With a large contingent of NSTC (Northern Suburbs Tri Club) & members of my swim squad and friends competing I was naturally drawn to watching the race. I was ably assisted by Ben & Kylie from NSTC in cheering on the competitors.

The buzz of race start is always something special, it does feel different watching and not racing but exciting none the less.

The Swim was a mass start, with a mass of arms and legs churning up the water. On the bike we placed ourselves on Matthew Flinders drive (on the Hill), this is a great place to spectate and encourage competitors up a rather steep incline. The bike was 2 laps of undulating terrain. The run course again 2 laps and undulating terrain following the coast line. With a tough bike and run, this is clearly not your average 70.3 and challenges all competitors.

I had a great time watching, cheering and enjoyed being able to get some good photos. All competitors rose to the challenge of the course with many that I spoke to achieving PB’s on last year.

Port Macquarie is a great place to race or spectate, with the added bonus of plenty of good coffee shops near the start and finish lines to keep the spectators going. I will be planning to be back to watch the Ironman in May.

Over the last 6 months Bec & Kerrie trained diligently, learnt many new skills (including how to pack bikes for travel and maintaining a bike) and faced their fears head on.

Leading up to the race Kerrie picked up a foot injury, which meant no running pre race. Both were ready and keen to race. They stuck to their race plan and when it came to the run Kerrie stayed strong and positive and achieved a good result, running keeping the injury at bay. Bec was feeling strong but was struck with food poising on the bike. Finishing the bike in a good time she pushed onto the run and soldiered on with the effects of the bug taking its impact, which impacted on the overall time.  Needles to say it was a great effort for both of them to finish and I so suspect that it was due their diligent training and preparation that helped them triumph in the face of adversity. Well done I know you both are looking forward to your next races already.

From a personal point of view it was great to be back at Forster racing long distance tris again.

Forster never disappoints both as a venue and the volunteers who are always friendly and helpful, they will go out of their way to help you.

I was not expecting a great race as my training had been severley hampered over the last 4 months, but didn’t want to miss out on the chance to race. The swim was a nice one lap in Forster keys, the bike ride was a 2 lap heading south of Forster, the first lap felt nice and easy and trying to stick to my predetermined effort. By the second lap of the bike a strong southerly had blown up, making it a rather hard effort, for those who have raced previously at Forster this was little out of characteristic as we usually had a strong westerly to content with heading back into town. By about 90k my  lack of training started to show and even with my efforts to stay hydrated and keep the energy high, I had hit a wall.

Getting off the bike things did not improve, taking all my effort to keep the legs moving forward. Glad to say I finished but was considerably slower than what I would like. Everyone from the club had a great race, capped off by a nice evening meal together and a lovely breakfast by the river before heading back to reality and Sydney.

I will definitely think about returning next year to do this race.

Race day came and at 6am it was unseasonably hot and dry, with a race start of 6:20am I had made the assumption that we will almost be finished before the day starts to warm up. I was very wrong.

It was pleasing that 100% of our participants made it to the start line and we had not lost anyone to injury during the training. Everyone relied heavily on the training that was in the bank and it showed towards the end of the race when they stayed strong whilst others started to struggle. Everyone did finish, yes the heat did add a few minutes to the times, but the goal was to finish and raise funds for Cancer Research and both goals were achieved. Well done team, looking forward to the next running program.

Obviously for a race of such importance and prestige you want to be at your best. The goal was to put in a PB type performance and on an unkown course and conditions it is hard to put too many specific and achievable targets that are not controlled by outside factors. As a coach I thought it would be nice to be in the top 10 for your age, but I never mentioned this goal. Looking at the profile of the course I did think that it played to Emma’s strengths and she would race well.

On race day Emma definitely pulled out that PB performance and came home 5th in age group. A brilliant race and everyone is ecstatic with the final result. To use her words “the coaching rocks”, although I would prefer to say Emma rocks!

Since returning from Beijing Emma raced the Fixed relays at Dorney, this is a team event where every member completes all 3 legs. Happy to say that Emma’s team with Parys and CJ all from Ful-on tri club took out the win for the fastest female team and 5th fastest team overall, this result included a 5min PB over last year from Emma. I am already looking forward to see what Emma can do in 2012.

Eleanor raced the London Duathlon in September finishing a very brilliant 3rd in age group and 13th femaleoverall. This was a good way to finish the season having trained hard all year, fininshing her first half ironman and consistent performances at Olympic.

further details can be found here http://www.stivesvillage.com.au/whatson.html#Link18

The run is on Saturday 3 September, registration from 10am (race start 11am) at St Ives Village Green, with an entry fee of $10. Enjoy.

If you are training for this run or anyother events and would like some coaching, then please contact me on coaching@trifocus.com.au

From an Age group perspective, two very pleasing results with Parys being the fastest female age grouper overall, showing a nice to return to full fitness after injury & rehabilitation in the off season. Adding this victory to her Windsor Age group result in previous seasons, nice.

A more outstanding result was for Emma who took off a massive 10 minutes from last year and her previous pb and placing 3rd in age. This is a massive improvement over one season and showing that her fitness is peaking as she prepares for Beijing age group race next month. Great racing.