2011/12 Gatorade Tri Series Race #3 Report

It was a case of third time lucky for the 2011/12 Gatorade Triathon Series, with the swim a go ahead after the first two races were changed to a duathlon format due to poor water quality. The 500m/20km/5km race was held at Brighton for the first time in some years. It had been a while since I had last ventured into the bay, so I was looking forward to putting in a good race. Unfortunately my keen-ness for a swim didn't translate into a good swim, and as such I found myself out the back fairly smartly with some work to do on the bike to catch the group of 8 girls about 45sec up the road. Luckily I have been riding my bike more than swimming, so with help from fellow competitor Dew, we were able to bridge across quite nicely by the 5km mark. 15 more km of riding followed with the group all working well together. It was then onto the run. Often I don't know how my legs will feel until my feet literally hit the ground running, and luckily they were feeling the goods today. I lead the field out of T2 and was soon joined by Densham. Just before the first km mark she made a surge and got about 50m ahead. I made sure to keep her in my sights, as the saying "out of sight, out of mind" often holds very true. By 4km I was starting to hit my straps and really wanted to finish off as strong as I could. I could see Densham slowing in the distance, and with 200m to go I knew that I had to put in one almighty sprint if I were to cross the line first. Unfortunately for her, lucky for me, she didn't see me coming and my last ditch lunge on the line resulted in one helluva finish and the shiny gold medal. It was a great race, with many lessons learnt...one being that my swim start needs some attention and two...never give up!