Xterra New Zealand - Triathlon

First 1km swim, some freestyle but mostly breastroke.

Last one out of the water (apart from those that pulled out) so got a standing ovation from the Crowd which was a great booster.

Keep working on the freestyle until I can use that mainly in the race and phase out the freestyle.

Started off well, managed to start catching riders going up the first hill, the conditions were wet underneath the surface which slowed down the pace. The first downhill was slow due to the wet, slippery conditions and a number of riders walking the track. At this point I started getting caught by the pure MTB'ers who were doing the teams events and they wanted to pass everybody. Made up time on the gravel road/hill section and felt good going into the next downhill (2 of 3 downhills) managed to get stuck behind a slower group and the rider in front kept calling to pass but wouldn't move over, eventually I tried to pass but she still didn't move across and we locked handlebars which sent me crashing off the course.

During the crash I ripped a 1" hole in the sidewall of the reat tire giving me a puncture and hole in the rear tyre. Managed to replace the tube but had nothing to patch the hole with as I wasn't carrying any cutting tools I couldn't use the old tube, stuffed the hole with paper tissues and pumped back up the tyre which was holding except the bulging tissue paper and tube hanging out the side.

At this point I was only about 12km's into the 30km race so had to go real slowly and walk most of the downhills and roots/bumps until the single track ended and was back on the gravel road. Still didn't go back to race pace in case the tyre split and bust which would have meant a DNF and after 12months prep work I didn't want that to happen. As the kilometres counted down I pushed harder to get back as I could always push/run the bike for the last 5k's or so.

Luckily the tire held back to the tranistion putting me just over 1hr behind schedule on previous rides of the course.

Should have gone with my gut instinct to ride my full-time full suspension MTB which would have handled the course quite differently and not the hardtail I have been using for Triathlons as I was not as comfortable on the technical parts of the course due to the wet conditions (in the dry it's fast and technical but well within my comfort and ability)

Due to the fast guy's alreading finishing there were a number of spectators in the transition area which made it difficult to get back to my spot.

Extremely tough after the first two phases and ended walking most of the uphill's. Quad's seized up at one point and had to massage them before carrying on the running.

Drank some bottled water, streched out the legs and ate whatever came to hand, mainly free cookies from the sponsors.


The bike course affected me the most, I was happy coming out of the swim but the hour lost on the bike increased the overall race time meaning I was at least an hour more fatigued befor I even started the run.




This time last year I did the team event and raced the MTB section and stated I would like to try the whole event the following year (although at the time had never really swam or done any running). I achieved this not quite in my planned time of under 4hrs. It was quite emotional crossing the finishing line as my Wife and Family were waiting there and several friends also cheered as I came around the home straight. Needless to say it was probably the most mentally and physically draining event I have done so far.