Chasing The Dream: Bribie, Raby Bay and a bit of Christmas fun

In December I took part in the second Bribie Island triathlon of the season. After watching my fellow vision tri club members race at the previous Bribie Island triathlon I was keen to get out and race this time. As with the previous 2 times I have been out to this race, Bribie Island pulled out a stunner of the day. The race format was the less common 1000/30/8, a distance I have never raced before but have long wanted to have a crack at.
I was definitely not the image of a professional triathlete that morning, not realising that the swim went the opposite direction from last time due to the tide, and then realising at the start that I had forgotten to put on my timing chip! Fortunately for me there was still time for me to run back and get it!

The swim is set in the pummestone passage, with stunning views of the Glasshouse Mountains in the background. With a strong current it is always a challenge taking the best line to the first buoy. I had a solid swim, exiting in front with Kirralee Seidel hot on my heels. The bike course winds its way through the canal estates with a total of 6 dog legs each lap amounting to a lot of u-turns, round-a-bouts and corners! It is quite different racing on such a winding course with lots of acceleration and deceleration rather than holding a steady solid pace which is what I am much more used to in racing. I surprised myself however and despite generally disliking corners I had a great bike leg (apart from a minor error when I didn't realise I was coming up to a turn and rode off the course before turning back around!!) and managed to put almost 4 minutes into the rest of the field.
This race was the first outing of my new Mizuno race flats and they definitely showed their worth with my feet completely blister free when they are usually torn up and bloody, they also felt fast! I had a great run and held on for my second win this season.

Swim location

The following weekend was the QTS race 3 at Raby Bay. After winning my previous two races, the pressure was on to pull out a third win. Having no Vision team mates racing I rode out to the race in the morning serving as a solid warm up. The field was much stronger than I had expected, including Olympian Emma Jackson despite being in the middle of an intense training camp.

During the warm up for the swim I felt things brushing past my legs which unnerved me a little but it wasn't until almost half way through the swim that I discovered they were jelly fish, and vicious ones at that! I had a strong swim sitting in 4th on the feet of Emma Jackson behind strong swimmers Maddi Allen and Rebecca Ohlwein. After copping a jellyfish on the chin, then another under my armpit the swim exit could not come too soon! Once out of the swim I ran hard into transition to try and gain as much time as possible on the stronger runners in the field who were behind me in the swim. My race plan had been to go hard in the swim and the bike to try and stay as close to Emma as I could, and if possible in front.

The race panned out better than I had hoped and I found myself exiting T1 in second, chasing down Maddi Allen whom I caught part way through the 1st lap of 4 on the bike. Expecting the other girls to be hot on my heels (or wheels as the case may be) I put my head down and went for it. Two u-turns on each lap of the bike allow you to see where the others in your race are and by the start of the second lap it was evident that I was putting significant ground into the girls I came out of the water with. I didn't allow myself to get complacent however as I could see Emily Bevan moving up through the field and I knew there were other girls (namely Emma Jackson) who could out run me.

I had another good transition and headed out on the run hard hoping to hold onto the lead for as long as possible. I was feeling good (in the painful way you do in a race) and had a really good run. Knowing that unless something disastrous happened I was going to win, I enjoyed hammering it home on the last lap of the run, thinking of my coach, training mates and parents and how excited and proud they'd all be. This was going to be the first raced I'd won with a finishing tape and I was looking forward to grabbing it as I crossed the line. That is, until Bryce McMaster, the winner of the Open Men's race decided to vomit on it when he finished and they took it away to hose it off before I finished but couldn't get it back in time. I just had to settle for a picture with the tape after I'd finished. Thanks again to USM events and The Event Crew for another awesome event! Event photos

Bryce and I with our Trek bikes after the race

After five consecutive weekends of racing it was time for a week of Christmas training festivities before I headed home to spend some time with family.