So Freo Triathlon, been looking forward to this one for a while. I love the sprint distance as it is quick and this event only had a 400m swim which is good for me as its my weakest link and it means that the others in my age group had less time to get away from me.
Eleta myself and Ollie had been staying on the beach in Mandurah for the last few days so we were practicing open water swims every day to get the confidence up, also due to slightly cooler temperatures Stephen Doyle had decided to allow wetsuits which always makes it easier for me.
F4L Triathlon Coaching had a large presence at this triathlon and together with the new flash tent we were certainly getting noticed.
We started with the briefing on the beach watched the enticers start and cheered a couple of the F4L Juniors: Clancy (Quick) and Trigg (Faulkner) out of the water then a quick dash back to the tent for us to put our wetsuits on.
Back to the beach and a warm up swim in the water before a quick silly picture on the beach and it was nearly time to start. As I am nearly the same age as Paul (our coach) I have the honor of being in the same age group (not fair he always beats me). The swim is a rectangle deep-water start,
Paul starts at the front in the middle and I start at the front on the outside, that’s the last time I see Paul for a while as he is off like a rocket. I have a great swim staying out of trouble and cruising around the outside of everyone at the buoys as they all get tangled up. Like Nemo I say to myself “just keep swimming” or is it Dory I’m not sure, but I come out of the water in 7th place. Long run to transition and plenty of time to get the wetsuit off.
Into T1 and a good quick transition onto the bike and off onto the six lap course, I like the bike and it was a flat course with plenty of turns a bit difficult to get into a great rhythm, but it went ok with no dramas. Now into T2 and then to my best part the run. I was quick off the bike (transition training on first Wednesday each month definitely helping) and wasted no time racking my bike, but had a problem with my right shoe and lost at least 15 to 20 seconds having to get it on!!!!!!
Now I’m off on the run and feeling pretty good trying to catch up to some of those that can swim better than me, starting to pick them off one by one, running comfortably at about 4.05min per km. I soon saw Paul who shouted go faster and then Chris and Steve, and everyone else too. I did the first lap and then started the second Eleta was geeing my on at the turn around and I noticed my pace had increased slightly and I came home running 3.50min per km which isn’t bad for this fat old boy as you all know me.
All in all I had a great race finishing 5th in my age group with of course Paul our leader as the winner. I loved the race and cant wait for my next battle against myself (and maybe a few other competitors too)
All our F4L Triathlon Coaching Team had great races at Freo and I think most of them either had a podium finish or were in the top 10. Well done everyone you are all awesome – James Berry
