Moreton Bay Triathlon

Nicholas Hull
Sep 8, 2015
3 min read

It feels like it's been far too long between races (12 weeks to be precise!) and with Sunshine Coast Ironman 70.3 next weekend the Moreton Bay Triathlon served as the perfect opportunity to dust off any cobwebs before the main event on September 13.

This race had the added incentive of being a State Championship as well and with Sunshine Coast Ironman 70.3 and Chicago Worlds in the coming weeks there were lots of athletes with the same idea as me to get one final hit out under their belts.

As Sunday rolled around I was relaxed but ready to race. I knew my training had been going well but there is always a little bit of doubt in there whenever you haven't put together a swim, bike and run in a race situation since Cairns Ironman 70.3 in June. It took me a lot longer than usual to not only pack everything the night before but to also get my bearings around transition and set up my bike because I wanted to make sure I double checked and triple checked that I had everything right. This left me with very little time for a warm-up but I was more focused on getting the process right for Sunshine Coast and convinced myself that I don't normally do a long warm-up for long course races so this was just practice for that!

Being a State Championship race we were sent off in age groups and no longer being a spring chicken I was in the second wave, just two minutes behind the 16-24 males. This worked to my advantage as I always had someone ahead of me to chase but I was also able to just put my head down and focus on my race. I got off to a great start in the swim and it's safe to say that I don't normally find myself leading the way around a swim course so it was a somewhat new experience for me but to get the opportunity to practice my sighting and navigation was worthwhile. Being a wetsuit swim I was able to wear my Xterra Vector Pro and it felt awesome. I ended up having the second fastest swim of the day out of all of the age groups so will take a lot of confidence from that.

Jumping on the bike I was keen to get into my TT position as quickly as possible and see how close I was to the wave that had started two minutes ahead of me. To my surprise there were only a handful of them still ahead of me and throughout the 20km I was able to catch and pass and make time on almost all of them to put myself well clear of anyone in my age group and also right near the front on the road. As I dismounted there were only a few guys still ahead of me from the first wave and I had them all in my sights. A massive thankyou must go to Ben at Hola Cycles at this stage because without his support not only would I not have the amazing Giant Trinity and Reynolds Race Wheels that he lends me for every race but he also maintains and services my bike whenever I need anything done to it.

Starting out on the run I had thoughts of backing it off and saving as much as I could for next week but it just isn't in my nature to do that and I set about establishing my rhythm over the 5km to post a quick finishing time. It wasn't until after the race that I knew for sure that I'd recorded the fastest overall time of the day by about one minute which made for an even more satisfied feeling of a job well done for the day.

A big thanks to Triathlon Queensland for putting together a great race and to all of the support from everyone out there watching and all of the other triathlon clubs out on the course cheering everyone across the finish line. And finally to Toby Coote from SCTA, coaching myself I don't get much feedback on my technique and performance but to have Toby take the time to give me some tips on my form while watching all of his athletes as well is greatly appreciated.

There was a hint of doubt in my mind about doing this race so close to Sunshine Coast but as soon as I finished all doubt was gone. The race was by no means flawless but to put together one of my better swim, bike and run combinations and for it to feel as comfortable as it did is exactly the feeling I wanted going into next weekends race.