Mooloolaba triathlon festival

Swim exit

First race report of 2017 is from Mooloolaba Triathlon festival, this was my first time competing at this event and I've been really excited for it! This year I have dropped racing 70.3s for the first half of the season to really focus on getting my swim to a competitive level so I can move onto bigger and better things. I've really enjoyed the change with some great results at Jindabyne, Huskisson and Wollongong I was ready to rip into Mooloolaba.

I was lucky enough to get a start in the open category against some of the best triathletes in the world, this made me super excited but nervous at the same time!

Our wave start was 6.35am and the water was beautiful for a race. I had a great start and was around the first bouy in a good position with pro triathletes Ricky Swindale next to me and Ryan Waddington on my feet. To be honest the swim felt really comfortable the whole time I was never in a state of panic thinking I would be dropped. Coming into the finish of swim Ricky caught a wave and pulled a good gap on the rest of our group which I was really annoyed I missed it.

I exited the water next to Ryan and sprinted up the beach and onto our bikes as quick as possible. I could see Ricky about 400m up the road and we the 2nd group about another 400m up from him. Once onto the free way my group on the bike was Ryan waddington, Connor McKay and myself. We couldn't close the gap to the second group which could of changed our days massively! The bike pace was really hard and because I haven't been doing much ride Kms I was feeling the burn pretty bad.

Coming off the bike we didn't lose much time to the guys up front, I had a good transition and was out on the run quickly but my run legs just weren't there. It's a tough two lap course with a big hill right in the middle of it which we go over 3 times. Ryan waddington had a blinder of a run and ran himself into 5th place but I just couldn't keep up and really suffered to come home in 11th place.

I am happy with my result to see such improvement in my swim and to becoming out of the water with some good pro athletes. I'm a little disappointed I couldn't find my run legs and really put in a solid performance against such a big pro field but that will all come in time. Overall it was a great weekend and I can't wait to be back here next year to do it all again!

Massive thanks to my sponsors Peak fitness, Raine and Horne, Elite energy, Wildginger, ASPORT and fusion multi sport for all their support and a bigger thanks to my mum, dad, coach and girlfriend for everything they do for me in and out of the sport.

Thanks for reading, catch you all soon ????????