Byron Bay Triathlon

Believe it or not I have never before visited Byron Bay. The look or shock on some people's faces when I've told them this made me feel like I was missing out on something pretty special so I was excited to head down there over the weekend to race in the iconic Byron Bay Triathlon. The race has become an icon in itself and in its 20 year history has an impressive honour board of previous winners including Clayton Fettell, Pete Jacobs, Courtney Atkinson, Luke Mckenzie and Craig Walton (I could go on for a lot longer!). One of the big drawcards to this race is that is held on a Saturday afternoon and being held in May is often seen as an end of season party for a lot of competitors with a big party on the Saturday night.

Driving to the race after having already coached that morning was definitely a different feeling but once in Byron Bay and transition set up for the race it was business as usual. It is one of the few races with an ocean swim which no matter how good an open water swimmer you are adds another challenging element to the race and with very choppy surf ahead of us it would really play a part in how the race panned out. In my mind I went in with the plan of getting off the beach as quickly as I could and settling into a rhythm once we got out past the break and while I achieved part A of the plan, the chop made it very difficult to get into any sort of rythm. Once I could tell I was sitting in the front group of swimmers I tried to stay as relaxed as possible and make sure I exited the water with them ready to attack the bike. The waves allowed small gaps to open up over the last portion of the swim but I have to say I'm really happy with how my swim has been progressing lately and to be in the position I was is reward for effort.

Running through transition and stripping down the Xterra Velocity Speedsuit I saw that Sam Appleton and Tim Berkel were having a tough time finding their bikes while Ben Cook was gaining valuable seconds with a clear start to the bike leg. I knew a quick transition and getting as close to Ben as possible could make a huge difference at the end of the day. I don't ride with power or heart rate but knew I was pushing really hard in the early stages of the bike but wasn't making time on Ben so when Sam and Tim came past me I was pleased for the company and even more so for some local knowledge because there were some really bumpy and rough sections on that course that I was hoping Sam and Tim would have the knowledge to avoid. We really turned up the pace after the far turn around with Ben in our sights and our number one goal to catch as quickly as possible.

With our goal achieved and a lead group of five including myself, Tim, Sam, Ben and Sam Lewis we entered transition together ready for the 10km run. I had what could only be described as a lackluster transition which immediately put me on the back foot and at least 20m off the others. Over the four lap course there were plenty opportunities to get time checks and towards the end of the first lap I'd managed to pass Sam Lewis and could see the gaps to the lead three weren't growing rapidly. My middle 5km was probably the best I've run in a while and even though Sam had pushed out his lead from Ben and Tim, I continued to close the gap on them until I caught back on near the end of lap three. I was hoping this would give me a chance to regain some energy before seeing what more I could do but looking back now I think I spent my energy closing this gap and as soon as they made even the slightest change in pace I was relegated back to fourth for the remainder of the final lap.

I ended up crossing the finish line in fourth place behind Sam Appleton, Ben Cook and Tim Berkel (not a bad trio to have for company!). And after what I'd describe as a string of unfortunate and annoying results (and plenty of DNFs) I very happy with this result. The athlete and coach in me is already dissecting every part of this race to look at how to improve that result for next time but to cross the finish line so close to athletes of their class shows me that I'm on the right track and just need to keep fine tuning what I'm doing to make sure I not only stay there but continue to improve and get closer.

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