Race morning was interesting and a mad rush. Setting up my bike I realized I had forgot my cycling shoes and with less than an hour to the start I wouldn't be able to make the 20 minute round trip to my accommodation to get my shoes, so thanks to a great team effort by Amanda and Sue my shoes arrived right before I had to head to the water to do my swim warm up (THANKS!)
I got off to a great start and went straight to the lead but about 1km into it I really started to feel my lack of swimming over the past few weeks and decided to drop back behind Luke Bell for a bit to recompose myself. After I arrive home from the USA I didn't get in the pool as much as I should have and I was suffering for it. I took the lead again at about 1500m and led the field out in 48.05, which was one of the toughest Ironman swims I have done.
Through transition and onto the bike it was Luke Bell and myself about 2 minutes up on a huge pack of 10-12 guys. Luke and I got into a good rhythm really early and exchanged the lead for the first 30km up until I unfortunately shifted gears and threw my chain off the rear derailleur pulley. I quickly stopped and got my chain back into position but once I got back up to speed Luke had put 40 seconds to a minute into me and he was gone. I initially tried to bridge the gap but the effort was too much too early in the ride and I had to go it solo about 1 minute down on Luke and about 1.30 ahead of the pack of 10.
I came through town for the first of the three 60km loops and tried to gauge if I should continue solo and hope I maybe get back up to Luke or drop back to the pack behind. It was clear at the next turnaround at 90km that with less than a minute it would be useless to try stay on my own with so many runners in the pack so I backed off for 10km and was swallowed up at about 100km.
The last 80km was pretty uneventful although there were times where I felt a little frustrated with the lack of drafting enforcement. If I have learnt one lesson this season it is to not waste energy on letting these situations upset me and I started to mentally prepare for a big run effort.
Coming into T2 it was crazy with about 10 of us in the change tent all at once. I took a seat right next to Tim Berkel and it seemed as soon as he sat down he was up again and on his way out of the tent (I hadn't even got a single sock or shoe on yet!) I emerged from the tent in third place with Leon Griffin and within 1km we caught and passed bike leader Jimmy Johnsen. Up ahead Berkel was setting a cracking pace early on and I was very wary not to get caught up with a pace I was uncomfortable with. Leon and I stuck together and held a good pace through the first 14km loop only being passed by Oscar Galindez.
At around 15km I lost a bit of time to Leon through an aid station and he gapped me by 10-15 seconds. I made a surge to get back up to him but when I arrived at his shoulder he seemed to slow and drop behind me. Feeling great I pushed on and was now holding outright third and was gaining on Oscar. At around 21km I passed Galindez for 2nd place only to be taken by Jason Shortis around 1km later. I tried to keep Jason in my sights but he was making a push to the front and was on his way to catching Berkel.
The last 14km loop seemed to fly by and with 8km to go I had a good 6 minutes back to the Jimmy Johnsen and feeling great I knew I had secured a podium. People were really encouraging me to dig deep as Shortis had dropped back from Berkel but a two minute gap that late in the race may as well be 10 minutes.
I was absolutely stoked with my 3rd place finish and new PB time on 8.12.45. I honestly didn't expect a result like that after such a long tiring season.
I have to thank my awesome support crew for what's been my best year of racing yet and I look forward to build on this going into 2009! Thanks to K-Swiss, PowerBar, Scott, Amalgamated Textiles, Lu Elle Palms, FuelBelt, Sram, Zipp, FSA, Fi'zi:k, Sidi,BlueSeventy, Nuun and Smith. I have the best sponsors an athlete can hope for and I thank you all for your faith and support in me!
Thanks to my family. Mum and Dad you are my greatest supporters and I love you very much. Amanda's family, thanks for being part of the experience on the weekend and thanks for the cheer squad!
Lastly thanks to my beautiful, amazing girlfriend Amanda for everything. You believe in me and my dreams and we are making them happen ... I love you!
I am looking forward to a month off racing and training now and I will see you all in
2009!
2008 Ironman Western Australia
Busselton, Australia December 7, 2008
S2.4 mi/ B 112 mi/ R 26.2 mi.
Top 10 men
1. Tim Berkel (AUS) 8:07:06
2. Jason Shortis (AUS) 8:10:57
3. Luke McKenzie (AUS) 8:12:45
4. Jimmy Johnsen (DEN) 8:18:43
5. Simon Billeau (FRA) 8:20:32
6. Leon Griffin (AUS) 8:24:41
7. Oscar Galindez (ARG) 8:27:28
8. Chris Dmitrieff (AUS) 8:28:29
9. Gavin Scott (AUS) 8:32:22
10. Joshua Rix (AUS) 8:33:22
