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2021 Husky Ultimate – Australian Long Course Championships Race Report
After a year of no long course racing, I was excited to line up on the start line for the Husky Ultimate triathlon. Doubling as the Australian long course championships, an excellent field had shown up. I always find it somewhat intimidating seeing all the other fit looking triathletes at a race start. Many thoughts race through my mind, but the main 2 are: 1) I’m not strong enough to keep up and 2) You can do this! Swim leg The battle rages as we file into the pen for a rolling start. As someone who is driven by competition I detest rolling starts, but there’s no choice but to…
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NSW Club Champions – Forster
The NSW club championships race was taking part 4 hours north of Sydney in a place called Forster. I arrived late the evening before the race and did a quick drive of the bike course before going to bed. I awoke well before dawn to get ready to race. I registered and got set up in transition just as the sun rose. My start wave was to be the 2nd one to go at 6:05am. I noted that there was a big swell from the storm the previous night. And just like that, we were racing. Swim Leg The swim was a rolling start, and I started mid pack. Running…
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PTC Duathlon Sprint Race
I signed up for a sprint triathlon but with a couple days to go, due to poor water quality they changed the event to a duathlon format. I picked this event as a little tune up for a race the following week and came into it with no expectations carrying a lot of training fatigue. With a fairly relaxed start of 9:30am, there was no need for any early starts. Setting up in transition things looked quite sparse with only my bike and helmet needed. I genuinely had no idea how my legs would fair, but the goal was simple; just do the best I can. Run leg 1 We…
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Nepean Race Report 2020
When I think of racing in triathlon, images of warmth and sun come to mind, set around beautiful tropical waters. Nothing could be further from the reality of conditions for the Nepean triathlon. It was cold, wet and the freshwater lake to swim in isn’t appealing with its brown murky colours. With a strict no spectators allowed policy due to COVID19 restrictions, the check-in was a little different and had the feel of passing through customs at the airport. It was all very smooth and well-executed. After setting up in transition I was looking forward to putting my wetsuit on to get warm, but after looking around and seeing nobody…
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PTC Sprint Distance Race Report
Racing Again! It’s exciting to do a triathlon after such a long break from racing. At the end of the triathlon season this year I’d decided to not race until late August or September to allow me to get on top of some injuries. But when events are being constantly cancelled, you wonder whether you’ll ever be able to toe the start line again. Although I did not taper, I was looking forward to testing myself out in a sprint triathlon at the regatta centre. Swim Leg It surprised me to have a mass swim start, but the field was small and quickly spread out. The wind was whipping up…
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10km Run TT – Race Report
Breaking 35mins (3:30/km average) for a 10km has been a goal of mine for some time now. With COVID-19 still in full swing, finding events to test yourself at are few, thus when the offer to join a small invitational event with the Delta run crew I jumped at the opportunity. Some of the best runners within Sydney are part of the Delta run crew and so I was grateful for an invitation. With many runners much faster than me, the opportunity provided all the motivation and people to chase that I’d need to reach my goal. They split the 10km run time trial into 3 waves. Wave 1: <40mins, wave…
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Big Husky 2020 Race Report
The Husky triathlon is a race I’d been looking forward to. It’s the last race I was focused on for this season and I was quite nervous about it. I was even a little fearful after hurting my achilles only 2 weeks prior to the event, wondering whether I could finish the run and if I did, would it be at my long-term determent? I had the best sleep (only woke twice through the night) I’ve had pre-race and was awakened by my alarm. Staying close to the transition was a bonus, as it made it reduced my stress getting all set up and ready for the day ahead. I…
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Canberra Triathlon Race Report
With less than a week to go till race day, they announced that the standard distance triathlon would become a duathlon because of water quality problems. 5km run, 40km bike, 10km run. My goal of trying to break 2 hours for the standard distance would have to wait for another time. I was confident of going under 2hrs now, and the new mini-goal became to ride 58:xx for the 40km bike leg. Staying within 5km from the race start I had a nice little ride with the sunrise for the backdrop. Often I’m a little stressed but this time I found it relaxing. I think the fact it was a…
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Sun Run Aquathon Race Report
It exciting to do my first race for 2020. The sun run aquathon is an event I’ve taken part in since its launch in 2018. I got to the event nice and early to give myself plenty of time to warm up, and before I knew it I was standing on the start line waiting for the gun to go off. Looking around, I saw two athletes (John and Keegan) in the Australian ITU AG triathlon suits. Mental note they are probably the main competition to monitor. Run Leg 1 Seconds before the gun went off this dude with no shirt barges past to get a couple steps (false start…
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Taupo 70.3 Race Report
A week after western Sydney 70.3 I was getting excited by the prospect of racing at Taupo the following week. A fever on Sunday just 6 days out started to change that. I was still hopeful to recover but as the days evaporated, and only 2 sleeps till race day, I was fearful about even being able to finish let alone race. Thank God my stomach somewhat settled on the penultimate race day. A diet of New Zealand honey (yum!) and bread was all I dared eat, different to my normal carb load. I tried to not overdo it on the food, else it brings on the discomfort I’d been…
Copyright © 2020 Luke Jones