Cannibal Gold Coast Half Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Congestion city. It was near on impossible to find any clear water until about 500m from the end! I tried not to swim over anyone and change my course if I was about to, which was more than I can say for other swimmers. I had biffo with a guy from the wave after us, he was determined to elbow me, kick me and eventually place a hand in my back, I held my ground with some elbow and kicking of my own. Navigation was a bit iffy at times given the sun was directly in our eyes for part of the course.

15 seconds slower than last year. Eh, I'm pretty happy, but sure I would have had a better swim had I started closer to the front. I will have more confidence in my swimming ability.

Ran into transition knowing full well I would not have to battle with other people. Had decided to attach my shoes to the bike, so all I had to do was put my socks on.

My socks actually have a left and right and stupidly I'd put them on the wrong feet. So I wasted a bit of time changing them over.

Jumping on the bike was no issue. I didn't want to push it too hard to start with. I was very aware of the fact that it was going to take me a little while to warm up muscle wise. The focus was to get some food into me and drink.

But somewhere between 10 and 15km, something didn't feel right. Specifically regarding to my seat height. That ol' chestnut. I thought I might have just been paranoid given my previous issues, but no, I looked down to see my race number around my seatpost becoming increasingly squished. I hadn't packed my tools, so I had to wait until the 22km turn around for an allen key. My seat post had move 3cm and the damage had been done. The back pain had started early. Once fixed (which took a little time) I felt a lot more comfortable and concentrated on the eating and drinking, picking up a third water bottle. Coming back into the estate was awesome with the TriBal guys & girls going nuts.

Then it was out for the second lap. I'd finished a bottle of gatorade and was switching bottles around when I dropped my second bottle of gatorade, so it was just water for the rest of the bike. There was a second dropping event to come. As I was going over the narrow bridge I hit a massive pot hole, sending my spare tyre/gas cannister/tyre levers flying over the road. I couldn't leave them on the road for competitors to run over, nor could I risk my chances of a flat and have nothing, so I turned around, got off the bike, scrambled over the road picking up my stuff and started riding again. I was a little shaken by this stage.

Coming into the second turn around, there was a rumour that there was no water, thankfully this proved false and I was able to pick up a second bottle. At the turn around I could see the time that Tam and Bree had made on me and that they would catch me within 10 mins.

They both came up to say hi and dropped back not wanting to get pinged for drafting. I was in pain and disappointed that I couldn't hold them off. I turned the focus back to eating, drinking and keeping my average up over 28km/hr.

Heading back into the estate again was awesome and I was looking forward to getting off the bike. Again big cheers from the crew and then I heard a very clear "Go Casie" which I thought I had heard previously. I knew for sure it was Paul cheering me on!!

My dismount was a disaster. Swinging the leg over I knocked my bottle out of the holder behind my seat, then I kinda dropped my bike, letting the cassette dig into my ankle. Yeah, pain. The kind technical official handed me my bottle and I ran into transition.

Nutrition: 1 power bar cut into 4, eaten over the two laps, 1 bottle gatorade, 1.5 bottles water, 2x Vanilla Gu & 1 packet of bears (25g). I forgot to eat a packet of bears!!


Make sure the seat post cant be moved!! I think one of the cages at the back of my seat is missing some rubber, hence the movement of bottles etc...

Again the back pain is a great unknown. Was the moving seat post the only factor or is my set up just plain wrong??

According to my speedo I rode for 3:10, meaning almost 6 mins was spent not riding.

In short: I got my money's worth.

More detail:
Oh dear. This is where it got tough. Tam and Bree weren't far behind on the bike. I knew Bree would go, but I thought I might be able to use Tam as a pacer. It wasn't to be. I couldn't comprehend running 21km, so I broke it down 1 painful km at a time. I had no functioning HRM, it read 220 or 00 for most of the run, I had no idea how my body was actually going. Apart from feeling remarkably average.

I couldn't work out what hurt, I just didn't feel right. I'd say heat/dehydration was the issue, because while I knew it was hot, I kind of felt cold and that I had goosebumps. That ain't right on a 33C day.

I walked a ridiculous amount of this half. On the second lap of the "run" when I knew I wasn't going to go anywhere near 6:18, let alone improve on that, with out a doubt I lost it. I kind of gave up. I tried to take on as much fluid as I could and just put one foot in front of the other.

At about the 18km mark I saw Paul (BTs own pzdipr) for the first time. With about 2km to go, he'd caught me. We exchanged a few words, but I was holding him up and told him to run on. He looked strong. And my filthy frame of mind was buoyed by the fact that I'd met my first BT'er!!

The encouragement running towards the finish line was first class. Little kids telling me I was awesome was a beautiful thing. They're great liars! But the support from the crowd was truly amazing. High fiving my team mates was fabulous, so was the relief of finishing and hugging Tam & Bree on their first HIM finish.

Nutrition: 1 packet bears, 2x Vanilla Gu

What I did right: sunscreen application. Except some in my hair part wouldn't have gone astray.

I have to drink more on the bike.
I have to stay positive, I have to stay focused.

Ohh sitting down was good, standing under the mist was good and shoving watermelon into my mouth was bliss. So was getting the finishers towel!


The heat and my mental capacity! I have a lot to take away from this race for Shepp (where conditions are likely to be warm/hot) and Geelong.


Logistically USM dropped the ball this year. I think running the Quarterman on the same day stretched their resources. I took one of the last water bottles on the bike course and heard numerous competitors note that they ran out of cups, water and coke on many of the aid stations part way through the race.

Still the course is a good one, the volunteers were fabulous and the crowd ever supportive. I will race this again.