Diary of a hairy legged multisport racer

Thursday 4 June 2015

3D Rotorua, Queens Birthday 2015

I've now completed four out of the five 3D Rotorua events. Its always been a good weekend to catch up with family, enjoy the Rotorua bike trails and enjoy one of the most relaxed races regarding logitics I've experienced. It really is an easy race to get organised for.

My previous 6 weeks of training had gone really well. Erring on the side of less training to better balance work and kids had paid off. I'd raced well in the Crazyman as well as the St Clair half Marathon. Last weeks defeat to Rich Ussher in our local duathlon had been a timely trip back to earth ahead of 3D. Going into the race I felt strong and confident of a good hard race.



Starting at a leisurely 10:45 the race start was far from leisurely. Dan Busch, Travis Mitchell and Sam Clark set the early pace leaving Rich, myself and Aaron Cox fighting amongst the slop. Setting into a good rhythm we completed the two laps almost 90secs behind Dan and Travis and about a minute behind Sam who had been sliced off the wash on a buoy.



Hitting the beach I shifted my focus to a slick transition and with help from my brother in Law Mark we did just that.The bike course from Blue Lake follows the edge of the road before ducking into the Whakarewarewa Forest trails. Its an uphill 2km section that I've previously experienced cold legs (paddling a ski) and felt fairly rubbish while riding. This time was a different story. The legs felt good so I pushed hard for the first few k's catching my first glimpse of Dan Busch and Sam Clark as I neared the highest point of the ride. Next up was the "corners" trail and so much fun I forgot I was racing for a few moments. On this section I managed to pass Dan Busch and caught another glimpse of Sam who I hadn't made any further progress on. Sticking to the plan I shifted the focus back to my riding and rode alone for another 10minutes. At this stage I caught a glimpse of Rich chasing me down. Nothing like being hunted to fuel the motivation!

A further 10 minutes went by before Rich inevitably caught me and set about hunting down Sam. I concentrated on holding his wheel with Sam now only 15secs ahead. Several minutes ticked by with no change in the gap, until a couple of changes swung the race slightly in my direction. Rich succumbed to an awkward root giving me a chance to get past and seizing the opportunity to reestablish a gap I picked up the pace. The lift in speed dropped the gap to Sam in a matter of minutes. For the next 15 or so minutes I let Sam set the pace and concentrated on staying in touch, riding into transition right on his wheel. This transition can be a little chaotic as duathletes ahead create disturbance to gear, shoes are shifted etc. I had Mark in transition with the sole purpose of ensuring my shoes were where I left them and it paid off. Another slick shoe change and I ran out 1st, Sam trailing by a couple of seconds.

The run was a race of two halves, a short half and a long half. Mentally the short half was more taxing than the long one.
Half One: Out of TA I ran as fast and smooth as possible. I didn't look back, instead listening for breathing. By the top of the hill (quite a grunt for those uninitiated) feeling quite happy with myself I allowed a brief look back. Disappointingly Sam was only 50m back. Ah shit....another one of these races. Its going to hurt. After such disappointing feedback I took the option least tempting for my legs. Increase the pace again for the downhill.

 Compliments, Dscribe Media

Half two: By the bottom of the hill I had a sense there was a gap but was not in the headspace to look back. If I ran as fast as I could looking back was of no benefit. As I ran through for lap 1 feedback confirmed there was indeed a gap but I wasn't taking any chances and pushed right to the end.

Compliments, Dscribe Media



It was a great finish and awesome to finally win 3D after a four year apprenticeship. Stoked!

A big thanks to my loyal family/ support crew for motivating me all the way, and to my awesome sponsors: Topedo7, Thermatech, Rasdex and Legend Paddles. Without amazing support its impossible to have an amazing race!




Nelson Mail report:
Nelson Multisport Dominance reinforced in Rotorua