BUSSELTON IRONMAN 70.3

I am back on the Sunshine Coast after a quick weekend away to race the Busselton Ironman 70.3 in Western Australia. Busso is one of my favorite races and having won it twice in the past three years I was heading back to go for number three in 2012. We arrived late Thursday afternoon to a stormy looking sky and come Friday morning it was pouring down for the majority of the day. I am glad it let up for the IronKids race in the afternoon where we watched hundreds of future triathlon stars smiling their way across the finish line. It's always such a great experience for us professionals to see the enthusiasm of the kids doing their first tri! 

I was definitely hoping for a warmer day for the race on Saturday and luckily the rain held off the sun shining. The water however was a choppy mess and it was going to be a super rough swim. The pro field set off into Geographe Bay at 7am and it wasn't long till the turbulent sea had spread the group all over the place. I haven't competed in a race for a long time where everyone was virtually swimming by themselves. Dylan McNiece, Graham O'Grady and James Hodge pushed off the front and I missed the boat after swimming a little off course to the first buoy. I tried to limit the time gap but found I was around a minute down once I hit dry land. I had a little gap on the next guys so I tried to get through T1 as quickly as possible and bridge across to the leaders. 

I've had some great rides in Busso in the past but today I was definitely fighting myself and not riding with my usual rhythm. I still managed to catch Graham by the 15km mark and Dylan not too long after but Luke Bell had now joined me after crushing the first downwind leg through the Tuart forrest. The wind was very blustery and of the three times I have raced the half distance here it was definitely the toughest. I was happy with my decision to not ride my disc which is usually a given on the dead flat Busselton bike course. 

Lap two we still hadn't picked up young James Hodge who was riding really strong but holding a one minute lead it wasn't critical gap by any means. Matty White was laying down a great bike split and joined us late in the ride and I thought we would catch the flying Tassie athlete before T2. Wrong. I entered transition in second still a minute down but feeling pretty fresh and ready to go after it on the flat 21km run. I got a bit of a jump on Matty, Luke and Graham and was initially taking some good chunks of time out of James. 

Matty White joined me at the 3.5km mark and soon pulled away from me running back to the end of lap one of three. I was definitely fighting my body and I was trying not to favor a sore hip I'd been having trouble with for the past few weeks. It really had me in it's grips on the second lap and I lost a spot to the fastest runner of the day Callum Millard around the 11km mark. I was now in 4th and determined to not lose another place. Graham O'Grady was sitting roughly 20-30 seconds back and I knew he would be dangerous if I gave him some time. I struggled to the line and nabbed 4th in 4.00.25. Finishing 13 minutes slower than my 2008 course record of 3.47 was a reflection of how tough the day was and my struggle on the run. It definitely wasn't anything to write home about but definitely something solid to build on going forward to Ironman Cairns. 

Congratulations has to go out to James Hodge for the "off the front" win. He definitely has an exciting future in long distance only being 20 years old! I was also stoked that my wife Amanda was finally back racing after an injury and accident interrupted 2011 season. Having worked at the expo all day before the race it wasn't the best preparation but she gutted it out and I was really happy to see her back racing!

Thanks to Ashleigh, Haley and the whole Tri WA team that once again made it an awesome event. It seriously is my favorite Ironman 70.3 event on the international circuit. 

BUSSELTON IRONMAN 70.3, 2012

1. James HODGE 03:55:08 
2. Matty WHITE 03:56:33 
3. Callum MILLWARD 03:58:07 
4. Luke MCKENZIE 04:00:51 
5. Graham O'GRADY 04:01:28 9:27 01:24:03