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2025 Australian Sprint Championships Race Report
“You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice.” — Bob Marley We flew into the Gold Coast on Saturday around lunchtime—my first time flying in so last minute for a race. I tried to stay calm, but things didn’t exactly go to plan. Time vanished quicker than expected, and I ended up more stressed than I wanted to be. To top it off, I got a flat tire during my shakeout ride. But despite the chaos, I’m incredibly grateful for the support from my family—they helped me tick off everything I needed to do before race day. Thanks to the daylight savings change, I…
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Taupo 70.3 World Championships Race Report
We touched down in New Zealand on Wednesday, just ahead of race day, and stayed at the airport for the night. Thursday, I made my way to Taupo, though not without a hiccup—our rental car had coolant issues, delaying things a bit. Finally, by Friday, I arrived in Taupo, ready for the big race, but not without a bit of drama! On Friday, I did a quick reconnaissance ride and had a heart-stopping moment. Coasting down a hill, a sudden crosswind caused me to experience terrifying speed wobbles at 80 km/h, according to my Garmin. Somehow, I managed to regain control, but it left me shaken. From that moment, I…
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Challenge Canberra Standard Triathlon Race Report
My family and I traveled to Canberra on Friday evening before the race and had some pasta at Solita. The standard (Olympic) distance race was scheduled to start at 2:30 PM on Saturday, which created a couple of challenges. The timing made fueling tricky, and the heat was intense—it was the hottest part of the day, with temperatures around 30°C. Swim Leg The swim was a deep-water mass start, which I actually enjoy because it feels like a true race. When you pass someone, you know it’s for position. I lined up on the far right, hoping for a cleaner start. I got a clean start alright—there was nothing in…
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Managing Temperatures While Racing
It was known well in advance that racing in Townsville, Australia would be a hot race. Being too hot is the enemy when it comes to performance. Ultimately, those who handled the heat best would have the greatest chance of success. For a couple years, I’ve been using a core sensor to measure my core temperature. To date I’ve not used the data for any specific training, however I find it interesting how my body responds as my core temperature changes. I’ve observed that when my core temperature exceeds 38.5, my rate of perceived effort (RPE) to perform also starts to dramatically increase. Above 39.3-39.5 and my desire to cool…
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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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Australian Standard Triathlon Championship Race Report
The day before the race, Wollongong hosted elite racing with many categories including para, juniors and senior ITU athletes. It was quite spectacular to watch, although the weather was far from ideal. I find it inspiring, although I didn’t sleep terribly well. Race morning I was in quite a good headspace though, and was excited to race. It’s been sometime since I’ve felt this way about a race. I was quietly confident I could string together a solid performance, but whether it would be enough to win.. with an Aussie AG title up for grabs I was keen to give it a crack! Swim Leg They started us on the…
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Nepean Sprint Triathlon Race Report 2024
It’s been a long time since I did a sprint, about a year. However, I wanted world championship qualification points towards the mixed team relay being held next year in Wollongong. The night before the race the weather was terrible, heavy rains and lots of flash flooding made travel quite dangerous. My family and I stayed at my in-laws place, which meant we avoided the worst of the weather, however, we all had terrible sleep or maybe should say not much sleep at all! I got up nice and early to get to the Regatta Centre with plenty of time only to find out the race start was delayed. It…
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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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