Wednesday 6 May 2015

A win in the West!!!

Third time is a charm! I really love the event over in Busselton. This is my third year in a row I have raced here and it's always a pleasure to come back to Western Australia. Despite the 10 hour travel day, and what feels like international long haul flight, the atmosphere and race organisation is what keeps me coming back for second and third helpings (that statement also rings true for the sticky date pudding that was on offer at the presentation buffet).

Lining up on the sand for the start in a brisk 4 degree air temp was a little undesirable, and I was really struggling to stay warm, despite a decent warmup in every layer of clothing I had brought westside with me. The water was a much more inviting 19 degrees and during the swim I was determined to try and string it out as much as I could. I lead for the first half of the swim and then settled into the feet of Guy Crawford, who was setting a nice pace, for the rest of the swim. I was happy to hear that a break had formed and there were 6 of us who navigated the frosty transition to our bikes together.

In my mind, 6 was still too many people to be riding with, so I immediately went to the front once we were upon 2 wheels. I rode hard without looking back for a while. After about 10 minutes, Terenzo Bozzone came around me with some words of encouragement and we set about trying to do some damage. For the first 20 kilometers I had no fine motor control over my hands in the 4 degree air temperature and I couldn’t even press my Di2 buttons to change gears. As you can imagine, wet lycra is not the most suitable attire for these arctic conditions. My toes and fingers were so numb it hurt, but the sun started to heat things up by the second lap and I was able to resume basic motor functions a little more easily.



Terenzo and I both worked extremely well together, and it was great to see our hard riding was paying off as the time gaps kept opening to the chasers. We continued to do about 10 minute turns on the front, and we were both really motivated to lock those first two podium spots down. We were rewarded with a course record 2:02 bike split, my fastest bike time over 90 kilometers to date.
We hit T2 and Terenzo decided to forego socks, so I was immediately chasing from the start. I bridged up to him after about 1 kilometer and settled into a much more manageable pace. I sat on the shoulder of Terenzo who was pushing quite a furious pace for the first 7km lap, but I tried to remain relaxed and just go with it, tricking my mind into thinking I was comfortable. I was having disturbing flashbacks to Geelong earlier this year where I was in a similar position with Craig Alexander, who like Terenzo, is also a 5 time World Champion. I let Craig dictate the race to me back then, and I didn’t want to make the same mistake this time.



I moved to the front about half way through and started to sense that Terenzo might be starting to hurt a little bit more than I was. I was aware that he raced (and won) in Taiwan a week prior, and perhaps that was starting to catch up to him in the later stages of this race. With about 3km to go I picked the pace up a fraction, not necessarily to drop Terenzo, but to just start to hurt his legs coming into the finish. All of a sudden I noticed his breathing was a little fainter than it was a moment ago and someone yelled out that I had a 10 meter gap. I didn’t need any other encouragement and I got a surge of adrenaline and picked up the pace even more. I didn’t dare look back and just pushed to the finish line, absolutely thrilled that I didn’t get caught in another sprint finish because the Appleton track record is currently sitting at 0 from 4 sprint finishes. It sounds cliché but running down that finish chute is an indescribable feeling, and it’s always over far too quickly.

  
Terenzo crossed the line shortly after, he always races hard and he pushed me the whole way. He has been someone I have looked up to for a while, so to go toe to toe with him was an amazing experience. James Cunnama crossed the line in 3rd with a very swift 1:11 run split to complete a Team Bahrain Endurance clean sweep of the podium.

The crew of Triathlon Western Australia put on a sensational weekend, and I think I speak for everyone when I say this. They have achieved something special with this event and I am elated to join the honour roll of champions at this event.

Thanks to everyone for the messages, I really appreciate reading them all. Big thanks to my team of sponsors: Bahrain Endurance, Giant Bikes, Rudy Project, Shotz Nutrition, Scody, 3D Bike Fit, Hawkesbury Physio.

Up next for me is Cairns 70.3 on June 14th. I’d imagine it will be warmer than 4 degrees up there!

Thanks for reading!







1 comment:

  1. Hey Sam, I have just discovered your blog and have been reading it with great interest. WOW! What an inspirational guy I have for a cousin. You have certainly achieved so much in your life that I'm sure you must be so proud of all the hard work, time and outstanding effort that it is clear to see that you have put in to achieve all that you have in your young life. Congratulations in all you have accomplished and especially your most recent win at Cairns! I look forward to reading more of your blog in the future and hope you don't mind that I have added a link to your blog on my blog site, hopefully some of my readers will take a look and hopefully feel inspired too! Once again massive heartfelt congratulations from one cousin to another across the pond!

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