Last Wednesday the Peninsula Triathlon Team were scheduled to fly out to race at Hervey Bay for the state championships. When we arrived at the airport, there was a slight drama. Half of the team was supposed to fly out at 10 o'clock that morning. I unfortunately was in the half that was supposed to be on the early flight. The managers said that we were being put on a flight at 9pm that night and then having a four hour drive to Hervey Bay after that. They also said that we would have to send our bikes with someone else as there was not enough room on for the amount of bikes on the late flight. This made me uneasy as I was using the shop bike. I was lucky enough that Dad got me onto a flight with him for the next morning, which meant I was able to get a good nights sleep.
When I arrived in Hervey Bay the next day I found out that the people that went on the late flight got there at 4am which would have been unfortunate for them as they wouldn't have had a great sleep. Thankfully I made it there in one piece and my mum received my bike safely.
I felt really good going into the race on Friday morning. It wasn't a very big field this year, maybe about 30 athletes. I woke up and this year I felt that I was ready and that it was going to be a good year. I worked so hard in the swim leg but as I watched the quick swimmers swim away I thought that I was coming dead last. I actually came out about 18th place (unofficially) which is incredible for me. I knew that I was going to have to work extra hard on the bike and I secretly had a goal of having a top 10 ride time. I rode extremely well, maybe not my best ride ever but I could tell that it was good. For the first time ever I had caught Adam (one of the other local boys from Cairns) in a state championship race, although I think that I put too much effort into catching him on the bike that when I passed him I didn't accelerate and he was able to follow my wheel. We came off the bike together and I thought in my head that I would be able to run away from him but that was not the case. He was closing quickly and on the last lap of the run I pushed even harder to stay away. As he got onto my shoulder I vomited and when he tried to run past the same thing happened too him. He slowed and I was able to pull away. It wasn't long to the finish and I knew that the pain would be over. I gave it one last go but everything was in agony, I had blisters on my feet and my hip was pulling. As we came into the finish chute I heard someone yell, "GO! GO! GO! He's coming!" I pushed one last time and was just able to beat Adam across the line.
I finished in 11th place which is my best ever result at those championships and I also achieved my other goal of having a top 10 bike time, with 8th best. I don't think that these championships could have gone any better than they did. Next year I am aiming for a spot on the Queensland Team in my last year of school sport racing. I want to put out a big thank you to my Mum for always taking me away to these events and giving her time up to get me to training sessions so I can succeed. She saw the finished product of the hard work on the weekend and I think that she was proud.
 |
| Sprinting for the line in the individual race. |
No comments:
Post a Comment