National Youth Series Race # 1 - Super Sprint Race Weekend Race Report

Runaway Bay SSRW - Race Report

Day 1- 1500m
Result – 1st Place – 4.32
 First event of round 1 of the AJTS series at Runaway Bay and I was feeling confident. I was in the first of two heats for the 1500m track run and knew that I was going to have to post a fast time and get some good points on the board for the overall point score. I had felt extremely relaxed and comfortable throughout the run discussing this pre-race with coach Toby Coote and was extremely happy to post a time of 4:32 and win the overall run by 7 seconds which enabled me to maximum points heading into the next day.
 
Day 2- Triathlon (Hyper Sprint)
Result – 1st Place
 The triathlon was first up for the morning and was a short fast distance of 200/4/800. The legs had recovered great from the 1500 the night before and were ready to fire. Once again I was in the 1st of two heats so there was no backing off at all during the race as it was racing for a time. I was lucky to have majority of the bigger names within my age group I my heat which was beneficial in receiving a good time.  I hadn’t had the greatest of swims but had worked the long transitions hard (instructed by Toby before the race) and had made front pack onto the bike. The first bit of draft legal racing for the season was amazing, riding with a pack of 4 for the 2 lap ride until a slight attack from Ethan on the last lap which was eventually covered. Into T2 and I was in a great position to take out the race with the leader only being about 20m in front. I was extremely happy to take the win in that race and post a good time which had gotten me maximum points again. At that stage I was well in front on the points score.
 
Day 2- Aquathlon
Result – 1st Place
 The body had recovered extremely well after the triathlon earlier that morning and was ready to fire again for the Aquathlon. I was in the 2nd heat this time and knew the boys in the heat before had posted a fast time. It wasn’t a regular Aquathlon with it only being an 200m swim and an 800m run. I was first out of the water and was looking good onto the run, it was all about relaxing the shoulders and controlling the breathing for this run as I knew I was going to have to run quick, splits given by Dad whether I was up or down from the times in the first heat had helped a lot and I was stoked to come away with the win in the race.
 
Day 3- Mixed team relays
Result – 4th Place
This event was slightly different to what were used to. It was a 4-person team with 2 girls and 2 boys in each team. It was a regular triathlon however the split that you did for your leg was used towards the overall point score so It was flat out the whole race. I was the 2nd leg in my team and went into the water 2nd, with boys chasing behind me. It was probably the worst I had felt throughout a swim the whole weekend (which was due to not being able to do a swim warm-up) but had come out of the water in front with nobody around me. This had deserted me and resulted in riding solo the whole way, which wasn’t ideal, I felt the effects of this on the run which left me with quite a poor run and not greatest race overall, but was still positive with the 3rd quickest split. This still had achieved me great points but allowed a few of the boys to gain some points onto me, heading into the final.

Day 3- A- final triathlon
Result – 1st Place
The A Final, this was the big one. This was the grand final of the weekend, not racing for times just to win, with some serious points up for grabs for the overall point score. Any of the top 3 boys which was Myself (1st) Ethan (2nd) and Sebastian (3rd) was able to win the overall points if they won this race. Recovering had been key from the mixed team relay earlier that morning leading up to the race in the afternoon.
 
A lot of discussion with coach Toby Coote had happened pre-race talking about tactics, warm up procedures etc. We had decided it would be best for me to do a nice easy 600m of swimming a little bit before my race to flush any lactate at all out of my system as it had been a long tiring weekend, with a little bit of short sharp stuff closer to race start. A major thing we had discussed pre-race was how key my swim was going to be in order to get out with the front pack which was going to be extremely beneficial in succeeding.
 
I had executed that well as I was 3rd out of the water with there being about 4 of us all close together. A massive amount of emphasis was put on the 1%’s by coach such as; transitions, mounts and dismounts. This had worked a treat as I was 2nd out of transition and first onto my bike. Early in the ride me and another boy from NSW had broken away slightly with Ethan behind us. He had eventually caught back up to us and we rode together as a pack of 3 for the first lap, me and Ethan had dropped the NSW kid midway from the 2nd lap and it was just me and him. The bike course had been changed earlier that morning to mote of a technical course and with slightly wet roads a lot of caution was taken around corners and U-turns.
 
Another factor that was taken into play was strong head and cross winds, this was counteracted by changing my front wheel from a race wheel to a training wheel to prevent the wind catching hold of the thicker depth in my race wheel and throwing me around.
 
Anyway, back to the ride, we were heading out for our 3rd lap of the 6km ride and I knew Ethan was going to make an attack and try to put a gap onto me into the run as I had been the best runner over the weekend. He went with about 1km to go on the ride but I was ready and I didn’t allow he to get too far in front heading into T2. This left me in a good spot to take out the race, however he still had a 20m lead or so, so it wasn’t going to be easy. I knew I had 1.2km to catch him so I didn’t have to go flat out straight away, Toby had said before the race about relaxing and finding my rhythm which I did, this resulted in me taking some ground off him in the first lap and finally made the pass midway through the second lap, with about 600m to go.
 
From here on it was just about holding on, which I did and was absolutely stoked to take the win in the final, which also secured me 1st place in the overall point score. I was destroyed but it was a great way to end the 3 days of hard racing.
 
Massive thanks to everyone who has helped me achieve this could not have done it without such a great team like Vorgee for supplying the best goggles for the weekend or racing, CLIF Bars Australia for the nutrition which was key for recovery and preparation for each race, Cannibal for the sick shirts and tri suits to wear throughout the weekend and Mizuno for the light fast Wave Sonic racing shoes that were perfect for the style of racing. Last but not least Protector aluminium as the naming sponsor of the SCTA junior Scholarship.