On the Friday before Hazelwood a small contingent of Tri Alliance athletes headed up to Morwell to participate in a pre race camp run by Jarrod Evans. One could say there was a mixture of excitement over training and racing with Jarrod’s athletes and concern about the less than ideal weather conditions forecast for training and racing.
Friday afternoon Ryan, Emma, Michael, Mark, Geoff & Xavier arrived around 
12.45(maybe not Geoff, he had a massage in Melbourne but wasn’t far behind) and were in the Morwell indoor, very heated 25m pool within minutes. After being dealt a 3.5k set with cramping a major feature we had a surprise bonus round race. Each completed 2x 100m free with Geoff, Mark & Ryan in the winning team scoring themselves a free dinner on the Saturday night. From here we headed to our caravan park cabins for a quick feed and change before heading out on a 30min easy run. A mention must go here to Ryan’s lovely partner Christie who makes the best muesli bars, perfect recovery food for ravenous Triathlete’s. This is a not so subtle hint that we would love the recipe please and then perhaps some more samples at training some time soon.
Saturday saw us commute to the race site in the TA van at a very respectable hour of 9am. 
This did not make up for the fact that the wind was howling and rain continued bucketing down from the night before. Unfortunately Coach Emma missed the turn off for the race site and with no turn around point in sight and a car up the rear decided to go cross country in the van. It was seconds before the laughter stopped as did the van. A very wise but far too late Geoff Taylor made that the comment “you know we are in Gippsland don’t you”.  A tow from one the event organisers meant Emma was forgiven by all who did not fancy hanging around all day and missing out on the GF!
Race morning was FREEZING. We were all pretty happy to have the TA tent up and sheltering 23 Tri Alliance athletes and the Endurance.net team. Luckily the conditions eased and we were all treated to a lovely baby bath for the swim, a touch warmer than MSAC & Northcote and some rays of sun on the bike/run leg. Regardless it was only Anthony Churchward that we can recall who didn’t opt for a wetsuit. Post race a couple of sneaky athletes managed find themselves a hot shower and change before presentations and a long drive home.
We had some great results and performances on the day. Viola Nadj, Peet & Juliet Vermeulen, Steven Garnham all completed their first Olympic Distance race with smiles all round. After a month away enjoying the best that NZ has to offer Lisa D did not shy away and threw herself straight into the Olympic race coming away with very tidy result. To the Sprint distance race we had newcomer Mel Fisher complete her first ever Tri after 2 Tri Alliance camps she is now pumped for the next one. Unfortunately Michael G-V had a flat on the ride but managed to get in a solid swim and somehow clocked a bike time?!? It was great to see on course Sarah Brown, Ian Renouf and Mark Keogh who have been absent or in Sarah’s case recently returned! And thanks to Katherine P for coming along to support and complete her long run on the bike course.
All in all a fantastic day, would recommend it to athletes next year as the perfect pre season hit out.
RESULTS:
Olympic Distance
Geoffrey Taylor – 1st place, 2.06
Lisa Dominguez – 4th place, 2.16
Peet Vermeulen – 2.24
Ian Renouf – 2.31
Steven Garnham – 2.31
Meg Takiguchi -2.34
Juliet Vermeulen – 2.38
Sheridan Brown -2.38
Sean Helmot – 2.53
Viola Nadj – 2.54
Mark Keogh – 3.00
Sprint Distance
Ryan Bourke -1st place, 1.05
Emma Donati- 1st Place, 1.11
Xavier Flynn – 1.12
Mark Skilton – 1.13
Sarah Brown – 1.19
Emma Oliver- 1.24
Belinda Griffiths – 2nd place, 1.26
Anthony Churchward – 1.29
Melinda Fisher – 1.29
Pam Tunas – 1.50
Claire Manley – 1.59
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