The inaugural City of Perth Triathlon was held to celebrate the opening of Perth’s brand new Elizabeth Quay development. It would be the first time racers and spectators could explore the new waterfront. The F4L Triathlon Coaching athletes turned up in force!
For me (Naomi Evans), this was going to be my first race since my disastrous attempt at Busso last December. I wasn’t exactly thrilled about racing!
The 750m swim was a deep water start from the jetty, out under the new bridge, then back in again. I was competing in the 20-29 age group along with Maddie and as our wave time approached, we reluctantly headed to the start. The water looked a little murky… I was hoping my experience of swimming in Salford Quay would prepare me for the dark, silty swim! Maddie and I jumped in and chatted with some other girls to pass the time, meanwhile pretending not to notice the jellyfish that kept touching our feet! The start buzzer went off and the usual madness of the swim start followed. The water was dark and dirty and full of jellies. But I eventually found a nice bit of open water and the second half of the swim went much smoother. I climbed the ladder to get out of the quay and figured I was roughly somewhere in the middle of the pack… time to catch up on the bike leg!
The 20km bike leg was a flat, fast course comprising 3 laps of Mount’s Bay Road. As soon as I was out of transition, I put my head down and focused on reeling in as many girls as I could. The turn around also gave me a bit of a boost as that is where the F4L support crew were cheering like crazy! Because my wave was one of the later starts, by now most of the other F4lers were out on the run. I caught a glimpse of Cate, Caitlin and Lachy as they were sprinting home. I’m not sure they herd me shouting though! I finished the bike course and guessed I had moved up to somewhere in the top 10. Great! Now I just had to hold them off in the run!
I quickly racked my bike and set off on the 5km run. Hello jelly legs! The run was out along Mount’s Bay Road with a turn around at the Swan Brewery back to the Quay and finishing by running over the new bridge. I reached the brewery feeling pretty good and had the bridge in my sights.
Unfortunately my legs would not do what I told them and my pace dropped to a slow shuffle. But at least I could see the bridge! I finally reached the bridge and sprinted up one side thinking I had made the finish line… I was devastated to find out there was still 1.5km to go! My heart sunk as I plodded on and unfortunately got passed by more and more of my age group competition! I managed a second sprint up and over the bridge 1.5km later finishing in a slightly disappointing 12th place.
Elizabeth Quay was a great place to race with a scenic course, perfect for spectators. Afterwards we were able to relax on the grass with a cold smoothie whilst waiting for the presentations. F4L athletes were competing in nearly all age groups across the sprint and enticer events. We had some great results as a team but special mention to those who got onto the podium. Well done to Catherine who finished 2nd, Clancy in 3rd, Trig in 3rd and The Jedi in 2nd!
Special thanks also to our amazing F4L support crew and photographers! You guys rock!
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