School Sport Triathlon Champion Lakes 2014

Planning my race, not knowing what to expect. I was just aiming for the top 6, hoping to get a place in the State Team. I really didn't know what to expect with this race. So I go for a warm up on the bike with my good friend Abby, both discussing the race. So we finished our ride. I headed into transition and set up.
Shortly after I went for a quick run to get my legs warmed up for a quick and fast race. I felt pain running through my legs but I knew that I couldn't let that affect my race. After a motivational chat with my parents and coach I went for a warm up for the swim. I felt really good swimming before the race, I felt prepared. So the co-ordinator of the race calls us to go to the start line after the intermediate boys went off and started swimming. "1 minute till start!" The nerves were really rushing through my mind but I felt pretty confident stepping into this race. Before I knew it the horn went. I had a pretty good start.

I lead it for about 15metres until Jess, Jo and Sophie who are all really good swimmers, took the lead. I sat on their feet for the first part of the swim, turning around the first buoy and heading into the flags to go onto my second lap. I quickly fix up my goggles as I go around the flags and out of the corner of my eye I saw Cassia not that far behind me. I dove in thinking about  how I am going to race the rest of the race. I come in from the second lap of the swim about 30 seconds behind the leaders. I knew I had to catch up to them to get in the top 3. I sprinted into
transition, quickly getting my helmet on and bolting out of transition with my bike and Cassia not far behind. I jump on my bike not really knowing what to expect. Wednesday night, my dad told me my gears on my bike were unfortunately playing up. He told me I had to ride strong in the harder gears incase something bad happened. I managed to drop Cassia on the bike by 20 seconds and I also caught up to one of the leaders. This was it. I was sitting in 3rd place. The adrenaline was running. So I'm pushing hard on the bike wanting to go in an easier gear but I knew I couldn't, so I just went through the pain my legs were experiencing. The dismount line was right ahead of me. I quickly dismounted and ran into transition. I had a pretty quick transition. I see the run exit on the other side of transition. I start running down there thinking how I could possibly run a good 4km. I head out over the bridge and I can see Cassia quickly closing the gap. I got to the first turn around before she over took me. I tried to stick with her but, her being a really good runner and myself not being as strong, I knew wouldn't be able to stick with her, but at least I tried. Running back to go onto my second lap I can see that the other athletes in my age group were chasing me down. I started to surge hoping that they wouldn't over take me. Going onto my second lap my feet started burning, but I wasn't going to let that stop me like it has stopped me when going for my long runs. I could see Cassia not that far in front of me. So I really start to push it hoping that I had a chance to catch up to her and get in the top 3. The finish line was not that far away. All of my friends and family were cheering me on as I sprint down the finish line almost collapsing at the end. I felt amazing. I had an amazing race.

Shortly after the race I had to go and get my bike rolled out. This is always the most nerve racking part for me. If my bike goes over a couple of cm, that's it I would be disqualified and my chances of getting into the state team would be slim. After standing in line for about 20 minutes, it's my turn to get my bike rolled out. I put it into the biggest gear I had (in triathlon you have a certain amount of gears, your bikes gears get locked out at a certain distance so that it is fair for everyone, mine is 7m), dad and I are standing there watching my bike get rolled out, after half of a pedal revolution and I turned to my dad, "I don't think it's going to make it dad." He told me it will make it. So I'm there watching my bike carefully and I started doubting it. The pedal got to 7m but it wasn't a full pedal revolution. It went over by almost a metre I think. I looked at the person who rolled out my bike with tears filling up in my eyes. I knew that I was going to get disqualified, but I was honest and told them the gear I rode in the entire way, but he said he was sorry and he couldn't do anything about it. I looked at dad crying, I started screaming at him. I was so devastated and I ran away.
Being disqualified was possibly one of the worst things I have heard in my life. I already had a crap few days leading up to the race. So I ran away from the roll outs and burst out crying. I'm sure most people would do that when they were close to getting third. To know that your chances of getting into the state team are less now are just so heart breaking because I trained quite hard leading up to this event so desperately wanting to qualify. I'm really glad that I didn't get in the top 3. If I did my medal would've gone to someone else and that would of only been a worse feeling. All my friends and their parents were hugging me telling me I didn't deserve it and that I had the best race I've ever had. But I guess things happen for a reason. Maybe this was to make me more motivated and to make me want to train harder and race better.
Left Bank...watch out!