By Jeremy Ross, 17 Oct 06
Freycinet Lodge
Challenge,
Australian Multi-Sport
Championships
Sat 14th
&
Into
its sixth year, The Freycinet Lodge Challenge has become the Australian
Multi-Sport Championships. Set amongst the
Held
over two consecutive days, each day consisted of four stages.
Day one: 15km Run Day
two: 13km Kayak
65km
Road Ride 35km
Road Ride
14km
Kayak 20km
Mountain Bike
22km
Mountain Bike 15km
Run
With
the National Title on the line,
Meg
and I headed over on the Spirit of Tasmania the Thursday prior to the race and
made our selves comfortable at the Lodge. The Lodge had a large wooden decking
area overlooking the ocean that became the social hub for the weekend with
athletes debriefing, perusing results and general lazing around when
circumstances permitted. The crystal clear waters were calm and it was hot for
Tassie. However, this was short lived. By race briefing,
The
forecast was right; on Saturday morning I woke to howling wind, and white caps
on what is normally a pristine
With
record numbers this year, it was important for me to get near the front before
the rocky, single track. 7km into the run, I was 30sec behind the fleet-footed
Jarad and a local guy. The second half of the run featured a long, steep climb with
an extremely steep descent into transition. I reached the top 10sec behind the
leaders, and then proceeded to fall down the first flight of stairs slamming my
knee onto a rock and hyper-flexing my big toe. I was worried that I had broken
my foot, as I couldn’t weight bare, so I had to walk gingerly down the stairs. My
toe started to free up, and after a couple of minutes I was running again. I
entered transition 1min 30sec down on Jarad, and set out on the 65km road ride.
After 5km, (rounding the
Unfortunately,
the safety supervisor had to cancel the kayak leg due to severe weather
conditions. We were given 90mins to drive back to the mountain bike start, and
would set off as we finished. That would mean I would start 1min30sec in front
of the super mountain biker, John
Gregory. I really looked forward to this. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold him
off, but looked forward to the duel and would use him to drag me away from
Jarad. To my surprise though, after only 5km, John pasted me! I followed his
line and started to learn from this talented rider. By the end of the mountain
bike stage, and day one, John had a 19sec lead on me, local Tasmanian – Sean
Klauson, was third 10 mins back with Jarad trailing in 4th place,
1min30 seconds further behind.
Apparently,
John Gregory threw everything including the kitchen sink at me during the bike
legs combined in attempt to open up a lead heading into day two as he is not
known to be a strong paddler, nor runner. I considered Jarad still to be my
main threat, but leading into day two with an 11min 30sec lead certainly made
me feel confident. My left knee was badly bruised and my toe was sore, but I
felt in good shape and was looking forward to day two.
After
watching the remainders of the field coming in and enjoying the event, it hit
me that I had to start mentally and physically preparing for day two. This was
my 1st multi-day race, so I was going into unchartered waters.
During the week leading up to this race, several accomplished endurance
athletes (Chalks and others) had told me that the key to backing up and
remaining fresh on day two, was to eat heaps and sleep. So I set about gorging
myself and got to bed early.
Day Two
With
the morning wind howling on the Freycinet beach front, the race organiser
decided to move the Kayak leg and extend the course to account for the loss of
paddling on day one. The paddle was set on a 14km out and back course. With
nothing to lose, Jarad’s only option was to attack from the start during his
favorite paddling leg. Pulling away in the later stages of the paddle, Jarad
came in with a 1min20sec lead going through transition. It didn’t overly
concern me; however, it was clearly obvious that this was now his time to make
a move and put the pressure back on me. Over the next 35 km road bike, I
managed to catch and pass him without overly exerting myself. I felt good. Jarad
had a slick transition onto his mountain bike as he had the same cleat set up
on both bikes. He pushed the pace for the first 13km but was breathing heavily.
Even though I essentially had the 11min30sec lead on him from day one, and could
have shadow-boxed all the way to the end, I thought it was nigh time to really
establish myself, to earn the win, and to not just rely on his misfortune in
the previous day. I started to push down hard on the peddles and noticed him
falling off my wheel. I went harder again and kept saying to myself ‘take it to
the limit’. By the end of the mountain bike I had opened up another 3 min lead
ready for the final 15km mountain run.
I
was looking forward to the run all weekend and by putting myself in a good
position, I wanted to enjoy it. I took off at a frantic pace, setting my sights
on the turn around point at the end of wine glass bay. When I next saw Jarad, I
started my stop watch to calculate the gap – to my amazement - I had put another
5min into him. I later found out that he was suffering from cramps and had
fatigued. That gave me confidence to run hard to the finish – but enough time
to be cautious on the descent to avoid falling, like I had the previous day.
After
two consecutive days of racing I was thrilled to win and claim the Australian
Multi-Sport Title as my biggest multi-sport win to date. I gave myself 30 weeks
of solid training in attempt to win this event. Consistently following my
programme and not missing one session, certainly helped me achieve this. Thank
you to Ben Gathercole, my training partners at Tridents, and Meg for being so
patient and helpful!
http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,20588389-5006525,00.html
http://www.puretasmania.com.au/featurepages/lodge_challenge.html
For
results: Go to - http://www.threepeaks.org.au/tasultra/freycinet_index.htm