Queensland Schools Triathlon Champs Race Report

Race Report- Queensland schools Triathlon Champs
Distance - 300/10/2
Result - 1st Place Junior Boys 
Qualified for Queensland Team for National Schools Triathlon Champs

It was that time of year again, state schools 2019, one of, if not the biggest race of the season. I had extremely high expectations for this race, coming off a great season so far and was training well, I was ready to fire. There is a lot riding on this race whether its making the Queensland team for national schools or taking out a state title and for this year I had my eyes set on the state title.

My race was 300m swim, 10km ride and a 2km run, so short but fast style of racing. The main plan for this race that was discussed with coach was simple,  setting the swim and bike up to execute on the run, and it worked, I had to work for it a bit more then I wanted too, but got the job done.

Pre- race nutrition was the regular- Cup of tea with two pieces of jam on toast earlier in the morning and a banana and CLIF blocks closer to race start. The swim conditions given to us was a regular Hervey Bay morning (clear, flat, fast) it was basically a pool swim. The Vorgee MK11 were the goggles of choice with the slight bit of tint in them that gave me the perfect vision.  I was able to use the beach start to my advantage as I got away out in front with no dramas at all to find myself leading around the first can.

I lead basically the whole way in the swim until the last 60-70m until Ethan swam up beside me. Overall there are some improvements to be made but I was still happy with my swim.  As discussed with coach, the fairly lengthy run to transition was used to my advantage, with a nice fast transition to find myself mounting the bike in 1st

My bike was definitely nowhere near where I had wanted it to be, after getting onto the bike in 1st I had slipped back to about 3rd after the first 5km loop. The plan on the bike was to not drop that much time to the stronger cyclists such as Sebastian, although credit to him, he was riding like a machine. So the first 5km loop was done and I had probably dropped about 25 seconds to the leader and was sitting around 3rd.

Onto the 2nd lap I knew I couldn’t drop anymore time if I wanted to win this race, but my legs just didn’t respond, it was one of those days were they were just flat. After the second lap I had slipped back to 5th and had dropped around about 50 seconds to the leader in Sebastian. At this point I knew I was going have to pull out a special run if I still want this title.

The advice given from coach was leg speed, I was extremely concentrating on my leg speed throughout the run as it was helping me flush out any lactate from the bike and being able to settle into a rhythm. I must admit I may have went out slightly too fast, but it was what I needed to do if I was going to chase down Sebastian.

It was 2 1km loops on the run so I had eyes on the boys at all times, after the first lap I had picked up 3 spots which put me into second and had took some serious time off Sebastian who was currently leading. At that point the margin was only about 10-15 seconds and I was confident I could catch him. Feedback from coach after the first lap was to relax, to minimise the chances of any sudden cramps or stitches.

During the second lap was when I was able to find my rhythm and it was great. I was able to close the gap from Sebastian and overtake him with about 200m to go, and thankfully I was able to hold on and take the win. A huge thanks to the team that had made this happen, it wouldn’t be possible without everyone’s support .

Next Race - Luke Harrop Memorial Gold Coast Triathlon