women’s solo and Luke and Steele (you guessed it; Torq) in the men’s pairs. Thanks to Baretta’s Bike Hub who set me up on my brand new Cannondale Scalpel. Both going up and down the bike is the best I’ve ever ridden and is in a class of it’s own. Thanks also to Area 51 (our newest sponsor) who supply high performance outdoor gear and clothing.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
We got a good dose of the S.H.I.T.S.
The team continued their winning ways on the weekend. Del and I travelled up to the first round of the six hour enduro series, Six Hours in the Saddle (SHITS). Despite the forecast, it turned out to be perfect racing weather, cool without being too cold. The track had a bit of rain leading up to the race, but despite a few muddier patches was in great condition and just got faster during the day as it contnued to dry out. Elevation gain was minor, but this was compensated for, by nearly all of the racing done on tight single track which was littered with rock gardens. The track was 100% rideable but demanded 100% concentration all the way (a lesson which many competitors learnt the hard way).
We both went into the race, pretty relaxed, looking at it as a lead up to next months Geoquest. Despite this we somehow ended up at the pointy end of the field. In the end Del won the women's solo fairly confortably. In fact she was racing a couple of other solo women in the last lap not realising they were a lap down. Then current world 24 hour champion James Williamson came up behind her with 2 kms to go on the last lap, Del pushed a bit harder than normal so as not to slow him down before he got the chance to pass. Sometimes being selfless doesn't pay, Del overcooked a corner and slammed a tree, Willo then slammed them both. Del scored a busted helmet, a wreaked rear mech and Willo's blood all over her bike. James ended up with a nasty cut over his eye and missed the opportunity to do another lap. Despite the mishap Del ran her bike over the line to take the win.
I ran consistently all day, and crossed the line in second place in the over 40's solo men. Finishing my 8th lap with 10 minutes to go, it was an anxious wait to see if any other Vets were going to cross the line forcing me to do another lap, luckily it didn't eventuate and it was with a sigh of relief that I listened to the countdown.
Another successful training session, lets hope it serves it purpose and helps us go even faster at Geoquest.
Stu
We both went into the race, pretty relaxed, looking at it as a lead up to next months Geoquest. Despite this we somehow ended up at the pointy end of the field. In the end Del won the women's solo fairly confortably. In fact she was racing a couple of other solo women in the last lap not realising they were a lap down. Then current world 24 hour champion James Williamson came up behind her with 2 kms to go on the last lap, Del pushed a bit harder than normal so as not to slow him down before he got the chance to pass. Sometimes being selfless doesn't pay, Del overcooked a corner and slammed a tree, Willo then slammed them both. Del scored a busted helmet, a wreaked rear mech and Willo's blood all over her bike. James ended up with a nasty cut over his eye and missed the opportunity to do another lap. Despite the mishap Del ran her bike over the line to take the win.
I ran consistently all day, and crossed the line in second place in the over 40's solo men. Finishing my 8th lap with 10 minutes to go, it was an anxious wait to see if any other Vets were going to cross the line forcing me to do another lap, luckily it didn't eventuate and it was with a sigh of relief that I listened to the countdown.
Another successful training session, lets hope it serves it purpose and helps us go even faster at Geoquest.
Stu
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Top work at the Keen Race 2009
Grant and Lukie finished 1st Male Team and 2nd overall on Saturday after a tough, cold muddy hilly week in the 5 day KEEN "jounrey through the Otways". Never far behind the leaders (who are the current world champions), and despite a few hiccups including Grant riding 120k with a collapsed front fork through the long stage & Luke apparently having some trouble breathing ("my rib is clicking"?) they were both on fine form all week. Top work you guys - Very proud of you.
Testimony to their achievment was Lukie having AT LEAST THREE drinks on Saturday night, and Grant being very excited about the prizes.
Del & Stew also went very fast in the Keen 1 Day Exposé leading all the way 'till Del left the Course Notes floating somewhere in Bass Strait, and Stew decided we should visit the top of the wrong hill between checkpoints Y & Z. But we never said we could navigate.... Fast in the wrong direction earned us 3rd Place. It would have been SO SO cool to take out the one day as alongside Grant & Lukie's 5 day performance... but hey..
A long blow by blow tale of the 5 day journey is sure to follow. Meanwhile we'll be preparing to meet what looks to be an all out line up of Australia's best teams at GeoQuest in a month's time...
Warming up at Mars Challenge
April 19th - Great results for the team at Mars pulling off three podium spots 1 (Grant), 2 (Del), 3 (Luke) and some fastest run and bike split times (Del & Del agian;-)) Stew came home from Vietnam the night before especially to carry all our boats to the river. He only mentioned that he wished he was doing it too about once every 3 mins... Everyone was pleased with their efforts, one bloke in particular couldn't stop grinning..! A good day all round.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Jindabyne Multisport Classic
Sri Chinmoy have been running the Jindabyne Multisport Classic for five years. I’m surprised that it has failed to generate a bigger following in that time. Ever since supporting a friend in the second year of the race, it has held a fascination for me that has been hard to shake. This is despite the fact that it involves three significant swimming legs, and at the time of my introduction to the race, I couldn’t swim more than 250 m.
Three years later, I was on the start line on a chilly Sunday morning. I had spent the night listening to the wind and rain squalls and watching lightning through the curtains of Jindy Inn, wondering whether we would be allowed out on the lake in such foul weather. The morning turned out to be fairly settled, although the wind was already threatening to pick up. The eight solo athletes (including 1 female) took to the water 15 minutes ahead of the teams. As the swimmers ploughed into the water, my first thought was; “Shit; there’s 12 hours of this ahead of us. What’s the rush?” The initial rush of the soloists was nothing compared to the speed with which the team swimmers came past me about 20 minutes later.
Exiting the water 30 minutes and 1500 minutes later, my sister was introduced to the world of the support crew. She was a novice at crewing and was nervous, despite the detailed transition notes we had developed to take her step by step through everything I needed and in what order at each of the 11 transitions. The nerves at the start line paled into insignificance when she didn’t push my boat out far enough into the lake and the rudder stuck in the mud. As we freed it and I took a stroke the boat swung around 90 degrees, convincing me that the rudder had broken and my race was over. Some choice words were uttered and darling sister was sent for the tool box. As she returned I had freed the rudder and was paddling off. It wasn’t the best start to the race, I’d lost time and a number of places.
The first 9km paddle was straight forward, downwind and with a building chop made for a fast time, even better when you can jump on the wash of a behemoth on a spec ski. Lesson number one of the day, was to get a wire in my camel bak so you don’t have to stop paddling to drink, as soon as you do you lose the wash. Soon enough another behemoth came along and a congo line line formed. No more drinking until I bottomed out on a bar coming into the inlet. Then it was a sprint to the next TA anyway.
Overcoming any misgivings from the previous TA we had a lightning TA and came out onto the run in 4th place. The 7 km run started off easily enough on a concrete bike path, but quickly left that for obscure single tracks and bush bashing. I’m sure the track was well marked, but being color blind meant I couldn’t see the pink track markers unless they were fluttering in the breeze. I had to let the solo female overtake me so I could follow her. Despite this I still managed the 2nd fastest solo run for the day.
I was looking forward to the first 9 km MTB, which was advertised as; “Not for anyone without excellent MTB skills”. As I jumped on the bike Janet called out; “Just follow the orange tape” I inwardly groaned, orange was even worse than pink. Luckily the track was distinct and I had no trouble finding it. It was easy, wherever there were more rocks than anywhere else that was where the track was. As I was riding along at about 5 km an hr picking my way over the rocks I was wishing I could meet the guy who cut this off camber technical nightmare into the hillside. It took me around 40 minutes to complete the 9km course, but it was great riding and great fun. Especially the final gully, where the guy after me launched his bike, scattered the spectators and landed on a parked car, busting his ribs in the process.
2500m swim; my nemesis. I had actually raced reasonably conservatively, knowing that I had only swum this distance a handful of times before. The first 500m went along alright, but as a rounded the first bouy and started off down wind, I lost all rhythm, felt my legs dragging in the water and quickly reverted to breast stroke. I’d recently read Des Renford’s book on marathon swimming and learned that the first guy to swim the English Channel had done it breast stroke, so if he could swim 40km then I could do this swim no matter how long it took. I must have got sick of people asking me if I was about to drown, because at the bottom marker, with a bit less than a km to swim I went back to freestyle and finished the swim off. 1hr 20 min is a long time to swim 2 ½ kms and I had fallen back to 6th place.
The good thing about swimming that slow is you don’t use up a lot of energy and back in the boat I switched out of preservation mode and back into race mode. The next paddle was only 5 ½ km straight into a freshening breeze. Boat selection proved to be an important strategy. Many paddlers had already been picked up by the rescue boats, having not been able to handle the wind chop. Others had stayed close to the shore, while I was able to head straight across the bay, making up one place. The other important strategy was to actually know where you were going, the paddle legs were not marked particularly well, and the only way I pinpointed the TA was to watch the MTB’s riding along the shore and head for where I could first see them coming out from behind a headland.
From the boat it was time to give the upper body a rest and jump onto the MTB for a quick 11 km blast through open farm land. The course was relatively flat and the greatest challenge was for the support crews to get the boat packed up and to get to the next TA before me.
The most challenging run stage followed the MTB. It was a 12 km run along rocky single track which climbed up a gully for around 9 kms before turning around climbing a ridge line and then descending to a picnic ground before a final climb up to the TA. It is the first time the course leaves the lake and enters the Kosciusko National Park. As soon as you leave the lake you enter the eucalypt forest. While the climbing was starting to take a heavy toll on the quads, the change in scenery makes a welcome change. Despite walking some of the steeper sections I was able to pass a couple of other soloists, and arrived at the TA in fourth place.
The longest ride of the day was a 40km tour around the north western corner of the lake. It started with a steady 6 to 8 km climb (depending on who you listen to) climbing 500m up into the snow fields. The gradient was a manageable, being under 10% most of the way, although the head wind through the pass almost had me back in granny gear. The descent on the bitumen then hard packed gravel was fast and freezing; by the time I hit the bottom my hands were cold enough to prevent me shifting up into the big ring. This proved unnecessary as you are almost immediately faced with the second climb of the day. It is a much harder gravel climb, the first half of which can be done in the middle ring; just, the second half is down into granny and a winch up the hill. The best thing about this ride, is that once you’re over the top there is about 15 km of sweet downhill, complete with water bar jumps, sweeping curves and sharp gullies. The course setting sadists are not far away and after you exit the forest into open farm land you seem to approach the lake at least 5 times before you actually get to descend down to the TA.
The end of the race is tantalizingly close as you enter the water for the final 1.4km swim. I was seriously nervous about this leg as it was 3 years ago that I saw the athlete I was supporting crippled by cramps, and needing to hang off the kayak repeatedly as I paddled along beside him. My quads were pretty juiced and my hamstrings were tight, but I had been sucking down the Torq electrolyte all day and there was no indication of the onset of cramping, so with more than a little trepidation I set off. My nervousness was unnecessary as I quickly got into a rhythm, and slowly but surely stroked my way round the course. I was navigationally challenged at times, and did appreciate the rescue boat which followed me, thanks to the insistence of my support crew. 40 minutes later I crawled from the water thankful to be taking off my wetsuit for the last time.
As I jumped into my boat for the penultimate satge, a final 9.5kms paddle across the lake towards Jindabyne, Janet called out; “just paddle to a marker, then to another one, cross the bay then head into a little inlet that you probably won’t be able to see.” Another groan, and a prayer that there will be someone to follow. I knew the inlet was going to be hard to spot, but I had recollections from the last time I was here and I had semi committed the map to memory. Still feeling strong I headed off to cross the lake for the last time. Frustratingly, my prayers weren’t answered, there was no one to follow and not even a rescue boat to ask directions. I had to stop with about 3 kms to go and try and decipher the landmarks I had committed to memory. The idea of heading for the final marker was fruitless; there were buoys all over the lake, and no sign of curiosity rocks, which I was meant to be heading. There were lots of low lying rocks, but none in the direction I felt I should have been heading for. Another paddler eventually came up to me and we quickly discussed the best option. As it turned out after progressing another 1500m, I recognized the rocks I was meant to be heading for and was able to head directly for the TA, the navigation issues probably cost me another 15 minutes.
The final run is an easy, flat 5.5 km into town along the shore of the lake on a concrete bike path; that is if anything is easy after a race like this. Getting out of the car back at the accommodation was challenging enough. Finally I crossed the line having held onto fourth place for the last half of the race. The last 4 hours seemed to fly by, I’m not sure whether it was because I was in a daze, or whether because I was enjoying myself so much, but before I knew it I was crossing the line to the half hearted clapping of half a dozen Sri Chinmoy volunteers. My support crew only made it to the line in time to watch me inhale one of the delicious veggie burgers that were on offer.
Having completed the race, I am even more surprised that more people don’t take up the challenge. It is a good fun race, which is constantly changing and keeping you on your toes. The shorter legs are a great format that ensures the racing never becomes a grind and motivates you to keep charging the whole time. Yes, being a good swimmer is a big advantage, but I proved that it’s not essential to being able to complete the event. The country side is stunning, the MTBing is fun and the paddling is fast for the better paddlers and yet achievable for beginners.
A big thanks to Janet, my official support crew ( you were totally awesome, and were as professional as any athlete could ever wish for), Lizzie, my unofficial crew, who is typical of the great people you meet at these events. Having met at the start line, she was just as supportive, encouraging and helpful as any long suffering support crew would have been, Gen and the crew at Torq, I am constantly amazed at what you can achieve on these products. I got around the course in around 12 ½ hrs, almost exclusively on liquid carbs and gels, I never felt flat, never felt close to cramping, and was able to move freely the day after. Del my Keen Torqer team mate who taught me to swim, and finally to my long suffering family who have to put up with the time away from them; training and racing, the mysterious debits from the bank accounts for gear and race entries, the mindless banter about all things outdoorie and yet continue to be supportive of nearly all of the crazy things I do and still want to do.
Three years later, I was on the start line on a chilly Sunday morning. I had spent the night listening to the wind and rain squalls and watching lightning through the curtains of Jindy Inn, wondering whether we would be allowed out on the lake in such foul weather. The morning turned out to be fairly settled, although the wind was already threatening to pick up. The eight solo athletes (including 1 female) took to the water 15 minutes ahead of the teams. As the swimmers ploughed into the water, my first thought was; “Shit; there’s 12 hours of this ahead of us. What’s the rush?” The initial rush of the soloists was nothing compared to the speed with which the team swimmers came past me about 20 minutes later.
Exiting the water 30 minutes and 1500 minutes later, my sister was introduced to the world of the support crew. She was a novice at crewing and was nervous, despite the detailed transition notes we had developed to take her step by step through everything I needed and in what order at each of the 11 transitions. The nerves at the start line paled into insignificance when she didn’t push my boat out far enough into the lake and the rudder stuck in the mud. As we freed it and I took a stroke the boat swung around 90 degrees, convincing me that the rudder had broken and my race was over. Some choice words were uttered and darling sister was sent for the tool box. As she returned I had freed the rudder and was paddling off. It wasn’t the best start to the race, I’d lost time and a number of places.
The first 9km paddle was straight forward, downwind and with a building chop made for a fast time, even better when you can jump on the wash of a behemoth on a spec ski. Lesson number one of the day, was to get a wire in my camel bak so you don’t have to stop paddling to drink, as soon as you do you lose the wash. Soon enough another behemoth came along and a congo line line formed. No more drinking until I bottomed out on a bar coming into the inlet. Then it was a sprint to the next TA anyway.
Overcoming any misgivings from the previous TA we had a lightning TA and came out onto the run in 4th place. The 7 km run started off easily enough on a concrete bike path, but quickly left that for obscure single tracks and bush bashing. I’m sure the track was well marked, but being color blind meant I couldn’t see the pink track markers unless they were fluttering in the breeze. I had to let the solo female overtake me so I could follow her. Despite this I still managed the 2nd fastest solo run for the day.I was looking forward to the first 9 km MTB, which was advertised as; “Not for anyone without excellent MTB skills”. As I jumped on the bike Janet called out; “Just follow the orange tape” I inwardly groaned, orange was even worse than pink. Luckily the track was distinct and I had no trouble finding it. It was easy, wherever there were more rocks than anywhere else that was where the track was. As I was riding along at about 5 km an hr picking my way over the rocks I was wishing I could meet the guy who cut this off camber technical nightmare into the hillside. It took me around 40 minutes to complete the 9km course, but it was great riding and great fun. Especially the final gully, where the guy after me launched his bike, scattered the spectators and landed on a parked car, busting his ribs in the process.
2500m swim; my nemesis. I had actually raced reasonably conservatively, knowing that I had only swum this distance a handful of times before. The first 500m went along alright, but as a rounded the first bouy and started off down wind, I lost all rhythm, felt my legs dragging in the water and quickly reverted to breast stroke. I’d recently read Des Renford’s book on marathon swimming and learned that the first guy to swim the English Channel had done it breast stroke, so if he could swim 40km then I could do this swim no matter how long it took. I must have got sick of people asking me if I was about to drown, because at the bottom marker, with a bit less than a km to swim I went back to freestyle and finished the swim off. 1hr 20 min is a long time to swim 2 ½ kms and I had fallen back to 6th place.
The good thing about swimming that slow is you don’t use up a lot of energy and back in the boat I switched out of preservation mode and back into race mode. The next paddle was only 5 ½ km straight into a freshening breeze. Boat selection proved to be an important strategy. Many paddlers had already been picked up by the rescue boats, having not been able to handle the wind chop. Others had stayed close to the shore, while I was able to head straight across the bay, making up one place. The other important strategy was to actually know where you were going, the paddle legs were not marked particularly well, and the only way I pinpointed the TA was to watch the MTB’s riding along the shore and head for where I could first see them coming out from behind a headland.
From the boat it was time to give the upper body a rest and jump onto the MTB for a quick 11 km blast through open farm land. The course was relatively flat and the greatest challenge was for the support crews to get the boat packed up and to get to the next TA before me.
The most challenging run stage followed the MTB. It was a 12 km run along rocky single track which climbed up a gully for around 9 kms before turning around climbing a ridge line and then descending to a picnic ground before a final climb up to the TA. It is the first time the course leaves the lake and enters the Kosciusko National Park. As soon as you leave the lake you enter the eucalypt forest. While the climbing was starting to take a heavy toll on the quads, the change in scenery makes a welcome change. Despite walking some of the steeper sections I was able to pass a couple of other soloists, and arrived at the TA in fourth place.
The longest ride of the day was a 40km tour around the north western corner of the lake. It started with a steady 6 to 8 km climb (depending on who you listen to) climbing 500m up into the snow fields. The gradient was a manageable, being under 10% most of the way, although the head wind through the pass almost had me back in granny gear. The descent on the bitumen then hard packed gravel was fast and freezing; by the time I hit the bottom my hands were cold enough to prevent me shifting up into the big ring. This proved unnecessary as you are almost immediately faced with the second climb of the day. It is a much harder gravel climb, the first half of which can be done in the middle ring; just, the second half is down into granny and a winch up the hill. The best thing about this ride, is that once you’re over the top there is about 15 km of sweet downhill, complete with water bar jumps, sweeping curves and sharp gullies. The course setting sadists are not far away and after you exit the forest into open farm land you seem to approach the lake at least 5 times before you actually get to descend down to the TA.
The end of the race is tantalizingly close as you enter the water for the final 1.4km swim. I was seriously nervous about this leg as it was 3 years ago that I saw the athlete I was supporting crippled by cramps, and needing to hang off the kayak repeatedly as I paddled along beside him. My quads were pretty juiced and my hamstrings were tight, but I had been sucking down the Torq electrolyte all day and there was no indication of the onset of cramping, so with more than a little trepidation I set off. My nervousness was unnecessary as I quickly got into a rhythm, and slowly but surely stroked my way round the course. I was navigationally challenged at times, and did appreciate the rescue boat which followed me, thanks to the insistence of my support crew. 40 minutes later I crawled from the water thankful to be taking off my wetsuit for the last time.
As I jumped into my boat for the penultimate satge, a final 9.5kms paddle across the lake towards Jindabyne, Janet called out; “just paddle to a marker, then to another one, cross the bay then head into a little inlet that you probably won’t be able to see.” Another groan, and a prayer that there will be someone to follow. I knew the inlet was going to be hard to spot, but I had recollections from the last time I was here and I had semi committed the map to memory. Still feeling strong I headed off to cross the lake for the last time. Frustratingly, my prayers weren’t answered, there was no one to follow and not even a rescue boat to ask directions. I had to stop with about 3 kms to go and try and decipher the landmarks I had committed to memory. The idea of heading for the final marker was fruitless; there were buoys all over the lake, and no sign of curiosity rocks, which I was meant to be heading. There were lots of low lying rocks, but none in the direction I felt I should have been heading for. Another paddler eventually came up to me and we quickly discussed the best option. As it turned out after progressing another 1500m, I recognized the rocks I was meant to be heading for and was able to head directly for the TA, the navigation issues probably cost me another 15 minutes.
The final run is an easy, flat 5.5 km into town along the shore of the lake on a concrete bike path; that is if anything is easy after a race like this. Getting out of the car back at the accommodation was challenging enough. Finally I crossed the line having held onto fourth place for the last half of the race. The last 4 hours seemed to fly by, I’m not sure whether it was because I was in a daze, or whether because I was enjoying myself so much, but before I knew it I was crossing the line to the half hearted clapping of half a dozen Sri Chinmoy volunteers. My support crew only made it to the line in time to watch me inhale one of the delicious veggie burgers that were on offer.
Having completed the race, I am even more surprised that more people don’t take up the challenge. It is a good fun race, which is constantly changing and keeping you on your toes. The shorter legs are a great format that ensures the racing never becomes a grind and motivates you to keep charging the whole time. Yes, being a good swimmer is a big advantage, but I proved that it’s not essential to being able to complete the event. The country side is stunning, the MTBing is fun and the paddling is fast for the better paddlers and yet achievable for beginners.
A big thanks to Janet, my official support crew ( you were totally awesome, and were as professional as any athlete could ever wish for), Lizzie, my unofficial crew, who is typical of the great people you meet at these events. Having met at the start line, she was just as supportive, encouraging and helpful as any long suffering support crew would have been, Gen and the crew at Torq, I am constantly amazed at what you can achieve on these products. I got around the course in around 12 ½ hrs, almost exclusively on liquid carbs and gels, I never felt flat, never felt close to cramping, and was able to move freely the day after. Del my Keen Torqer team mate who taught me to swim, and finally to my long suffering family who have to put up with the time away from them; training and racing, the mysterious debits from the bank accounts for gear and race entries, the mindless banter about all things outdoorie and yet continue to be supportive of nearly all of the crazy things I do and still want to do.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Anaconda Lorne 2008 by Grant Suckling
The Anaconda race in Lorne was my first ‘adventure race’ late in 2006; it was an incredible experience, literally life changing. Looking back at the athlete that limped across that finish line two years ago and comparing him to me today, it has been an awesome journey. This race will always be important to me, and any improvement in my sport will be judged by my performance when I return here each year.
This year it was all about everything but the swim for me, with the words “your race starts after you get out of the water” ringing in my ears from our coach Simon Knowles, I started the race with a grand total of two swimming sessions under my belt, totalling 1:10 in the water! I came out of the water next to Bruce Dunlop who said “good swim Grant…” as I ran past him on the beach. Looking at my watch I looked back at him in horror, 40 minutes!!! Bloody hell… That’s worse than any numbers I had worked through my head before the race! Over six minutes slower than last year. This equalled a 10 minute deficit to the individual leaders as I started the paddle.
I was to find out later that the swim course was a fair bit longer this year, wish I’d known that out on the course and I wouldn’t have been so hard on myself, it certainly gave my confidence a nice little smack on the chin at the time.
Due to the marginal weather conditions the alternate course was used. This meant paddling in Louttit bay which is a triangle course largely protected from the South Westerlies blowing out at sea, the first turn around buoy near the Lorne Pier was exposed to the wind a bit, but as soon as we turned we had a great tail wind and swell pushing us all the way down the longest side of the triangle to the next buoy. It was here that I had one of my finest dummy spits of all time when a scared and confused competitor stopped in front of me in the middle of the racing line beside the buoy. I dug deep into the water to avoid “t-boning” his boat, and a moment later was hit from the side by a swell that put me in the water. I could count the amount of time it took to get back in the boat by the number of expletives I sent across the water at my fellow competitor if I could remember them all, not my finest moment!
No real harm was done; in fact I should be grateful for the activation of the angry switch. The rest of the paddle went reasonably well, but didn’t feel as fast as I would have liked. It was fast enough though, taking me from 37th to 7th individual in the 3rd fastest individual paddle split for the day only 39 seconds behind the fastest (Richard Ussher).
The heart rate was pretty high for the run up the beach to transition from paddle to run, precious seconds disappeared whilst I wrestled with the tangled race bib in the transition area and headed out 1:04 behind 6th placed Sam Hume. Sam was running well but had much less speed over the rocks, which meant I came up to within 60-70 metres behind him by the time we reached the crossing at St Georges River. I slowly whittled away the gap before overtaking him in the orchard at Allenvale where I ducked under the trees at the corner to sneak a few metres in front of him, he was to run on my heals for most of the back section of the run, briefly overtaking me for about 100 yards climbing up from the last Allenvale road crossing, but I immediately took the lead again on the short downhill section that followed. One thing was obvious to us both, rough technical running was not his strong suit, and me being one of only a handful of competitors who had actually trained on the alternate run course, I was excited about the ripping decent and rough country ahead where I planned to make my move.
In typical Jacoby (race director) style, the run included a gnarly off track section with dense, prickly undergrowth followed by a nice scramble up a ridiculously steep rocky slope that. It was through here that I finally got rid of Sam Hume. The more undulating terrain was nearly over, with only a couple of small sharp climbs left before a steep decent back to St Georges River, I overtook another couple of team runners and continued at good pace. It was at this point that my race was almost shattered. A bad ankle sprain had me rolling head over heels down the hill screaming in pain. Anger and despair raged through my head, more cursing, this time all aimed at myself, how could I not be more careful?!! Was my race over? It was pretty bad… Just keep moving, run like it doesn’t hurt, harden the hell up princess!
The run back to Lorne was excruciating, but I was determined to maintain my position and pushed through the pain without losing a place. Jumping onto my bike I was relieved to know the running was over for now, but as soon as I stood on the pedals to race back onto the course it was immediately obvious that this ride would be done sitting down, the ankle was not okay.
No bother, I had been looking forward to this ride and a little thing like a sore ankle was not going to stop me exorcising last year’s MTB demons. I knew I was better than I had shown and was determined to prove it. The ride went well, despite not being able to stand I reeled in individual competitors John Kent, and last year’s second place getter Glen Kirby. In the end my ride time was the 3rd fastest individual time registered behind 1st and 2nd’s Richard Ussher and Jarrod Kohlar.
Whilst the final beach run was agonising, I was grateful that there were no other competitors in sight, so with no need to flog myself back up the beach I cruised home knowing that I had run a pretty good race. I was to finish in 5th place; Sam Hume had unfortunately short coursed the run by accident and slipped by me without either of our knowledge. A top 5 finish earned me the honour of standing on the podium (not to mention getting into the prize money!), which I was quite chuffed about.
1st place Richard Ussher congratulated me and suggested I come and race in NZ some time, to which I replied “Yeah for sure… I’m actually coming over for Coast to Coast in February”. I never would have dreamed 2 years ago that I would have shared a simple conversation like that with a world champion whilst standing on a podium, what a ride.
This year it was all about everything but the swim for me, with the words “your race starts after you get out of the water” ringing in my ears from our coach Simon Knowles, I started the race with a grand total of two swimming sessions under my belt, totalling 1:10 in the water! I came out of the water next to Bruce Dunlop who said “good swim Grant…” as I ran past him on the beach. Looking at my watch I looked back at him in horror, 40 minutes!!! Bloody hell… That’s worse than any numbers I had worked through my head before the race! Over six minutes slower than last year. This equalled a 10 minute deficit to the individual leaders as I started the paddle.
I was to find out later that the swim course was a fair bit longer this year, wish I’d known that out on the course and I wouldn’t have been so hard on myself, it certainly gave my confidence a nice little smack on the chin at the time.
Due to the marginal weather conditions the alternate course was used. This meant paddling in Louttit bay which is a triangle course largely protected from the South Westerlies blowing out at sea, the first turn around buoy near the Lorne Pier was exposed to the wind a bit, but as soon as we turned we had a great tail wind and swell pushing us all the way down the longest side of the triangle to the next buoy. It was here that I had one of my finest dummy spits of all time when a scared and confused competitor stopped in front of me in the middle of the racing line beside the buoy. I dug deep into the water to avoid “t-boning” his boat, and a moment later was hit from the side by a swell that put me in the water. I could count the amount of time it took to get back in the boat by the number of expletives I sent across the water at my fellow competitor if I could remember them all, not my finest moment!
No real harm was done; in fact I should be grateful for the activation of the angry switch. The rest of the paddle went reasonably well, but didn’t feel as fast as I would have liked. It was fast enough though, taking me from 37th to 7th individual in the 3rd fastest individual paddle split for the day only 39 seconds behind the fastest (Richard Ussher).
The heart rate was pretty high for the run up the beach to transition from paddle to run, precious seconds disappeared whilst I wrestled with the tangled race bib in the transition area and headed out 1:04 behind 6th placed Sam Hume. Sam was running well but had much less speed over the rocks, which meant I came up to within 60-70 metres behind him by the time we reached the crossing at St Georges River. I slowly whittled away the gap before overtaking him in the orchard at Allenvale where I ducked under the trees at the corner to sneak a few metres in front of him, he was to run on my heals for most of the back section of the run, briefly overtaking me for about 100 yards climbing up from the last Allenvale road crossing, but I immediately took the lead again on the short downhill section that followed. One thing was obvious to us both, rough technical running was not his strong suit, and me being one of only a handful of competitors who had actually trained on the alternate run course, I was excited about the ripping decent and rough country ahead where I planned to make my move.
In typical Jacoby (race director) style, the run included a gnarly off track section with dense, prickly undergrowth followed by a nice scramble up a ridiculously steep rocky slope that. It was through here that I finally got rid of Sam Hume. The more undulating terrain was nearly over, with only a couple of small sharp climbs left before a steep decent back to St Georges River, I overtook another couple of team runners and continued at good pace. It was at this point that my race was almost shattered. A bad ankle sprain had me rolling head over heels down the hill screaming in pain. Anger and despair raged through my head, more cursing, this time all aimed at myself, how could I not be more careful?!! Was my race over? It was pretty bad… Just keep moving, run like it doesn’t hurt, harden the hell up princess!
The run back to Lorne was excruciating, but I was determined to maintain my position and pushed through the pain without losing a place. Jumping onto my bike I was relieved to know the running was over for now, but as soon as I stood on the pedals to race back onto the course it was immediately obvious that this ride would be done sitting down, the ankle was not okay.
No bother, I had been looking forward to this ride and a little thing like a sore ankle was not going to stop me exorcising last year’s MTB demons. I knew I was better than I had shown and was determined to prove it. The ride went well, despite not being able to stand I reeled in individual competitors John Kent, and last year’s second place getter Glen Kirby. In the end my ride time was the 3rd fastest individual time registered behind 1st and 2nd’s Richard Ussher and Jarrod Kohlar.
Whilst the final beach run was agonising, I was grateful that there were no other competitors in sight, so with no need to flog myself back up the beach I cruised home knowing that I had run a pretty good race. I was to finish in 5th place; Sam Hume had unfortunately short coursed the run by accident and slipped by me without either of our knowledge. A top 5 finish earned me the honour of standing on the podium (not to mention getting into the prize money!), which I was quite chuffed about.
1st place Richard Ussher congratulated me and suggested I come and race in NZ some time, to which I replied “Yeah for sure… I’m actually coming over for Coast to Coast in February”. I never would have dreamed 2 years ago that I would have shared a simple conversation like that with a world champion whilst standing on a podium, what a ride.
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