Devonport OTU Sprint Triathlon 2019


My first Oceania race of the season was Devonport. It’s my second race as an U23 athlete and I must say it was quite the competitive field. 

My race was scheduled around noon which gave me plenty of time to sleep in and have a chilled morning before my race. I was in riding distance from the race venue so I used that as a little bit of a warm up as I knew that the schedule would be tight and a little rushed. Once I arrived, I stayed in the athletes lounge, checked in and then went for a quick run warm up as I was a little short of time, so I just did what I needed to. I believe the swim was an optional wetsuit swim and as much as I hated swimming in a wetsuit I thought it would be a good idea if I did just because everyone else was wearing one and even though I am a stronger swimmer I’d rather give myself a couple of seconds advantage and not struggle heaps in the swim if I didn't wear it. So we had 15 minutes to get our bikes into transition and set up as well as completing a swim warm up. However transition was opened five minutes late which gave me even less time than expected for warm up than anticipated so I put my wetsuit on before heading into transition so I could go straight form there to a warm up swim. 
                                              
      
I didn't get to swim for long, maybe five minutes or so, but I practiced a few entries and exits as well as a couple of sprints. We were soon called out of the water to line up in race order number. I was more towards the back of the field with my race number but at least I got myself a ITU ranking from Rayong, so I have better priority over the athletes who aren't ranked. We all lined up in order and as my name was called I ran down to the beach to start in my prime position on the outside of everyone else (as I hate being in the middle, I feel disadvantaged and don't get the best starts) but yeah it turned out to be a real prime position! I had the best start I’ve probably ever had in a triathlon apart from the usual congestion a bit further along in the swim which set me back a little but I know that I work best building into the swim so I used the back straight to catch up to the back of the lead pack and worked my way up to the front. I came out of the water just missing the front few, had a speedy transition (thanks to Eclipse PC’s weekly transition sessions) and was in the chase pack on the bike. 

I was defiantly a lot more mentally prepared for North St (the massive hill I’ve been complaining about for the past month), than I was three years ago however I still got spat out of the chase pack towards the top of the hill sadly and pretty much spent the remaining laps getting onto a group and then dropping off but at least I know what I need to work on now for next time! I came into transition with the third chase pack and the girls that were probably more my age. Once again, a speedy transition and then I headed out onto the 5km run. It was very hot out there but I did my best and built the run, still having a decent run time for that course. I crossed the line being the first female from WA, 16th U23 and 22nd overall (combined Elite & U23). 

The following morning was the mixed teams relay. I’ll keep it short and brief. I was put into a team of WA athletes with my older brother Kurt Wesley, Liv Smith and Luke Bate. Was quite the strong team of young athletes and we still had a very solid race coming in eighth place.

After reflecting on this tough race, I knew that I was a lot more physically and mentally stronger than I was a few years ago when I first competed in Devonport. I also had the right gearing this time and managed to snag some more points for my ITU ranking as I am now ranked 382nd in the world currently after only two races. 

Now I’m training for Bali Super League Triathlon qualifier and am flying out in a weeks time. I’m really working on some speed as its going to be quite a speedy few races races, so please do stay tuned for those results!

Many thanks to Eclipse Performance Centre for their ongoing support and quality training sessions, my family, the better half ;) for always joining me with extra training sessions and the rest of my mates!

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