Port Macquarie Ironman is a special race for me, it’s my hometown race and one that I hold dear to my heart. Being a hometown race I’m always under a lot of pressure to perform at my best and give it my all come race day. I arrived into town on Tuesday and spent the days before doing all the media commitments that comes with racing in my hometown. I also had my own media following me around 24/7 for this race as I’m doing a documentary on racing ironman and the whole race week preparations that are involved.
So race morning was a rather chilly one, my swim went well even though I ended up ripping my hand and my Blue Seventy Helix wetsuit to pices by swimming to close to a buoy obviously covered in something bloody sharp! Need to get a new wetsuit now…. I came out in around 6th spot with a time of 48:49.
A quick transition onto the bike and out for the 180km ride I went. Lucky for my wifey Bel as she got a chance to ride in the lead car for the day and was doing a marvelous job twittering my splits throughout the day. So for the first 90km Leon Griffin and I rode solid together but Paul Ambrose was absolutely killing it on the bike and was putting time into us. Unfortunately for Leon he got a drafting penalty and then I was on my own for the next 90km, something I would rather have not had to do. The back 90km I hit the wall at the 140km mark and had to roll for a bit and take in my SIS Bar and SIS Gels. I managed to get my $hit together and come back into town with a gap of around 13:20 minutes to catch Paul Ambrose on the run. Now the question running through my head was had I saved my legs enough for the marathon that was to come.
Another speedy transition and I was onto the run course, the course was 4 laps long, making it a lot more spectator friendly. At the half way mark I was 10 minutes down and the legs were still with me but not for much longer as the 39km mark my quads felt like concrete and at that point I only needed to find another 8 minutes to catch him. So with the final 5km to go I was 4:15 down and was running out of real estate. So down the finish shoot I went, I got 2nd place. A much deserved victory to Paul Ambrose – doing it in style of the front all day. I had the fastest run split of the day banking a 2:47.20 for the marathon. I live to fight another day and see everyone back in Port Macquarie for the 70.3 in November.
Thanks for all the support on course guys and stay tuned for the documentary coming out shortly. Thanks again to my family and family in law for coming down and supporting me, as well as my wifey for being a legend on twitter xx love you and of cause I can’t forget my Manager (Mike), coach (Gilsey, team Aeromax) and my awesome Sponsors: Scody,Daikin,Giant,Rockstar,Urban Hotels, Newton,Shimano,SIS, Oakley, Blue Seventy, Garmin, Coastline Chiropatic, Continental tyres, Gordan Street Cycles, Aeromax Coaching, Power Breath/Compresssport, Hypnotic Zoo
P.S but I bet your all super jealous now, where off on our Honeymoon to the exotic location of Bora Bora Tahiti where I will be sipping on Piña Coladas and lounging around the pool. See you all soon I will be revitalized and refreshed after this holiday without the bike!
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[…] Checking in after my 2nd place at the 2012 Port Macquarie Ironman […]
[…] Checking in after my 2nd place at the 2012 Port Macquarie Ironman […]