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Cairns 70.3 Race Report 2024
Years ago when I didn’t do triathlon, we happened to be on holiday at Palm Cove while the Cairns Ironman took place. Ever since then, the event has been of interest to me. With the long course world championships being hosted in Townsville in August, Cairns 70.3 seemed like the perfect prep race to get some familiarity with the conditions likely to be experienced. It certainly didn’t disappoint being among the best courses I’ve ever raced. We arrived the Thursday prior, which allowed enough time to go for a snorkelling day trip (on Friday) before shifting focus onto the race. I was generally relaxed, and quietly confident although my run…
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Husky Ultimate Triathlon Race Report 2024
I was up at 3:30am, it was always going to be an early start when I had an hour drive to the race venue. My amazing wife travelled down to support me, and we arrived at Husky at 5:10am. Plenty of time to get sorted and ready to race. I even had time to do a short swim warmup before the professional race started. Swim Leg I was the third person into the water for the 30-39 AG rolling start. Straight away I managed to bridge to the lead two, and sat on one of their feet almost to the first buoy. I felt them slow far too much and…
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Hobart 70.3 Race Report 2024
I was quite relaxed leading into the Hobart 70.3. Although, training had been going well, I’d been travelling + had some sickness in the weeks prior. I wasn’t as fit as I might have been otherwise, but on the upside I wasn’t really fatigued either. My focus was on getting a good training stimulus and seeing where my current fitness was at. No expectations, and no limits on what I was ‘supposed’ to achieve. I arrived Thursday before the event, which was a nice change from the usual arrival the day before. However, the weather had me a little anxious as I struggled to ride the course with 45-50km/h winds…
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Challenge Canberra Race Report 2023
Just after a storm passed, I drove to Canberra Friday evening with the family. The weather wasn’t looking good for the weekend, but although I was a little worried about bike safety, I was committed to racing. Saturday morning I got up and did my pre-race spin/run in light rain, and then the weather started to improve! At registration and bike check-in the weather looked great, until a heavy rain shower hit, but the forecast for race day was now sunny. Mentally I felt a little different than usual about this race. After absolutely smashing all expectations (and myself) at Western Sydney 70.3 I wasn’t hungry to test myself. I…
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Western Sydney 70.3 Race Report 2023
The day before the race during my pre-race spin and run, my shins were quite sore during the run. It had me quite worried, but I tried not to dwell on it and just prayed it would be okay on race day. I’m not a morning person. I hate early starts, yet I woke up before my alarm at 4:15 am race morning. I always try to organise as much as possible the night before to remove any thought process when I’m still sleepy. I mindlessly ate and prepared bottles etc. and it was then time to hop in the car and drive to the race venue. I arrived, signed…
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Australian Long Course Triathlon Championship Race Report
Race morning. I arrived at the start area a touch after 5:30 am, giving myself over an hour to get set up and ready before the race started. I felt surprisingly relaxed, probably because my fitness wasn’t as good as it’s been, and I knew I could only do my best on the day. Whether that was enough or not I’d no idea, but a top 5 finish was the goal and I looked forward to having some battles to get the best out of myself. Swim Leg I made sure to get near the front of the swim start, and saw a face I knew, James lining up. Wished…
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70.3 World Championships Race Report
https://lukejonestri.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/IMG_7742.mov Morning started mega early, well before dawn. Thankfully, my wife dropped me into town so I could get the shuttle to the swim start. I arrived shortly after 6am at Sand Hollow, plenty of time to check tires and get encased in neoprene, ready for the swim. https://lukejonestri.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/IMG_7745.mov It was freezing, but thanks to a tip from Ben (also racing Kiama tri club!) I had some bed socks to discard just before the start along with a reflective heat sheet wrapped around my head/neck. I spent most of my time in the start queue looking for some other Aussies I thought who were racing in my AG (without luck).…
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