Related posts:

1. Intro – 2012 Urban Hotel Group Ironman Australia, Port Macquarie Race Week
2. Checking in after my 2nd place at the 2012 Port Macquarie Ironman
3. Ironman Australia – Port Macquarie

Related posts:

1. Checking in after my 2nd place at the 2012 Port Macquarie Ironman
2. Ironman Australia – Port Macquarie
3. Pre-race interview – Port Macquarie Half Ironman

A quick transition onto the bike and out for the 180km ride I went. Lucky for my wifey Bel as she got a chance to ride in the lead car for the day and was doing a marvelous job twittering my splits throughout the day. So for the first 90km Leon Griffin and I rode solid together but Paul Ambrose was absolutely killing it on the bike and was putting time into us. Unfortunately for Leon he got a drafting penalty and then I was on my own for the next 90km, something I would rather have not had to do. The back 90km I hit the wall at the 140km mark and had to roll for a bit and take in my SIS Bar and SIS Gels. I managed to get my $hit together and come back into town with a gap of around 13:20 minutes to catch Paul Ambrose on the run. Now the question running through my head was had I saved my legs enough for the marathon that was to come.

Another speedy transition and I was onto the run course, the course was 4 laps long, making it a lot more spectator friendly. At the half way mark I was 10 minutes down and the legs were still with me but not for much longer as the 39km mark my quads felt like concrete and at that point I only needed to find another 8 minutes to catch him. So with the final 5km to go I was 4:15 down and was running out of real estate. So down the finish shoot I went, I got 2nd place. A much deserved victory to Paul Ambrose – doing it in style of the front all day. I had the fastest run split of the day banking a 2:47.20 for the marathon. I live to fight another day and see everyone back in Port Macquarie for the 70.3 in November.

Thanks for all the support on course guys and stay tuned for the documentary coming out shortly. Thanks again to my family and family in law for coming down and supporting me, as well as my wifey for being a legend on twitter xx love you and of cause I can’t forget my Manager (Mike), coach (Gilsey, team Aeromax) and my awesome Sponsors: Scody,Daikin,Giant,Rockstar,Urban Hotels, Newton,Shimano,SIS, Oakley, Blue Seventy, Garmin, Coastline Chiropatic, Continental tyres, Gordan Street Cycles, Aeromax Coaching, Power Breath/Compresssport, Hypnotic Zoo

P.S but I bet your all super jealous now, where off on our Honeymoon to the exotic location of Bora Bora Tahiti where I will be sipping on Piña Coladas and lounging around the pool. See you all soon I will be revitalized and refreshed after this holiday without the bike!

Related posts:

1. Intro – 2012 Urban Hotel Group Ironman Australia, Port Macquarie Race Week
2. Ironman Australia – Port Macquarie
3. Port Macquarie Half Ironman

So my first race for the year of 2012 was New Zealand Half Ironman where I got 3rd, not a bad start to the year on the podium. What I got out of this race was the realization that after a much needed break there was still some work to be done and I have a few cobwebs to dust out.

The next race on the cards was one I didn’t have originally in mind to do, but the fiancé said I need to go off and race and make some money. So off to the wild west I went for Goondiwindi hell of the west triathlon. I headed out with the boys (Adys and Andrew) for the long drive. I came home with a 2nd place at Hell of the West triathlon, not a bad result but still a little more work to done before Geelong.

So the field was a bit more competitive at Geelong and I hadn’t quiet got my position right on my new Giant yet, but I was there and ready to give it my best shot. I managed a 3rd and was happy with that. I now know where I am at for the rest of a very big and busy season. I have also ironed out my position on the Giant and can’t wait to hit the races in the US.

Next on the agenda was to be the most important day of my life our wedding. The weather was not so nice to us as it was quiet windy and raining most of the day, although for our outside beach ceremony it managed to stop raining for the 30 minutes that our ceremony took place, we were very lucky! Onwards to the reception and for the party to start. Our reception was held at Oskars and everything was perfect. It was such a fun night filled with lots love and crazy dance moves from the Aeromax tri crew! I do know there was defiantly a few sore heads in the morning and maybe not so much training haha. I want to thank everyone for coming and also for all the lovely gifts we received. I would also like to thank my wife for making the day perfect and that you looked amazing xx love you Bel.

So now that everything has gone back to normality for us on the Gold Coast, I have been training hard and will be leaving for the US in a couple of weeks to hit up Oceanside 70.3 race and possibly another one. I am heading to Boulder again to reap the rewards of altitude training. I will be there only for a month as I have a few Aussie races to do in May/June, and then back over to do the rest of the US season.
Anyway onwards and upwards peace out

I chat about my training, the up-and-coming wedding to Bel and my change to the shorter distance.

Related posts:

1. Check this out! I’m on the cover of Australia’s 220 Triathlon magazine
2. 220 Triathlon magazine interview
3. How I’m preparing for the 2011 Abu Dhabi International Triathlon

Berkel, speaking from his home training base said “I’m very happy to be signing up with Rockstar racing and Giant. Giant have some of the nicest bikes on the market and I’m really looking forward to racing on them in 2012 I’m also excited to be teaming up with Dwight Woodforth and Rockstar Racing. It’s great to see Rockstar moving into triathlon and I can’t wait to be a part of it.”

For Rockstar racing and team director Dwight Woodforth this is a significant step outside the mountain bike world. This is an exciting time for Rockstar Racing, the move into Triathlon is something we have been working on with our major partners for some time. “Tim is a great asset to our team, not only is he a talented and well respected athlete but he fits the Rockstar mould perfectly.” commented Woodforth.

“Rockstar Racing was established on the back of our Mountain biking platform. We have had great success not only on the track but also off. Our Rockstar Team kit have been extremely popular and we recently reached an agreement with clothing Manufacturer Champion System to sell our gear through there online store in the US & Australia.” he said.

This is the first real move for an Australian team into triathlon and while it might not have the fanfare of the Green Edge movement the Rockstar team has had some top results on the dirt. Now they are turning their attention to the tarmac with Berkel as the pilot.

Thanks to Phil from First Off The Bike for putting this together for me.

Thanks to everyone who sent me images over the last few weeks.

Related posts:

1. My first place in the 2010 Challenge Copenhagen
2. Challenge Copenhagen Race Report
3. Today I defend my title at the 2011 Challenge Copenhagen

Race morning was all good and everything flowed easily. I might have been a little bit sleepy but in saying that it kept me fairly relaxed. The swim was a non wetsuit and I wore my Blue Seventy speed suit over the top of my awesome new Scody tri kit.

My swim was probably one of the worst swims of my career so far. I got absolutely smashed at the start by the other pros – note to self, take a few boxing classes before world champs next year to learn how to through a few down. This terrible start ruined the rest of my swim and saw me come out of the water in a time of 26:33. I think this had me in around 29th position and so I had a bit of work to do on the bike.

The bike course was what everyone expected, hilly, hot and very tough. I was very happy with my bike pushing some good power with the help of trying to keep up with Michi Weiss, that boy can ride well and also a fellow Cannondale rider. He is someone I would defiantly be looking out for in Kona. My SRM was pushing out an average of 282 watts, my overall time for the bike was 2:14:44 coming in at around 9th position. You can see below how I performed during the race.

Onto the run I always knew I would fell the effects of Ironman from a few weeks earlier. In saying that, I gave it a good shot and managed to run myself into 6th place on the second lap of a three lap run course. I didn’t hold this position very long as a couple of boys came storming past pretty quickly. I just didn’t have my usual bounce/turn-over like I am use to because of my Ironman legs. But all in all I was happy with my 8th place result at Vegas Ironman World Championships.

Well Vegas surely lived up to everything I expected and more. Bel and I headed of to the presentation, which was very nicely done by WTC – congratulations on a well run event. Now the fun really started with my mate Luke McKenzie and the gorgeous Amanda (aka Mr and MrsVegas) had us rolling in an awesome Cabana at the XS Encore hotel. we had free Moet and Vodka and partied pretty hard – thanks guys for lots of fun. The party didn’t stop there though! We went out the next night also for a lovely dinner with the Shimano Guys (Dwight and Paul) along with Matty and Danielle. We then partied on for a couple of drinks at Ceasars Casino followed by hitting up Macque night club in the Cosmopolitian with a few mates of mine from back in Australia. Well all in all I had a pretty awesome time in Vegas and I defiantly can’t wait to get back there again next year and hope for an even better result.

Related posts:

1. Post race video interview – 2011 Busselton Ironman 70.3

Well I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on my race in Copenhagen this past weekend.  The weather was better than the lead up last year, as the rains in 2010 were the worst they had experienced in years, and it caused havoc with their roads (which caused many punctures last year…).

My preparation wasn’t very good, and I had battled with a virus about 2 ½ weeks out that had been zapping my energy, so my training efforts were not as intense as I would have preferred.  I saw a doctor in Boulder and was on antibiotics up until 4 days out from my departure to Denmark.  Getting to Copenhagen was a little more relaxing than last year, as I had Bel with me, and that was a nice way to settle into the race weekend.

Well the swim start was the usual smash and thrash, until we settled into a rhythm.  I fell off the leaders early in the swim, so was pretty much on my own for most of the swim, and I exited the water in 5th place.  I had Stephen Bayliss, Fredrik Seistrup and Bjorn Anderson out three minutes ahead of me, but Jimmy Johnson was only about 40 seconds ahead, and then there was the main pack of seven over a minute behind me.  I rode pretty well, and was on my own for the first 30kms, then I caught Jimmy, and soon after that, we got swallowed up by the pack I had dropped back in the swim.

The course in Copenhagen is a great mix of straight country roads, and some narrow technical sections with tight corners, and cobblestone surfaces.  You get a definite feel of Europe when racing there.  Last year I made my break off the bike through those technical corners to drop some Danish guys that were shadowing me, but this year the corners which assisted my solo breakaway one year earlier, became my downfall.  Soon after the pack swallowed us up, I was sitting in third position and we were heading into a sharp corner.  The guys ahead of me slowed down for the corner, and I came up to about 6 metres to the guy in front of me, while I was still braking.  I heard a motorbike along the side of me, but was focused on slowing and taking the corner, when I heard him yell “Number 1″ (my race number…) “Penalty” and he held up a card to me.  He then yelled to the guys behind me, and in front of me, that he was giving them a warning.

I was fuming, and it started to do my head in.  I remembered from the race briefing that they said we could dispute a penalty if we thought they were unfair, so I tried to settle myself down and told myself to just finish the bike, then dispute the charge, and get on with the race.  I was feeling pretty strong, so at about 155kms on the bike, I pushed the pace a little, and frenchman Christophe Bastie came with me, and Jimmy, Dejan Patrcevic (from Croatia) and last years second place getter Keegan Williams (from New Zealand) didn’t come with us.  I was glad to see the group split up because I would prefer to set into my run pace without the others breathing down my neck.

By the time I was heading into T2, Bjorn Anderson was smashing the field and he had over a 16-minute lead on me, but the other early leaders of Bayliss, and Seistrup were only a  minute ahead of me and I had opened up nearly a three minute lead over the boys I dropped at the 155km mark.  I knew I had to settle this drafting penalty, so they told me to get in the “Penalty Box” and I told them that I was going to dispute it after the race.  I knew I was not in a drafting position, and that anyone looking at the lead-in to the corner would use common sense and reverse the call.  Note to self…  never assume that common sense will prevail.

I ran about 1km, and a guy road up on a motorbike yelling at me to stop to serve my penalty.  I tried to reason with him, that I was going to dispute the call, because we were told in the pre-race briefing that we could.  He told me if I didn’t serve the penalty, he would disqualify me right there on the spot.  I was nearly 2km into the run, so I was going off at him, and yelling back that we were told we could dispute a “bad” call.  He wasn’t budging so I knew I would go mental if I finished the race and then found out it was all in vain as they were going to stand by their call.  So I stood on the side of the road, while he served me the four minute penalty.  I had already moved into a solid third place before I was forced to stop, but then I watched 4th, then 5th, then 6th and eventually 7th run by me.  Each guy that ran by me, raised my level of frustration.  I hope there weren’t any young children standing near me, and if so, I hope they didn’t have a good understanding of english.  At least the english I was using…

By the time my penalty was served, I was in 8th place, and I hit the road, like a bat outta hell.  I was angry and running out of frustration, and just possibly not running sensibly.  My Garmin GPS watch has me running a 3:20 min/km pace, and I picked off 7th, 6th, 5th, 4th, and by the 7km mark I was approaching Jimmy Johnson who was sitting in 3rd.  I ran past him then thought that I still had 35 kilometres to go, and at the pace I was going at, it wasn’t going to be sustainable for the remainder of the race, so I eased back to my normal marathon pace (which is about a 4:00 min/km pace).

I overtook Christophe Bastie to move into second place at the 9km mark so I only had Bjorn Anderson up the road.  I had Dejan tailing me on the run, and I couldn’t shake him.  He was always 20-30 seconds behind me, but I kept my focus on Anderson, who had smashed us all with a spectacular ride.  I kept getting splits from the crowd, and I knew I was closing in, but I didn’t take the lead until the 23km mark.  I still had Dejan trailing me by 30 seconds, and Jimmy was only a minute back from me as well.

Dejan eventually caught me, and we ran together for a few kms, then I surged a little and dropped him.  After a few minutes, I felt nature calling and needed to make a visit to the nearest port-a-loo. After finishing my business and exiting T3, I had Dejan right next to me again.  So I dropped him again, and ran on my own until I was joined by Jimmy Johnson at the 35km mark.  Jimmy’s a good runner, and it felt like my Jason Shortis dual from Ironman WA all over again.  I used a similar tactic and settled into a pace with him side-by-side and took in a SiS Smart 1 Gel (which has a kick of caffeine…) for good measure.  After I was feeling fresher, and knowing I only had about 5km to go, I surged to drop Jimmy.  He held pace with me, and even then put a surge on me.  We were flying and not letting the other one get an advantage.  I knew Jimmy had put in a pretty good effort to catch up to me, but I also knew I had run the early portion of the race at a silly pace, and I knew I didn’t want to have a sprint finish with him.

I had 2km to go, and dug deeper than I’ve ever gone before.  I wasn’t thinking about anything but the finish line and I did not turn around until I reached the entrance of the finish chute.  I had no idea of where he was but when I turned around I couldn’t see him.  So I cruised in the finish line and lapped up the applause.  I knew the predominantly Danish crowd were hoping to Jimmy there first, but they were awesome at supporting my repeat performance from 2010.  It was my narrowest win over an Ironman-distance race, with Jimmy coming in 35 seconds later, and third place Dejan Petrcevic only 1:03 behind me.  They were great competitors and they pushed me hard to the very end.  Penalty, and nature calls aside, it was a great race, and I was over the moon to be able to defend my 2010 win.

So now I’m back to Boulder to recover and prepare for Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Las Vegas in four weeks time.

Related posts:

1. My first place in the 2010 Challenge Copenhagen
2. Images from Challenge Copenhagen
3. Quick update from the 2011 Challenge Copenhagen