Cory was debuting is new Orca one-piece tri-suit and Paul must've been impressed as he got one for the next event. (He also has a new gun-bike that wasn't quite ready, so next event will be one of Paul really looking professional). Ros came along for moral support, as she hadn't been 100% during the week and Brooke was no longer feeling the after-affects of Grape Grazing like last race, so she was a started too.Just as last year, this was an event of the Australian Triathlon Championships, as well as the Brooks and Gatorade comps. So, the place was set up all fine and dandy. Apart from the sand in the transition area (which stuck to your feet to irritate during the run), it couldn't be faulted. And with grandstands and cameras it really added to the festivity of it.
There was a deep-water start off the pontoo
n (the elites started with a dive from it) and the water was great. Warm, but just cool enough to make it refreshing. The swim as a long swim straight out through calm waters, short across and long swim back to a semi-submerged carpeted ramp leading up to the pier/decking.The transition from T1 to the cycle was quite long, running with your bike, and then on to it to pedal up a steep(ish) hill and some undulations and corners through parkland, before heading out to the highway.
As per usual (well.... at least when he turns up...) Cory came out of the swim in good time. Again, did well in the cycle, but struggled in the run with his knee. Paul lead Mick out of the swim. Mick managed to catch him in T1 but struggle achingly close in the cycle leg. But Mick's big legs pulled Paul in and he passed him in the run. Even so, he couldn't catch Cory's lead, and Cory's run-walk-run-walk-run was enough to bring him in before the others.But it was Naomi who was stepping up to the plate, or more to the point, a full open buffet. Today was the day to achieve a life-goal : Complete an Olympic-distance triathlon. For the viewers at home, that's a 1.5 km swim, a 40 km cycle and finishing with a 10 km run. Nai had been a little anxious in the week leading up to it (especially dreading the swim), and both she and Cory (courtesy of Genevieve) had had a sore throat so they may not have been able to run on all cylinders - it was an unknown.
Naomi found the start of the swim a struggle, but once she settled into a rhythm she really enjoyed it. With the wetsuit and good stroke she could plane along.Transition to the bike leg, and it started as a similar route to the Brooks guys, however it was (of course) a lot longer. It went out on the highway, but managed to throw in a huge hill (down to near-granny gears) and some tight corners after some downhill stretches on rough roads.
She made good time on the bike. She found the first 10km great, the last 10 even better, but the middle 20 km horrible.
Transition into the run - oh... and here's a photo which shows just how hard it could be to find your stuff...
The run took a similar route to the guys, however again it went a bit further with some nasty rough grassy and cross-country sections. You then came back to the pier area, to turn around at the porta-loos and do it all a second time.At about the 8km mark (this is after 3 hours of racing), Nai did have to walk for a small while, but then sucked it in and ran it home.
As you can see from this photo, she was pretty rapt. I think, once the enormity of what she achieved sunk in, that just escalated. Her pride in her achievements was only (possibly) eclipsed by that of all her friends who she SMSed, and responded with messages of congratulations, and in some cases, humility and near-disbelief. It was something that in her wildest dreams she'd never thought she'd be able to do and in the end, she did it reasonably easily. Of course, she's pretty shattered now - but then, the alarm going off at 4:20am may have had something to do with that too!So in a few weeks it's on to the final race for this season - Portarlington.
