Cairns Ironman 70.3 Teams Event

Yesterday saw me compete in the Cairns Ironman 70.3 event as a team where I was to be the cyclist. It was a little bit of a funny story because I received a message on Thursday evening asking whether or not I would like to ride for a team and without hesitation I said yes. I had heard that my team was from Brisbane and that I would receive a call sometime on Friday to confirm that I could do it. Friday came and I got the call and that afternoon I met the lady who was going to run at the teams check in. On Saturday I had not met the swimmer and I thought we would have had a chance to meet. I then found out that the swimmer was unavailable to meet and that we would catch up on race morning. Sunday morning came and got a text message from the swimmer saying that she had found my bike in transition, but I got to the transition a little late and then realised I left my electrolytes at home. This caused some panic and forced us to rush back home and get it. Meanwhile, I had still not met the lady who was swimming so I had no idea who to look for when she came out of the water.

Sunday morning was quite miserable and the rain hadn't eased off at all throughout the night. This made everything more difficult because the transition was a mud pit and everyone was trying to keep dry. I stood in transition with my helmet on waiting at my bike. The first swimmers came through and lots of age group athletes started to head out onto the bike leg and I was still standing there. Suddenly this lady comes running up and says. "Cahn?" I responded with. "Yes!" whilst taking off the timing chip and putting it onto my ankle. I had told a few people standing near me about what happened and as I grabbed my bike off the rack I said, "Nice to meet you," before running off and hearing everyone laughing.

The ride was extremely tough yet durable due to the wet conditions and I witnessed a crash within the first few kilometres. I tried to stay in my aero bars for as long as possible even though it may have felt easier to sit up. I felt good and I was flying along averaging about 38km/h and I had my first gel at the 30minute mark. I was catching a lot of people and by the turn around I felt as though my legs were still fresh.

Around the 50km mark I started to become uncomfortable on my saddle and I put this down to the fact that my set up wasn't very good because it was last minute and also because my saddle isn't triathlon specific. I pushed through the pain as I knew I didn't have to run off the bike so I could come into transition absolutely smashed. As I came back into the northern suburbs of Cairns I found myself leading a small group of riders and by this stage only four riders had passed me. I was feeling really strong despite the head wind that I was faced with and with ten kilometres to go I 'hit the wall' and from that point I struggled to hold 26km/h. I realised that I didn't take in enough food while I was riding and this was the punishment I was given. I never realised how brutal it was and it just happened so quickly. I started eating as much as I could and with only a few kilometres to go I was able to get my speed back to around 32-33km/h.

I got back into town and completed the 90km in 2hr:35min. This is a pretty good time and something I'm happy with. Although Sunday was a big learning day for me and I have a lot to take away for next year. My team ended up finishing in 5th out of the mixed teams and 19th out of 181 teams overall. We raced really well and I already have my team worked out for next year.

Finishing off the 90km ride of the Ironman 70.3 event