Race 4 Gatorade/Active Feet Race Report

Sunday 5 February, 2012
Much anticipation lead into Race 4 of the Gatorade/Active Feet Tri Series at Sandringham. This race is the biggest of the series as it incorporates the Victorian Olympic Distance Championships, so some of the best Olympic Distance athletes fight it out for the Voctorian Championships title.

The weather is always hot topic leading into a race, this race it wasn’t about the rain – but the wind! There were forecasts of a storm brewing late morning with extreme winds. This was of some concern for SuperSprint as high winds can become dangerous – particularily on the bike leg. So on the Saturday before the race, TriVic announced ‘disc’ wheels would not be allowed in the race. Not a bad call – but hopefully competitors weren’t going to take on the high winds with a disc wheel anyway!

Sunday morning and the TA Taj was relatively quiet in the wee hours of the morning for the Active Feet Race. With this being Race 4 of the season, most new athletes have progressed themselves to the Sprint Distance – which was the 3rd race of the day, and our Sprint athletes taking on the Olympic Distance (and for some this would mean their first Olymcpic Distance race). But as the sun began to rise, so did our athletes and by 7am the TA Taj was a hive of activity as athletes prepared themselves for their race.

Nerves before the race were a little higher than normal, with athletes checking and rechecking their gear, going over in the heads their race plans, thinking a little more about pacing and nutrition. And Olympic Distance race can be anywhere from 2-3.5hours, so more planning goes into this distance than a Sprint. Dane Barclay from our valued partners The Performance and Sports Psychology Clinic was on hand at the race to chat to athletes, to help settle nerves, focus on the race and set themselves for a good day. A big thanks to Dane for his words of wisdom to many athletes on course!

The Active Feet Race kicked off at 6.45am, Gatorade Olympic at 7.15am and Sprint at 8.15am. Our athletes had another great day of racing – despite those going off in later waves coping the brunt of the extreme winds, everyone did extremely well. Tri Alliance again had huge numbers both racing – and noteably on the sidelines as cheer squad. And the support of the cheersquad cannot be underestimated.Particularily in longer races, the support from the sidelines provides motivation and encouragement to continue to push hard even when your body might be telling you otherwise – so a BIG THANKYOU to everyone who came down and supported and provided extra cheer after you raced.

“Thanks so so much to the best cheer squad ever for getting me through today. You helped make the impossible just damn hard!”

“Fantastic support from the cheer squad. Helped me find some extra effort when I thought I was spent.”

We had a number of Coaches also on course during the day to help athletes as well and luckily we did! Coach Mick was floating around ensuring athletes had themselves sorted when all of a sudden become instant ‘bike mechanic’ fixing 2 late morning punctures from two seperate athletes who were in a fluster to get their puncture fixed before transition closed. Thanks Mick! Coach Emma rolled around for another win in the Sprint Distance, and then headed out of course to support her fellow athletes. She soon turned into ‘life saver’ as she was first on the scene from a participant who collapsed during the run leg and was in and out of consciousness. Hats off to you Emma as you held your composure even when the man unknowingly shared his morning breakfast on your lap. True Coach material there!

No matter what your goals are – whether it be to complete your first triathlon, step up to a Sprint or Olympic Distance, search for a PB or that elusive podium finish, each of your goals is individual and unique to you. They are no one else’s but yours. So as you review your race, don’t dwell on comparing yourself too much to others, look at YOUR own race, YOUR own goals and what YOU can do to improve. You would have heard our coaches say on numerous occassions… “You will gain more from working on your weaknesses than working on your strengths”. So if this is you, look at where you can gani your biggest improvements from and work on these, get in the pool more if you need work on your swim, enroll in one of our stroke correction courses, and speak to our coaches for guidance. If you never ask the questions you may never get the answers. 🙂

“Feeling tremendously proud of myself this evening! I put the ’10/’11 Gatorade series calendar on the wall about this time last year with the goal of doing the series in ’11/’12and working up to one Olympic Distance race. At the time I was out of shape and didn’t own ANY of the gear, except goggles. Today I completed the Olympic Distance. The time? Sure, there’s plenty of room for improvement. But, I want to thank the coaches, core squad, and especially the members of my “try the try” group, without whom I never would have found the courage or grit to do it.” Brendan

Well done Brendan!!

Results and Noteable Mentions:

Active Feet

Caroline Houston – 2nd F50+
Juliet Cooper – 1st F40-49
Diana Angelini – 2nd F40-49
Katie Wilson – 6th F30-39
Lauren Sheldon – 1st Family&Friends
Pam Tunas
John Giordano
Jason Robilliard
Jo Stavrou
Tara Salter
Aaron Gaudron
Martin Churchward

Sprint

Michelle Grocock – 1st, Athenas
Emily Hosken – 4th F15-19
Natalie Methvan – 4th F25-29
Eleesha Nesci 8th F25-29
Margs Mielczarek – 12th F25-29
Juliet Vermeulen
Jonathan Carberry – 14th M25-29
Emma-Lise Donati – 1st F30-34
Kerri Whitney – 9th F30-34
Darren Schonewille
Peter Vermeulen
Belinda Griffiths – 5th F35-39
Mark Casey – 8th M35-39

Olympic

Ryan Bourke – 3rd M25-29, 2:08.00
Ollie Allan – 4th M35-39, 2:10.52
Brett Archbold – 5th M30-34, 2:18.44
Peter Rainey – 4th M45-49, 2:20.15
Nathan Sims – 9th M30-34, 2:20.50
Lisa Dominequez – 3rd F30-34, 2:25.56
John Grant – 2nd Clydesdales, 2:28.29
Geoff Taylor – 5th M55-59, 2:29.20
Shane Buntman – 2:33.40
Tim Grant – 2:34.21
Jody Biddle – 2:35.42
Anthony Leverington – 2:35.56
Cam Pegg – 2:36.56
Michae Grau-Veliz – 2:37.28
Des Minton – 2:37.37
Narelle Crooks – 8th F35-39, 2:39.48
Dominic Keating – 2:41.32
Paul Cassie – 2:41.43
Paul Adams – 2:41.45
Brett Parker – 2:43.14
Andy Wood-rich – 4th Clydesdales, 2:43.46
Brinn Tavener – 2:45.12
Ian (Roofie) Renouf – 2:48.18
Brianna Scarlett – 15th F30-34, 2:49.17
Chris Ormston – 2:51.12
Chris Mutimer – 2:41.25
Sean Fleming – 7th Clydesdales, 2:51.43
Meg Takiguchi – 19th F30-34, 2:52.50
Guy Franklin – 2:53.25
Kathryn Proctor – 20th F30-34, 2:53.38
Anthony Churchward – 2:54.19
Alex Angelini – 2:54.59
Kathryn Siddle – 4th F20-24, 2:55.07
Tim Watts – 2:56.33
Paul Hirst – 2:56.57
Howard Barton – 2:57.56
Alison Werstuk – 13th F25-29, 2:59.25
Sarah Lausberg – 3:03.30
Michelle Reckerman – 3:04.27
Sean Helmot – 3:06.27
Michael Fearne – 3:13.23
Aimie Saunders – 3:13.44
Dave Nealon – 3:13.54 – with a flat!
Jill Sultan – 4th F50-54, 3:15.33
Steph Lowe – 3:16.21
Lidia Ursini – 6th Athenas, 3:16.45
Adam Inglis – 3:21.02
David Inglis – 3:29.16
Amnon Trebish – 3:30.19
Grant Carroll – 3:33.51
Sally Clements – 3:44.21

CLICK HERE to view full results from this race and other Gatorade/Active Feet Races.

**Remember, if your name is NOT on the above results listing, then you do not have Tri Alliance as your Club/Squad in your SuperSprint profile, so make sure you log in and enter this so your results are recorded.

Coach Sarah was official photograher for the day and snapped some great pics. Check out your race day photos here.

Big thanks also goes out to those who helped set up and pack up the TA Taj – we needed as many hands as possible in pack up to ensure the Taj didn’t fly away in the winds – so thanks all!

Thanks also to our valued partners for their ongoing support:

Lakeside Sports Medicine Centre – Mark, Justin & Khann for their much appreciated massages pre and post race
CBD Cycles – for assisting our athletes pre race
Xtreme Fitness Australia – for our swesome warm up bikes!
The Performance & Sports Psychology Clinic – thanks for your time Dane!
Shots Nutrition – your gels, bars and hydration ensure our athletes have the best race nutrition available
Ascend Sport – for the best recovery drink on the market!