{"id":291,"date":"2010-02-07T18:22:47","date_gmt":"2010-02-07T08:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timberkel.com\/?p=291"},"modified":"2016-01-12T10:21:33","modified_gmt":"2016-01-12T00:21:33","slug":"going-toe-to-toe-with-the-best-at-the-2010-geelong-ironman-70-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timberkel.com\/going-toe-to-toe-with-the-best-at-the-2010-geelong-ironman-70-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Going Toe to Toe with the Best at the 2010 Geelong Ironman 70.3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well it’s February 7, and I’ve just finished my second race of the year after reaching the podium at\u00a0the 2010 Geelong Ironman 70.3<\/a>. That’s two third-place finishes to start off 2010, but there was a top field today, so I’m really happy with my result.<\/p>\n

I decided to travel on Saturday, for a Sunday race, so I didn’t have many distractions with any of the media commitments. I arrived in Geelong in the early afternoon, so I quickly needed to put the bike together, register, and get my bike into the compound as soon as I arrived. After I finished all of the necessities, I went and had an early dinner with my mate Clayton Fettell. It’s always good to kick back with him, so I was pretty relaxed leading into the race.<\/p>\n

As I said earlier, it was a top field, and they gave me number 2. I felt pretty honoured to be given a number so low. I had two-time World Champion Craig Alexander (number 1) on my left and former World Duathlon Champion Leon Griffin on my right. I was also racing with triathlon legend Jason Shortis, as well as Olympic\u00a0bronze medalist Jan Rehula. I was also racing against my mates Matty White and Adam Holborow, as well as a host of other Australian pros.<\/p>\n

I wished I could’ve done this race last year; however, my training wasn’t up to scratch at the same time last season. The race has really good atmosphere, and there were nearly perfect conditions when we started the swim. I expected Clayton and Michael Murphy to go out hard in the swim, so my focus was to just stay with Crowie and Griff. When the gun fired, Clayton took off, and Murphy was trying to hold onto his feet, but that didn’t last long. I would guess that we were only 200 m from the shore, and Clayton was already away on his own. I was swimming well and in the group that I wanted to be with, but when we turned at the first can, we got hit with a lot of chop, and it was difficult to see. I could tell that I was swimming side-by-side with Leon Griffin, but I couldn’t tell who the others were. By the time we turned toward shore, I had fallen back a bit, so I was about 15 seconds behind the group that had all the main contenders in it. I wasn’t concerned, and I had a good transition as we led out on the three-lap bike course.<\/p>\n

I was able to catch up to the main group within the first 2 km, so I tried to make it up to the front of that group, which now had about nine guys, just in case anybody was going to make an attack. By the time we reached the turnaround, I could tell that it was only Clayton out in front, and he was looking really strong. As we were coming back into town at the end of our first lap, Matty White seemed to surge ahead a little bit, so I went with him thinking that everybody else was with me. As we made a few of the turns going into town, I saw that we had already created a gap of 20 seconds or so, so we tried to make the commitment to pull away from that group. Unfortunately, the group rallied together and hooked back onto us a few kilometres later.<\/p>\n

Somewhere along the second lap, we were joined by the second group, which included Jason Shortis, Adam Holborow, and a few others. So other than Clayton, who was out in front and appeared to be pulling away from us, we seemed to have the entire men’s pro field stretched out in one long group. Throughout the rest of the three-lap bike course, a few others tried to surge ahead. The only one that looked like it was going to last was when Jan Rahula made a move in the third lap, but that also was in vain because we caught him before we made it back to the transition area.<\/p>\n

I was about the fourth one into T2, but we were all within seconds of each other. I normally have a quick transition, but I decided to put on socks, whereas Crowie and a few others chose not to, so I was about eighth place going out onto the run course. I couldn’t seem to find my run legs straight away, and I could see that a lot of the other guys were going flat out from the beginning. I learned my lesson at Busselton, so I decided to run my own race, and ease into the faster pace when my legs were ready. This paid off for me, and as soon as I was feeling stronger, I started to run down some of those that had shot out of the transition area. I first picked off Rahula, then a few of the other guys. Crowie took the lead from Clayton in the second lap, and Leon was next to overtake him. By the time I made it up to Clayton, he was running side-by-side with Peter Schokman, which represented third and fourth position.<\/p>\n

It was early in the third lap, and I was feeling pretty good, so I just eased ahead. Even though they tried to stay with me, I think the heat had taken its toll on Peter, and I think Clayton was feeling the effects from smashing it in the swim and bike. I could see at some of the turning points, that Crowie and Leon were uncatchable due to their lead and the blistering pace they were setting. I was pretty confident that Peter and Clayton weren’t going to get a second wind, so I cruised home to take third. I was really happy with my result considering the quality of field that this race attracted. This race really came down to the run, and even though Crowie had taken a whirlwind trip to the US the weekend prior, he was still able to back it up with a 1:11:57 half marathon. Likewise, Leon ran a 1:13:21, and I clocked a 1:14:51 half marathon. So the three fastest runs of the day represented the top three positions of the race.<\/p>\n

2010 Geelong Ironman 70.3 Results: Top 5 Finish Times<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Craig Alexander\u00a03:53:15<\/li>\n
  2. Leon Griffin\u00a03:54:35<\/li>\n
  3. Tim Berkel\u00a03:56:10<\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. Peter Schokman\u00a03:56:25<\/li>\n
  5. Clayton Fettell\u00a03:56:39<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So now I’m back to Port Macquarie to continue my training for Ironman Australia, as well as doing the Australian Long Course Championship in Huskisson, NSW, in two weeks. I’ll keep you posted with my results.<\/p>\n