Jan 16th: Waikiki Enduro

Dave Budge and Chris Letts were kind enough to extend an invitation to me to race in the Trievents Waikiki Enduro. The Trievents lads have upwards of 30 years experience in triathlon between them and know how to organise a safe and enjoyable race. I certainly put my stamp of approval on the Trievents series. Further, Dave and Chris were able to entice Peter Robertson to race. The opportunity to see a world champ in action is rare in this neck of the woods and it proved to be a treat for the local athletes and spectators alike.

Personally, I was looking forward to the challenge of competing against "Robbo" and attempting to turn the tables on young Sean O'Neill, who got the better of me the previous week in the State Sprint Champs. Jeremy Drake was always going to be a threat and there was an unknown quantity by the name of Duncan McKerracher, a British elite team member over here on holiday. He attests that it is a bit cold back home at present. Yeah, whinging Poms! I was lucky that Kelly was kind enough to point out this wildcard to me just prior to the race.

Just after the gun sounded for the swim, a group of five quickly established a gap over the rest of the field. Initially, I was swimming at the front end of this group, but the other four started to pull away slightly and a lack of concentration meant I did not latch onto the last set of feet as the train went through. As a result, I exited the water around 20 secs behind this group which included Robbo, Duncan, Jeremy and young Daniel Loughnan.

After a typically pathetic transition, I set about chasing down the leading four in the 20k first cycle leg. A very blustery cross wind was blowing and it made the going tough and dangerous at times on the bike. I was lucky enough to catch Daniel just after the first five kilometer turn around point and caught the leading trio just after the 10 kilometer turn around point adjacent to the transition area. By the end of the first cycle, I had a lead in the vicinity of 20-30 seconds and images of a great victory were flickering inside my delusional brain. It was back to reality as Robbo ran past in the first 1500 meters of the first 5k run. He didn't sail off into the distance as I expected, but had a good buffer entering transition for the second swim. The Brit also passed me at the 4k mark of the first run and enjoyed a small advantage going into the second swim.

The second swim was an experience indeed. Trying to run through the soft sand, wade through the shallows and then finally swim with a heart rate in the vicinity of 180 bpm is a bit of a task to say the least. I have no doubt that both Robbo and Duncan handled that better than I did and both extended their leads slightly.

After exiting the water for the second time, the following cycle and run did not look like an attractive proposition at all. I soldiered on and caught and passed Duncan at the five kilometer point of the second 10 k cycle leg and decreased Robbo's lead somewhat. As there was no hope of chasing down Robbo in the last 3 kilometer run, I set my focus on holding off Duncan and finishing in second position. I knew this was going to be a challenge, however, after seeing how well Duncan tackled the first 5k. Lo and behold, Duncan cruised past with about a kilometer to run and I had nothing left in the tank to respond, so I had to settle for third.

I am quite sure that Robbo eased up a bit on the final run and just "got the job done". It was pleasing, neverthless, to finish around 30 seconds in arrears and shows that my long course training is progressing very well.

Congratulations must go to Trievents for putting on another great race and thanks to all the volunteers and sponsors who made it possible. I must, at this point, thank my own sponsors, 100% Cycles, Ryders Eyewear and Kensington Travel, for providing the support to help me do my job.

Congratulations to all those who competed in challenging conditions, I will see you at a Trievents race in the near future.