Luke Harrop Memorial - Gold Coast Triathlon Race Report

Gold Coast Tri - Luke Harrop Memorial Triathlon - Australian Sprint Championships
Date - 7/4/19
Distance - 750m swim/20km bike/5km run
Result – 6th Place 16-19 Years Female

The Gold Coast Tri is always a special event to celebrate the life of Luke Harrop. This year was especially special as I was fortunate enough to attend the launch of the Luke Harrop Foundation. This was such a touching event and something I would have never have had the opportunity to do without being privileged enough to be one of the SCTA Junior Scholarship holders. I got to hear stories about Luke from the people that were closest to him and learn about Luke’s life.

It was so moving to hear the way his family and friends spoke about his character and some of their favourite moments with Luke. It was amazing to see the triathlon community come together and share stories with younger generations, like me, that are driven in the sport.

By going to this event, I felt more connected to Luke’s story and it gave more meaning to the race. It reminded me how much triathlon means to me and appreciate being able to do what I love. I truly hope that this event will only grow in popularity next year as it gives athletes the meaning behind the race and why we do it, and I think people should be reminded of how special this triathlon is to the triathlon community.

Swim
I was pretty happy with my swim as I came out in an alright position and I felt comfortable with how my body was feeling. The swim wasn’t too rough either which helped me settle into my rhythm easier and faster, which helped me set a good pace for the duration of the swim leg.

Bike
My bike was honestly not one of my best as I just couldn’t find my rhythm and I just couldn’t get comfortable. This effected my pace on the bike and I felt like a lost a bit of time as a result. My bike has been my weakest leg for a while now but this is understandable as I don’t have the opportunity to get out on the road or ride as much as I did at home now I am at boarding school, but this is something that I hope to work on in the future and I can only get better from here.

Run
My legs felt pretty sluggish when I initially came off the bike but I managed to settle into a good pace and have a decent run. My run is my strongest leg out of the three so it is good to be able to rely on that to bring me home, however this will be more useful to me once I get my bike up and improve my swim a bit as I will be closer to the front girls and have more of a chase. At the moment I am just that little bit too behind to be able to use the strength of my run as much as I would like but as I said before I can only get better with each training session and each race I add to the list.

Overall, I was happy with my race and had a really great weekend. Big thank you to Toby Coote for being able to get me a ticket to the Luke Harrop Foundation launch and for always supporting me before and after each race. Huge well done to the SCTA team, this weekend we had a huge number of podium finishers and performed really well. Congrats team!

As always, a massive thank you to all of the sponsors and supporters of the SCTA Junior Scholarship Program, I appreciate all of the work you guys do for me, especially the Event Crew for the entry into this weekend’s race.
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Cheers, Macey :)