Mooloolaba race report 30th March 2009
Good Morning everyone,
Well I'm sitting in Brisbane airport waiting for my flight home back to NZ. It was a hard day at the office yesterday but a well earned 2nd in my first World Cup of the new season.
Going into the race I knew I had some good form. Training had been going well with my mate Andreas Raelert and together we had put in some solid sessions. I've also built on the foundations from last years training prior to Beijing which have given me a great platform to race off. All of this gave me a great confidence heading into the race.
I had a great swim and managed to stay close to the front. But in the last meters someone in front of me lost the feet of the front three guys and we exited the water 15 seconds behind these three. We formed the front group of around 20 guys behind them fairly quickly but no one was working that well. There were some really good guys in the group and this is always an issue when you are trying to get athletes to work together. They are always too busy looking at each other as we all know who are the ones to watch heading into the run.
One of the guys in the front three was Courtney Atkinson. Courtney is one of the best Triathletes in the World and a great runner and to let him have more than a minute was going to make for a tough day. The time gaps to the front went up and down all 40k. I tried to attack multiple times on the climbs but the group wouldn't let me go. So by the end of the bike we arrived into the 2nd transition 1.27 down.
I knew that my running was going well and I wanted to run to a rhythm. That meant I would need to dictate the pace as soon as possible. I ran the first lap of 2.5k with the front guys and then pushed at the start of the second lap. It was a nice feeling to be running tall and strong. I made in roads towards Courtney on every lap but just ran out of real estate. In the end I had a great run one of the fastest ever on this challenging course.
I was however a bit disappointed not to win. I did get within 11 seconds of Courtney but I knew I had the form to win so it was bitter sweet for myself but that's Triathlon. Congrats to Courtney though, to win a race from the front is a deserved win in my books.
Next for me is New Zealand's Premier race in New Plymouth this Sunday. I'm not sure how I'll pull up after Mooloolaba but I love to race at home in New Zealand and look forward to being part of the show.
Talk soon,
Kris