I was really nervous before the start and thought I'd be lucky to swim the whole way just by looking at how far it was which was longer than what i had worked out.
anyway took off and paced myself til about 1/2 way then knew i was going ok and increased pace and finished strongly.
the last 300m coming into the beach was a hard slog as a rip was pushing us back out and i could see by the bottom that i wasnt getting anywhere.put in a last big effort and caught a wave in part of the way

go a little bit harder earlier on next time

ran about 200m into transition carefully so as not to trip or slip over on the by now wet road.
fairly quick t1 with sunnies and helmet on and ran out with bike.
got feet into shoes without too much trouble.

headed out on course and took 1 gel after about 3km on a slight downhill to get some carbs in after the swim and top up my glycogen.
after that i picked up the pace and kept it nice n steady and continually sipped water and endura every 5-10min.
after the 20km turnaround i took in 1/2 a gel.(didnt feel like a whole 1)
now this is where it gets interesting.
after i had come off the highway with 3km to go 2 lanes merged into 1 and as i was going in the left lane i noticed a slower rider on the far right hand side of the right lane.before i could brake i had already came level with the rider and thought shit do i have to slow down to go back around them on the right.shouldnt they be on the LHS anyway.
i looked back and saw other riders coming and if i went right i wouldve ran into them so kept going on the left side.
next thing i know a tech officer on a motorbike comes up and says 'you cant do that,you've got to go the penalty box '
i say 'that rider shouldnt be on the far right but on the LHS so i can pass on the right'
he says'yeah i know but everyone else has to pass her on the right so i cant let you off'
i was so pissed off that this slow rider had just ruined my great ride that for the next 3km so i wasnt focused and just cruised along looking for a penalty box.i took the last 1/2 of my gel and sipped some water.
little did i know i had already gone past the last one about a km back so kept asking officials along the way 'wheres the next penalty box?'
NONE could tell me so i rode into transition and changed into my running gear and then grabbed an official.
i explained the story and that i needed to do a 3min penalty.he said i shouldve gone to the last penalty box but i said i got the penalty after the box.by the time he started timing 3min it was more like 5min.i got his name and made him write my number down just in case so i didnt get a DNQ.
So although my ride time says 1:15:24 my bike computer says 1:09 which means i was stuffing around for about 5min.
finally took off on the run

NEVER EVER PASS ON THE LEFT even if i have to ride on the wrong side of the road

because of the penalty crap t2 was a mess.

the only good thing about getting the penalty was that i had freshed up after the ride and took off fairly quickly.
the 1st lap i did have some shin pain but by the 2nd i was running well.
took another 1/2 gel at start of 2nd lap.
kept encouraging other redcliffe tri club members i saw along the way and got to say hello to bter 'cawhite69' on my final leg home.
finished strongly

same as swim,just go a little bit harder earlier in the run.

water and watermelon.couldnt find any powerade or endura to drink.
soon after headed into the surf with marty to cool down.felt good in the water.
after that went up to our unit,showered and had a banana,some powerade and creamed rice.
headed back to where the tri tent was and had a BBQ and watched the elite ITU competitors


overall i had an awesome time and will improve off season and come back and go quicker again.
best moment was getting aussie champ "Brad Kahlefelt" to sign my cap and get a photo with him.