photo by Marcel Hilger 1st - 4:27:35
Swim 28:07 (13th)
Bike 2:36:48 (1st)
Run 1:18:46 (1st) run course record
photo by Petko Beier I walked down to the water to get in a quick warm up and saw all these AG athletes playing in mud. Like knee-deep mud! What is this all about I thought. As it turns out, I had no choice but to join them. It was both gross and fun at the same time. I sunk down to my knee and then saw other athletes buried to their waist. I tried to get out but it was so thick that the only way out was to face plant into it and dig your way out. The dam was a "fresh water" mud bath. Good for your skin right?
photo by Marcel Hilger Judging by how many competitors left me for dead at the start of the swim, this race was full of good swimmers. For the first 100m I hoped that maybe I would just get dragged along. That's always my hope... but it's never happened yet and didn't happen today...maybe next time. The front couple 'packs' got away while I did my usual start-of-the-race-ritual of making splashes and throwing my arms around in the air until I was in clear water with no-one around me. I exited the water in 13th place 3:30 behind Jodie and about 2:30 behind the first little pack that took shape on the bike. I was excited to get out of the water and put my feet on the ground, where they belong. The first five years of my life I grew up in a small country town in South Australia playing with my friends - cows, chickens and sheep! I then moved to Queensland, to the beach. I loved the beach but I think I was the kid building sand castles and running around, NOT swimming.
photo by Marcel Hilger I jumped on my bike and hit the road. The roads were dry and the weather was clear and sunny... perfect for riding. I passed a number of women in ones and two's early on and then passed a group of five girls at about 20km, but I knew I would still be a bit further from the leaders yet. I had a pretty good idea that Jodie would be in the lead of the race at this point, and be possibly taking another athlete or two along with her. I didn't know what place I was in yet, but I was surprised at how many girls were already out on their bikes in front of me. It made it enjoyable though, catching and passing so many people. Maybe that's secretly why I give everyone a head start... because catching and passing is good fun. The bike course was awesome. I loved it. There was not much flat riding, it was either uphill, downhill or technical. It was just how I like my normal long rides on the weekends. At about 35km I thought I caught a glimpse of Jodie pulling a little train of girls behind her. By 40km they were in clear sight during a long gradual climb. I could recognise Jodie and 3 others behind. Not having checked the bike course prior to racing I didn't know exactly what the climb had in store for me, but I remember Jared had said it would be long. I decided quickly that this long climb might be my best chance for a while to go straight past without risking getting caught up in their tight pack.
photo by Marcel Hilger By 42km I was in the lead. And the climb was thankfully still going. I think the climb might've been about 8km in total. But as we know, what goes up must come down. Being light-weight I'm not always the fastest getting down a mountain so it helped to have a buffer by the top of the climb. On the descents I peddled hard where I could and enjoyed the windy course when I couldn't pedal. I was like a fat kid on a smartie, I didn't want it to end. It was awesome... up, down, in, out, around, tight, in the forest. Jared had told me to ride like the bike course ended at 82k, because from there to the finish was all down hill. You could not possibly pedal. Well I couldn't at least. It was FAST! Luckily in races my fear goes out the window. I tried at times to go super-aero like I've seen others do and sit on my frame but these are things you just don't wanna practice in training with cars on the road flying past. It's not worth risking a crash. I got as low as I could. With a drink bottle cage and bike computer between my aero bars I couldn't get my head down low so I rested my chin off to the side on my elbow pad. It was actually quite comfortable there. My head and neck got a rest but the rest of my body was cramping up hanging over the front of my bike. The last few kms were bumpy, technical and I wasn't exactly sure if the dismount line would pop up without warning so I was playing it safe towards the end ready in case I had to jump off the bike at any moment. (As it turned out, I was told later on that I missed Daniela's bike course record by 6 seconds... so close, but so far...)
photo by Marcel Hilger The dismount line did eventually come up very quickly about 50m after a 90degree turn. I jumped off and handed over Froggy, my new bright green SWORKS Shiv to the bike catchers and grabbed my gear for the run leg. After a quick little interview in T2, I was out onto the run course. My legs felt good straight away. That's usually the case for me following hilly, technical bike courses where I'm not on my aero bars for 90km straight with no break. I had about a 2min lead in T2. The run course was really cool too. A lot of it was on a gravel path that winded between the trees and along a creek and through a park. It was four laps of gradual up in one way and gradual down the other way. There were tonnes of spectators all over the course which tends to make the run go a little quicker. I ran solid for two laps before Jared yelled to "save some bullets for the next race". I really wanted to test my run fitness with a hard 21k to give me a good idea what I can run, but with the long 24hr flight back to AUS the next day and the World Champs in just 3weeks, it was a sensible idea to coast through the 2nd half of the run and save my effort.
inHaus photo Running through the winners banner is always such a great feeling but even moreso when you're up against a great field and at a championship race. This win was big for me right now and to add it to my Full Ironman European title 6 weeks ago perfectly book-ended my 2016 Euro adventure. Thorsten was kind enough to update me with the stat I became the first athlete to win both European titles in the same year. That's a pretty awesome feeling! A big thanks to Ironman for their invite and support to race these two European championships. This is my first time racing Ironman events in Europe and I had amazing time. I look forward to returning in the future.
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