Tauranga Half Ironman

My first race to start 2011 was the Tauranga Half Ironman. For this I had the privilage of being ranked number one as last year's defending champion. I did not feel people had much expectations on me repeating my win so I was not under external pressure but I really wanted to improve on my last year's race and put in a a solid performance as training for the late summer races as my priority.

The swim start was a mess and I naiively did what the race organiser said to do and start at the start line not a long way ahead like the other competitors. This meant that I missed the chance to swim with the favourites and I spent the whole swim passing people until I exited the water in 4th.

Onto the bike I chose to ride conservatively with Cameron Brown. I was riding strong and aerobically finding it easy however I was feeling uncomfortable on my bike due to not having the fit quite right.
 
I finished the bike in 3rd place in a small group with Cameron Brown, Callum Millward and Clark Ellice, 5minutes down on leaders Graham O'Grady and Kerin Doe. I had a quick transition and started running as easlily as I could but no matter how slow I tried to run I was running at a fast pace that I probably couldn't sustain. I was flying for about 8km where I took 2minutes out of the leaders and got a substantial lead on Cameron Brown and the other chasers. But I then started to cramp, which I believe was due to the stress on my body from my uncomfartable bike position and I had a very bad patch. However, with about 4km to go I refound a bit of form and started running quicker again and I regained some time on the front and picked up Kerin Doe and almost got Clark Ellice so I finished a credible 5th.

This was a very beneficial training day for me. I learnt a lot and it has left me very motivated for my upcoming races. Also, despite the result not being as good, I did go quicker and my body is in much better condition in terms of injuries than it was last year.

I would very much like to thank Marty Mcullough with both his business' McCullough Limited and Umpa Web for sponsoring me for this race and also Jianni at I Bike for very generousily lending me a bike to compete on. Congratulations also to Graham O'Grady on a great race and deserved result.