There was much interest heading into the Australian Long Course Championships at Falls Creek – not only to see who was going to come out on top, but what the weather was going to be like and how cold was the water temperature going to be! The forecast was for a maximum of 9-10deg on race day – colder than normal conditions in the middle of summer, but the bonus with racing at altitude is that generally the temperature feels around 5deg warmer than the forecast, so with a little luck and a little sunshine we were hoping for a great day weather wise for racing and that’s exactly what we got!
Event organisers SuperSprint were informed of a late afternoon storm and with this known brought the race forward an hour and a half to start at 7.00am instead of the planned late 8.30am start. Thankfully the clouds were high and visability great, so we were set for a cracker of a morning!
The course is a 2km lake swim, 80km tough hilly bike and a 20km trail run along the Aqueduct. The swim in Rocky Valley Lake is tough for two main reasons. You are swimming at around 1500m altitude and it’s cold. Water temp on race day was 15deg. A little colder than most athletes are used to swimming in. These two conditions combined mean the heart rate can sky rocket and breathing difficult. So finding a good rhythm early in the swim is important or it can throw you out for the remainder of your swim leg. And just when you think you are ready to jump on the bike, you can’t forget about the 500m+ run uphill to transition (think Sandringham but harder). This made even harder with freezing cold feet on rocky ground. First stop – transition for socks! 🙂
The bike course is spectacular – but tough. It keeps you honest, with a 3 lap 80km ride along a hilly course including 2-3 short climbs that can sort out your legs if you don’t go into the race prepared. The small chain ring isn’t used in many races – but most would have come to know it during this bike course. The conditions were pretty good on race day with a slight tail wind on the way out and slight headwind on the way back. Most athletes would have taken the time in transition to put on extra layers including socks, vest and arm warmers or jacket. If you didn’t, you would have felt the crisp fresh breeze of the Alps. 
The run is fantatsic – but again tough. Around 80% of the course is relatively flat on a ‘tan like’ track along the aqueduct, but it’s the other 20% that makes it a tough run. Straight out of transition and you are into an uphill run to take you to the aqueduct trail. Along the aqueduct at around the 2km mark you turn left and find yourself face first into another short (around 400m) but extremely tough hill climb. The first time up this beauty is tough, you can only imagine running (or walking) up this one on the second lap! The turnaround point of the 2x10km run course allows you to head past spectators and draw some strength from them as you head out again knowing whats in front of you. The last 2km of the run leg to the finish line is probably the toughest though, you think you have nearly finished when you hit the 18km mark, but most of the last 2km are up hill. After a 2km swim, 80km hilly bike ride and 18km of running this is a tough ask on the legs. But knowing you are almost there and hearing in the distance the announcements at the finish line you will your legs to power (did I say power, may walk/run) up the last climb to wind back around the the uphill (yes!) finish line.
The course ceratinly keeps you honest, with nutrition and fluid intake key to keep you going in the race. Well done to everyone who raced this spectaular event – including the 8 Tri Alliance athletes racing in this fantastic race. With two of those athletes securing themselves the title of Australian Age Group Champions! Tri Alliance will definately be back again next year!
- Ollie Allan – is having a great lead in to IM Melbourne a this race allowed him to use it as a great training run. Four days at altiude training including a Long Course race and he just so happened to finish 5th in his age group M35-39 in a very tidy field including the likes of Sam Hulme, Damien Angus and co.
- Sarah Grove – was back with revenge on this course as last year it claimed her with nutrition problems and this year was her year to tame the beast and that she did. Coming 3rd out of the water, 2nd off the bike there was only one other girl to chase. Concern though as the hill climbs on the run started to play havoc with her calves, but after a few choice words from the coach ‘so what – get on with it!’ and her run leg finished off too strong for her competitors as she finished 1st F25-29 with the fastest female age group run time and taking home the title of Age Group Australian Champion.
- Paul O’Dowd – The Irishman has been training the house down also leading into IM Melbourne and was to use this race as a good training run. The goal was to get through the swim and have a solid bike run – but not go over the top – with his main race just 6 weeks away. But unfortunately the race didn’t go to plan with stomach issues in both the swim and bike and Paul deciding to pull the pin on the 2nd bike lap unable to stomach any nutrition. A wise move. Now for the big one Paul.
- Natalie Howard – Nat is a strong competitor in all 3 legs, but after succumbing to a stress fracture in the foot at Shepparton Half IM, Nat went into the race knowing she was to complete just 2/3rds of the race. So well done Nat and we look forward to you coming back bigger and stronger than ever over the winter season.
- Jennifer Ring – self confessed that she hadn’t quite done enough training for this race, but was happy to take on the challenge none the less. Every time we passed her she was smiling, and kept at her own pace and game plan. Her goal was for a sub 6hour race. And if you saw her race to the finish line there was no way she was letting the clock beat her coming in just under 6 hours. Well done Jen, true determination!
- Jason Sweeney – raced Sandringham Olympic the week before and decided to pull out on the run with a little niggle, knowing his big race was here at Falls. And Jason had a great race. Him and two mates did the race together and were pretty much on par after the bike leg but we’re pleased to announce he beat his two mates with a solid time of 5:31. Must have been the coaching Jason! 🙂
- Bob Van Zuiden – had a mixed lead in to this race, but was ready to give it a good go and that’s what he did. Finsihing the race in a tidy time of 5:17.
- Jodie Morris – started training with Tri Alliance just over a month ago as she leads into her IM Melbourne campaign. Jodie’s biggest concern leading into the race was her swim, but ask her afterwards and she said she loved it! So big cudo’s to Swim Coach Ryan! And then she suprised herself yet again when she learnt that night that she had won her age group, becoming an Age Group Australian Champion! Well done Jodie. Now for IM Melbourne! 🙂
Well done also to Jason Robbilliard who also came up and competed in the 9.4km trail run. A great effort, with his longest run recently being a 5-6km. So well done Jason!
Big thanks to those who came up and supported and thanks to Dale Robinson and Damien ‘Damo’ Phelan for the cheers from the sidelines.
Shout out also goes to our great partners Ascend Proven Sports Proteins and Shotz Sports Nutrition who were both involved with this great race and ensuring our athletes were fuelled, hydrated and recovered through all their nutrtion and recovery products. And the best in the bike business Anthony & Dave from CBD Cycles – Thanks for your ongoing support guys!
If you haven’t thought about this race before – then we highly recommend it. The race is extremely well run by SuperSprint, the course tough but spectacular. A great race to put onto your racing calendar for the 2012/2013 season.
Tri Alliance looks forward to being back there again next year!
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