IM Port Macquarie 2011

Thought I’d let you know how things went up at Port Mac. It was my 10th finish of arguably Australia’s most prestigious triathlon, making things nice and even with 5 each of the old Forster course and now 5 in Port Macquarie (not mentioning the infamous 2006 race at Port and that speed hump that was determined to take me out of the game early).

Beyond chalking up my 10th IMA finish, my main goal was to qualify for Kona and put myself in a position to finally rid myself of equal standing with that old dog (but top bloke) Dave Kaye’s 4 Ironman Hawaii finishes. A challenging task this year with only 40 Kona slots and a tough age group field (I reckon a number of the fast guys saw my result from last year and thought they’d show up and take the candy from the baby).

It was a bonus to have Antho up at Port giving my machine a once over on race eve (and he also fine-tuned the bike. . .). His encouraging words always instil a bit of confidence, quote: “so by the look of that rear tyre, this is only a ‘B’ race for you Rob”. Nothing a bit of tyre sealant couldn’t fix though.

I won’t bore you with the details of the day, but yes the swim conditions were slow, it was windy on the bike and even a tough headwind on the run! The end result was me shuffling to the finish of a very badly executed marathon in 3rd place in the category, ten minutes slower than the previous 2 years but very satisfied to achieve a long term goal (and luckily no punctures).

Of course I’m not yet at the finish on Ali’i Drive and have a little bit of training to do in the depths of Melbourne’s winter to get ready for the big day. Fuelled by espressos courtesy of Pellegrini’s and with a bit of help from that bike shop just up the road, it should be a lot of fun. Not as much fun as landing in Kona and finally getting warm again!

 

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