Thanks to Jay Taylor at Taylor cycles with helping me out with a Rocky Mountain Vertex 29er to help with of adding variety to my training. Here's a short video of my first ride at The Gap mountain bike trails.

Coming into Noosa I had a great block of training in the swim and bike legs and was confident I could set my race up the way I wanted. My confidence had fallen to an all time low on my favourite and best leg the RUN! It was going to be my first time racing in Open age group and I was keen as to see how I would shape up against the pro and semi pro guys of the sport. There were a total of 32 pros and 44 guys racing opens. My goal coming into the event was to finish in the top 20 overall.

I picked my new Jamis T2 TT bike up from Taylor Cycles (www.taylorcycles.com.au) on the Friday afternoon and headed up to Noosa on the Saturday morning. Always a bit of a risk racing on a bike you have never ridden before. I took it out for a 20km ride at lunchtime just before I racked it in transition. It felt a little weird at first but by the end of the 20k’s I knew it wouldn’t be too much of a problem. After racking I enjoyed watching the 5km bolt and the Cycling race in which Taylor Charlton from Taylors Cycles (www.taylorcycles.com.au) was racing in. He finished in 10^th position which he was pretty stoked about considering the calibre of the field. A lot of big names were racing.

Race Day- Started with the alarm blasting at 4:35am, shower, gear on and time to start the triple check of equipment and gear I needed for the day. I am very calm before races and I think it’s a good way to be. A small amount of nervous energy is good but if you start stressing all that hard work you have put in can go in an instant. So now transition was set and I made my way to the start line saying G’day to one of the elite females Felicity Sheedy-Ryan and legend triathlete Courtney Atkinson on the way through. I got to know them both through the last season and sat with them at the TA Australian Champions dinner in Sydney earlier in the year. We wished each other all the best for the race and now it was time for business. On the start line I seen a couple of familiar faces from my Worlds trip to Beijing and said hello to them and threw in a bit of small talk to calm the nerves. Gun goes and we’re off! I went out pretty hard and got in quite a good position as I hit the first buoy. This is where the league background comes in handy. Anything goes and you really need to throw your weight around or you simply get dominated. I swam really well and held onto the first pack until about the 1km mark. Then I fell off the back with a couple of other guys. It didn’t worry me too much because I was still working off one of them and knew my next leg would be strong. I came out of the swim and looked at my watch. I had bettered last year’s swim split by around 100 seconds which is awesome. Big thanks to Trent Patten of Red Dog Tri (www.reddogtriathlontraining.com) for that! Next was the bike and I ripped in right from the start and picked up riders really quick which was good in a way. In these triathlons there is a no drafting rule which is tested all the time by athletes. I never draft and it gives me the shits sometimes when people cheat by sitting on your back wheel. In this case I lead the 2^nd pack and you know they are having a good draft when legend of the sport Chris “Macca” McCormack yells at the guys behind me when he passed us already heading back to Noosa. I just sucked it up and gave it to myself on the bike because I really didn’t know how the run would fair. If I was fully fit I would have raced a lot smarter. Coming back into transition on the bike I heard my name a few times cheering me on which always makes you put that extra 10% in. It’s a really good feeling and it gives you a sense of home ground advantage in a way. I got out of transition in 4^th place which I was so happy about but were my legs going to be too fried to run a quick 10km or am I going to actually finish. Its crazy the stuff that runs through your head when you are fatigued in a race. All these negatives that you have to try and turn into positives in a short amount of time. The first 2km was quick as me and Luke Farrell of the sunshine coast dropped the rest of the pack very quickly. It helps being a runner sometimes. Then in an instant BAM! There goes the leg again! I couldn’t believe it, it happened at the 2.5km split and the race was all over. I am not one to pull out of a race but when you get to this level you have to weigh it up and do the best thing for your body. Also do the best thing for you mentally. I walked/ jogged slowly back to Noosa to call it a day. People were cheering and I felt really bad about not completing the race. It is very frustrating! I made sure I gave every child that had their hands out a high 5 because I know I would have got a buzz out of that when I was a little tacker. I handed my timing chip in and told them I didn’t finish then it was off to the ever familiar medical tent to get the body half sorted. The Physio told me all the stuff I’ve heard before and it’s going to be a real challenge to get to level I want to be at in March injury free. One I am going to work hard for though. I know I can mix it with these guys now. If I had a good run to finish the race off I might have even made the podiumin the Open age category. I was also on track of an early 20’s finish overall which I am pumped about. The weekend itself was great and a good friend of mine I raced with in Beijing flew up from Melbourne and took out the 25-29 year age group. Great work Stephen Thompson! Not too bad for an Irishman. There were also some good results from my Red Dog (www.reddogtriathlontraining.com) teammates!

I’m on a bit of a break post Noosa trying to get my body right. The injury first happened back in March, in the race I won the 25-29 Australian Championship. It seems an age since I have run well in a race. I’ll do a couple of smaller Off-road Tri's over the break and have a bit of fun! Then the next big race for me will be late in March at Mooloolaba. My goal is to take out the open age group!

Images and video via: USM Events