Ironman Western Australia 2010

It’s been a long year and I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’m glad it’s behind me. My final race for this year was Ironman Western Australia a place where I surprised myself two years ago with an 8hrs 32 Ironman on Debut. I went into the race this year questioning whether I had the ability to back up my previous performance with a similar effort but I was prepared to do everything within my power to give myself every chance of having a solid result. I felt good race morning; I felt fresh and relatively relaxed considering what was ahead of me. After my bike was setup in transition I headed over to the swim start for my warm up, usually when I warm up I use it was a gauge of how I’m feeling on the day and I can honestly say I was feeling pretty good. I started the swim along side good friend and Coach Courtney Ogden who in the days leading up to Ironman WA was emitting this energy that was different to previous Ironmans at which I was in his company. I felt comfortable and thought that it was well within my ability to stay with the lead group for the majority if not all of the swim but this wasn’t to be. From about 500m into the swim I just started to feel like I was fighting with my wetsuit and found it impossible to get my stroke rate up. This is something that has happened to me in the past and is always in the back of my mind before every wetsuit swim because time lost in the swim can be the difference between your best ever race and making up the numbers.

As we approached the half way point of the swim I was off the back of the lead group and the gap was continuing to get bigger as I found myself falling further into no mans land. On the second half of the swim I just felt like I had not done a single ounce of swim training and with a few hundred meters to go I was picked up by the second group where I managed to pace off the leader of the group. I stumbled as I entered the change tent and fumbled my way through my gear. It was sloppy and I was glad to hop on my bike.

Once I was on my bike some wise words that were given to me the night before the race ran through my mind, “No matter what happens keep your head in the race”. With the swim behind me there was nothing I could do to change what happened but I do have some control over what happens on the bike so I set out to ride the pace Courtney had trained me to ride. Early in the bike there was a new out and back section where I was able to see the damage that was done in the swim and to be honest I felt it could have been much worse. As I approached the first out and back turn around it was obvious that there were guys that I would not be able to catch during the bike leg but at the same time there were a couple of guys I new I could and with about 165km to go on the bike I just stuck to the plan and tried to put my body through the least amount of stress possible. After the second turn around in Lap 1 I was picked up by a couple of riders one of which was really moving and I decided to take a little bit of a risk and use him as a pacer to get upto a couple of guys who were dropped by the chase group who at this time were in pursuit of Luke Bell, Pete Jacobs and Courtney Ogden who was quickly closing in on the two leaders.


As we finished the first of 3 60km lap I was feeling really good, and once again my performance in Busselton was providing me with a pleasant surprise. Early in the second lap of the bike we picked up one of the per race favorites Scott Neyedli and Guy Crawford, at this point I decided that these guys were riding at a tempo that closer to what I had trained to do and it was in my best interests to get back to sticking much more closely to efforts Courtney had trained me to race at. As we progressed though the second lap Of the bike I hit a rough patch at 100km and for a split second the thought crossed my mind that oh man I’ve over done it again and it was going to be Ironman Canada revisited but I focused on fuelling and in no time I was on the other side of the rough patch and I was feeling relatively good again. Once again I had this positive feeling of exceeding my expectations and I was starting to think that another top 10 was well within my grasp, that was until about 2km out from the turn around for lap 3. In the 8 years I have participated in triathlon I’ve been lucky in the way that I have never experienced the unpleasant surprise of a flat tire, on December the 5th 2010 that all changed. 2km out from starting Lap number 3 I found myself wrestling with my rear tire trying to get it off and for anyone who hasn’t experienced a flat tire in a race it feels exactly how you imagined it would, It’s like someone pulling the rug from under your feet. I felt like I was standing on the side of the road forever and once the group I was riding with headed back out of town the feeling sunk in that my day of exceeding expectations was over.


After 15mins on the side of the road I decided to jog back into town and call it a day, or so I thought. After I jogged 1km up the road one of the support vehicles did a UTurn and offered to change my tire, I informed the guys that I was calling it a day when they insisted that I didn’t want to end the day on a flat. Within a couple of minutes they wrestled my tubular tire off the rim and put my spare on, inflated it and I was on my way. I went round for lap 3 well over 30mins behind but after the guys changed my tire I couldn’t possibly just stop the race there. Heading out for lap 3 I was not riding as well as before the flat and after about 10km into lap 3 I got really hungry, I developed this craving for a hamburger but all I could do was take a couple of mouthfuls of Gel and I picked up a bottle of coke to try and curb my craving. Unfortunately after 140km it had become clear to me that my day was over , I was struggling to maintain any kind of tempo that represented goal Ironman race pace and I was starving. At the end of lap 3 my head was no longer in the race and I called it a day.


After pulling out of the race my attention turn to supporting Courtney and when I say supporting Courtney that means hiding so he doesn’t see me because I knew he was on his way to his second Ironman Victory and that was at the half way mark in the marathon!
Heading out for lap 3 Courtney was still trailing Luke Bell who was running well but after leading the race from the gun had the inherited risk of racing from the front of BLOWING UP! At the end of lap 3 Courtney was in the lead and I knew that from this point there was no way he was going to let anyone take this race away from him and 7km later we got see Courtney Claim his second Ironman victory.
In Penticton Canada in 2009 it became clear to me that if I was going to continue to progress as an athlete I needed to make a change and after seeing Courtney claim yet another podium finish it was clear to me that he knows what it takes to win an Ironman. After another 12months of just missing out on that top step it is so good to see Courtney finally claim the victory he has deserved for so long.
Normally it is quite the mood killer falling such a long way from your goals but with Courtney’s victory and some of the awesome people we met over the week it was impossible to not enjoy yourself!

Now I would like to make some special mentions:
First I have to thanks Sue and Greg Mackenzie, Sue and Greg welcome my girlfriend Katie and I into their amazing home in Busselton and could not of made us feel anymore welcome. Greg has been a long time Supporter of Courtney through Pharmacy 777, his down to earth positive attitude no doubt has a positive affect on Courtney and his racing. I look forward to hopefully visiting Sue and Greg at the Mac Shack again sometime in the near future!

I also have to send a shout out to the legendry members of THE OG SQUAD, The Brads, Viv and his lovely wife Emma, Simon, Rick and Rachel. I have never had so much fun at an awards party where I didn’t drink and didn’t race well, You guys made the night and I look forward to seeing you all again.


I apologies to anyone I left out, it doesn’t mean you are any less legendary I just have a poor memory!
As always I have to thank my parents for supporting me from the very beginning and I have to thank my Lovely girlfriend who puts up with me waking her up early in the morning before deciding to sleep in and just swim during the day.
Finally to sign off on 2010 I have to Thank Courtney and his lovely wife Raija, when I contacted Courtney 12 months ago I had serious doubts of whether I wanted to continue with triathlon an after talking with Courtney everything felt fresh and new again. 2010 threw some challenges our way that once again had me doubting my ability and the whole way through Courtney has shown faith in me and my abilities and kept me looking towards the future. I have a huge amount of respect for Courtney and seeing him succeed inspires me more then watching past Hawaii videos. I look forward to working towards my goals with Courtney and have no doubt that with his guidance I will once again excel on the race course!


I also have to that Rob from Kestrel for helping me out with my Airfoil Pro this year, I love my bike and every Triathlete should have one.
I also would like to thank Barb and Gunter From Skinfit Australia who are my main sponsor for remaining positive through such a tough year, for anyone interested you can order a catalogue from Skinfit.com.au!

Here’s to 2011!