Race morning we woke up to a beautiful calm, sunny day. In the two weeks we had been in Hawaii Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa (the two massive 13,000ft plus volcano's that dominate the big Island of Hawaii) had barely made an appearance because of the amount of cloud and vog (Volcanic fog). Race day, the sky was clear and the two giants were looming large and very visible. This meant we were in for a hot day!
If you had to rank swims in triathlon, this one would have to be right up the top of the list. Hapuna beach where the swim is staged is beautiful and the water clarity is better than anywhere else I have seen. You must have been able to see 50 meters (if not more) it was so clear! The gun went off at 7am and the mass start took off around the 1.2 mile swim course. I tagged local gun swimmer John Flannagan for the first 300m then realized I was way out of my comfort zone and drop off his cracking pace. This left me in no mans land for a while till I was caught by a group containing Chris Lieo, Tim Marr and Craig Alexander as we swam the last 500 meters.
I exited the water in second place about a minute and a half down on Flannagan and set off on the undulating 56 mile bike course up to Hawi and back. I struggled from the beginning to find a good rhythm and Lieto forged ahead straight away and was soon out of sight. Alexander (Crowie) and I swapped off turns and caught Flannagan at the half way turn only to see we had lost over 4 minutes to Lieto.
The ride down Hawi was a low point for me and I really struggled to keep a high cadence down the gradual descent. Each split we got on the way back to T2 was going up by 30 seconds at a time and by the time we rolled into transition at the Fairmont Orchid resort we heard 8 minutes to the leader Lieto.
All I was hoping was I would feel stronger on the run than I did on the bike. I got a small break out of transition and ran ahead of Crowie for ¾ of a mile before he pulled up beside me. “Run with me”, he said as he ran beside me. Ah …. No sorry Crowie, that pace was a little fast for me, and he strode away over the next few miles.
Around mile 4 I started to feel flat again and realized I had totally ignored my usual nutrition and had to try and jam in a few gels to get back on track. For 2-3 miles I really struggled to hold a good pace and the technical, turning, up and down path around the golf course and on and off the grass was killing my rhythm.
I finally hit the long out and back section to the last turn around and I was happy to be on flat road again. I saw Crowie had just passed Lieto for the lead at around mile 11 and realized my pursuit of both of them was not going to change the end result, I had secured third and I was happy to ease off the gas for the last 3 miles and get over the finish line.
Crowie had a great race. I really thought Lieto had it off the bike but that didn’t stop Crowie from going after it and running him down for the win. His 1.17 on that technical, hilly, hot run course is amazing! Chris had a great race also. A 2.10 bike split on that course is equally impressive to Crowies 1.17 on the run, again just awesome!
I was happy to see my training partner and K-Swiss team mate Belinda Granger take out the women’s races so soon after her surgery. She really is a phenomenal athlete and having had a lot of opportunity to train with her and Justin this year has definitely motivated me to lift my game on a daily basis.
Amanda was in for a good race but had a flat tire and then after fixing it and then getting back into the race her valve leaked air till it was flat again and not having a spare tire or Co2 cartridge it forced her out of the race. Mechanicals are unfortunately part of our sport and she will move on and focus on Ironman Japan now in three weeks time.
We are already back into the swing of training for our last block of hard work before Ironman Japan. I am looking forward to our last two weeks here in Kailua – Kona.
Lastly, I have to thank the Ironman crew Diana and Linda – Jane for putting on such a great race and looking after us over the weekend. I love this race and will come back for years to come. The presentation ceremony we had was a really great, fun experience and I have attached a few photo’s below.
RESULTS
Ironman 70.3 Hawaii. Kohala Coast, Hawaii. May 30, 2009
1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run
Men (Swim, Bike, Run, Total)
1. Craig Alexander (AUS) 00:24:59 02:17:49 01:17:11 04:02:52
2. Chris Lieto (USA) 00:24:49 02:10:07 01:27:16 04:05:34
3. Luke McKenzie (AUS) 00:24:47 02:17:56 01:26:25 04:11:58
The crew hanging after the race
My "Super athlete" Dawn and I with Sam
Presentation
Another "Omeki" for the trophy cabinet
The podium
