It's sooo close I can taste it! I am edging closer and closer to that Ironman win! Yesterday I finished 5th in Ironman Australia in Port Macquarie. The result was bittersweet after leading the race for over 7 hours. But in hindsight I wouldn't have done anything different. I went for the win and ultimately paid for it in the back end of the marathon. One day its going to be my day and I will get to that line first! Before the race I said I was going to give it everything for the win and I did. I would not have been happy to race in the pack and settle for a safe top 5. I wanted to set the pace and go for it.
The race started out well for me and I put in a very strong and comfortable swim coming out in the lead just under 47 minutes. The only guy to swim with me Cameron Watt soon dropped behind when we got on our bikes leaving me to ride solo at the lead of the race. I was told at about the 20km mark that my training partner and good friend Mathias Hecht was riding about 45 seconds behind me so I decided to ease the pace off let him catch me. Prior to the race we had talked about the strategy to work together to gap the guys behind and it worked well once we were riding together. We swapped the lead throughout the remaining 150km and made time on most of the feild except Mitch Anderson who came home strong to finish the bike 3 minutes behind.
I was first to dismount our bikes and Mathias and I went through transition together but I soon found myself alone at the front in the early part of the marathon. I ran strong to hold Mathias and Mitch at 2-3 minutes for most of the first half of the marathon but my biggest threat was last years Ironman Australia champion Patrick Vernay. Coming off the bike 5 minutes behind us, he caught and past me for the lead at 20km. He was setting an amazing pace and he was soon out of sight. Soon after I had a really bad patch and my pace dropped dramatically which allowed Mitch to make up some time on me and he passed me for 2nd at around 28km. The last lap was torture ... I had nothing left. I had given it all and I was dissapointed to lose 3rd and 4th so close to the finish. I have never crossed the finish line in an Ironman so empty. I could hardly hold myself up. I finished up in the medical tent on an IV drip which bought me back around.
It was one tough day at the office on one of the harder courses I have raced an Ironman. I am happy my top 5 finish qualified me to race in Hawaii again in October for the 3rd straight year. After some rest and recovery I will be back into training preparing for some races in the USA before taking on Hawaii again in October. With some hard work on the back end of my marathon I know I can finish in the top 10 there.
Thanks for all the emails and messages of support before, during and after the race!
RESULTS - IRONMAN AUSTRALIA 2008
1. Patrick VERNAY 8:31:33
2. Mitchell ANDERSON 8:40:19
3. Mathias HECHT 8:42:48
4. Tim BERKEL 8:44:20
5. LUKE McKENZIE 8:46:01
6. Luke BELL 8:56:17
7. Matt WHITE 8:59:50
8. Nathan STEWART 9:03:29
9. Raimo RAUDSEPP 9:04:24
10. Kevin CUTJAR 9:06:50
