2014 Challenge Melbourne 2 Feb By Tim Green Jo, Stef and I met in Melbourne for this half ironman distance race to be held in the beautiful seaside town of Brighton. Brighton is about 12Km from the city. There is a shuttle bus that will take you to Brighton from the airport for those planning on doing this race next year. With temperatures predicted to be in the 40’s on race day organizers gave athletes the option of doing a shorter (1.9/60/14) race. About 200 athletes ended up taking this option; none of whom had Darwin blood! It was all smooth sailing for the three of us going into this race. There were no damaged bikes in transit, food poisoning or other pre-race dramas. So we met the day before the race at transition for a practice swim on the course. The conditions were perfect….. for great white sharks! Early morning, still water and a grey sky. My shark fear gauge was in the red. Luckily I had two strong women to protect me as we floated around in our seal suits. I was so happy to get out of the water and into the safety of a nice little coffee shop where we spent the rest of the morning. I think I can speak on behalf of the three of us in saying that having Daryl and Robyn there on race morning really eased the usually pre-race nerves. Daryl’s calm and positive manner gives an inner self-belief and confidence that always helps when the going gets tough. And knowing Robyn is there cheering, taking photos, tweeting, facebooking and updating every other social media source makes it feel like family and friends from Darwin are actually on the sidelines!

After a fifteen minute delay due to one of the buoys not being set (TO blamed Clayton Fettel who split his wetsuit on the start line and had to change into a different wetsuit) the race was underway.

The swim was a 1 lap rectangular course. Having lights on the buoys was ingenious as it was still quite dark during the swim. It’s always hard to get a swim course right but I reckon this one was pretty close to 1.9km. It was a bit of an adventure across some sand and up a ramp to get into T1. But the crowd was huge which made it exciting.

The bike was a 3 lap out and back course. Winds were light and there were only a few slight rises to negotiate. Given that there were about 1400 triathletes on the course, draft busters and their motorbikes could hardly fit on the road. When they did get on the course they seemed to spend a lot of time asking Jo about Darwin as she was trying to focus on riding up one of the rises!

I rode the first lap solo and then rode the second 2 laps with the ‘chase group’ of male pro riders. We tried to keep a distance from each other but given the amount of people on the course for the second and third laps this was impossible.

Stef did an amazing solo effort on the bike trying to chase down a ‘pack’ of riders in front. Jo enjoyed being on her road bike and passing men with disc wheels all day! The run was tough. Leading into the race Stef kept saying how beautiful it was. The sand, hills, ramps and stairs all caused too much pain for me to see any beauty at all! I was so stoked to get onto the run with a bunch of top pros. I ran with them for a couple of km’s and then looked down at my garmin thinking to myself gee I feel pretty good for this pace I wonder if I’m going to pay for it later? Yep I did!

The last 10 km was just a matter of hanging on. Luckily only a couple of people passed me in that 10 km so I managed to get 10th. Stef ran well as always and looked just as comfortable on lap 3 as she did on lap 1. Jo showed a display of her toughness on the run. It was dam hot while she was on the course but she never showed signs of giving in. I guess that’s why every time she races she gets quicker. Having Daryl, Robyn, Graeme and Helen cheering on the side lines gave us all inspiration to keep pushing. Stef also had some family cheering her on which I know she appreciated.

I really wish I could have been more social at the finish but instead I fell over the line and lay in the fetal position until the volunteers lifted me up and sent me to the recovery area.

It’s a weird thing triathlon. Despite the huge amount of pain and suffering I was experiencing after the race, all I could think was; this is great, when can I do it all again?

All in all I would say Challenge Melbourne was a great event. Well organized, in a great location and a great atmosphere. Our team dinner was at a Thai restaurant where we exchanged war stories and learnt that Daryl has an ‘Iron gut’. The smell of the jungle curry he was eating was enough to put most human bodies into shock. I reckon I’ll do this race again next year and I hope Stef, Jo and others from Darwin do too. Besides the fact that it’s so awesome doing away races as a team with mates, I need some girls to protect me from the great white sharks!