2025 Australian Standard Championships Race Report
Risk, Resilience & Racing in Wollongong
About a week before Wollongong, it hit me—leaving my world champs qualification to the last race of the season wasn’t the smartest strategy. What if I flatted? What if I crashed? This was my home worlds, and I really wanted to be there.
I’d been managing a few niggles leading up to race day, so confidence wasn’t exactly sky-high. But as always, when the gun goes off, I give it everything I’ve got. The forecast didn’t help—unpredictable weather loomed—but that’s racing, and we were all facing the same conditions.
Race morning flew by in a blur—as it always does. A late change from non-wetsuit to wetsuit-legal kept everyone on their toes. I adjusted my transition setup just in case the rain hit mid-race and made my way to the start. No turning back now.
Swim Leg
The rolling start had us going two at a time. Travis and I lined up together, ready to push each other. He surged immediately, and I tucked in behind—until I didn’t. I kept drifting right, falling out of his draft and then scrambling to get back. But by the 200m mark, the elastic had snapped.
From there, it was solo mode. I zeroed in on my form, worked hard to pick clean lines around the buoys, and wove through the swim traffic. The Wollongong course has so many turns, it’s hard to maintain rhythm. I found myself drag racing a few times but often eased up to grab a draft and conserve energy. Call it a 60/40 split between solo swimming and drafting. The swim was short, time: 19:23
Transition 1
Out of the water and onto the sand, I peeled off the wetsuit and got my helmet on. Then I spotted Greg—a solid swimmer—in transition too. That was a confidence boost. Maybe my swim is coming together? Bike in hand, I ran out of transition in 1:22
Bike Leg
My mount wasn’t perfect, but it got the job done. With the first hill just ahead, I focused on getting into my shoes and building momentum. Suddenly, Ben from my tri club flew past. I handled the technical descent smoothly and got into a rhythm.
I made the decision to chase Ben—he was about 50m up the road. A slight twinge in my hamstring made me adjust and drive more with my quads. At the far turnaround, I saw Travis about a minute ahead.
After 5km, I finally reeled in Ben, only for him to surge again on the next climb. That became the story of the ride—a yo-yo battle. I’d close the gap, then lose it again. The time trial section had me digging deep, eyes locked forward, fighting to stay in contact.
By the third lap, the fatigue was real, but I wasn’t quite in the pain cave—yet. I still hadn’t caught sight of Travis again. Head down, I was pushing as hard as I dared. Then I spotted a Travis lookalike. I made the pass, gave some encouragement, and rolled into transition feeling solid. Bike split: 57:33
Transition 2
“Feeling good” lasted exactly until I had to put my shoes on. Racked the bike, helmet off, laced up, and ran for the exit. T2 time: 1:20.
Run Leg
I had to will myself into pace. Tired legs, uphill start, headwind—just brutal. I figured I might be leading… or not. It’s hard to know who’s ahead in these races. I was struggling. Stitch setting in. The real race wasn’t with Travis now—it was with myself.
Then came the punch: near the far turnaround, I saw Travis heading back. I wasn’t in the lead—I was two minutes down, with precious little road left.
Mentally, that was rough. But I’ve been here before. You never know what can happen. I went all-in. The stitch wouldn’t quit, but I adjusted my breathing, stayed calm, and it slowly faded. Momentum returned.
At the final lap, I clocked the gap. Only 10–15 seconds gained. I’d need to claw back over 20 seconds per km. Unlikely—but still, I pushed. I counted down the final 2.5km. 8 minutes… 7… 6…
With 1km to go, I was practically sprinting. Crowds lined the course. Suddenly, two people stepped right into my path with 800m to go. I committed to going left. They jumped that way too. I braced—and collided hard with one of them. I didn’t stop, just kept charging.
Turning into the chute, I saw Travis cross the line. Too good today. I followed shortly after to finish 2nd in AG. I’d qualified for Worlds in October. Goal achieved.
But I felt terrible for the person I knocked over. They shouldn’t have crossed the course mid-race, but I hope they’re okay.
Run split: 34:00
Total time: 1:53:41
Learnings
Sharpen the swim, especially around buoys. It’s normal to lose momentum through the turns, but I’m often so gassed that I don’t accelerate back to pace quickly enough. That’s a key area to keep refining—better technique, better control under fatigue.
Get stronger on the bike. Short-course racing demands riding above threshold and still being able to run well. That means embracing discomfort in training, especially through hard brick sessions. The more I normalise that intensity, the less shocking it’ll feel on race day. It’s not supposed to feel easy.
Prioritise consistency. This is the trickiest piece. You need to train hard enough to spark progress, but overdoing it can derail consistency. For me, the challenge is leaving ego at the door, listening to the body, and being smart. If I want to show up in peak form come October, that balance is everything.
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Copyright © Luke Jones
