Sprint Tri
Well a definite turnaround. We started at 6:00 this morning to travel to the venue and prepare all our things in Transition. Once we were sorted it was a relaxed wait until marshalling at 10:00. It is always when the wetsuit goes on that the nerves start. I was nervous as hell but not anxious and I was confident that with a good nights sleep I would be better in the swim.

I was determined to hang back on the start of the swim and then go slowly to the first marker where I would accelerate and start passing people. As hard as I tried to slow down I remained in the pack but was fairly relaxed so did not worry. As I got the the first marker I lost my focus and had to stop again and breast stroke for a while. I was however determined this would not get to me. A large number of the wave had passed me but I decided to put my head down and swim, I started feeling comfortable and passing people. I increased the pace to a medium and on my sighting strokes I was able to see the leaders a little way in front. It was the last quarter of the race and I put the hammer down and swam into the leading bunch, I have not seen the results but am told I was out the water in about 8th position.

I ran to the transition and right past my bike but was able to get my kit and get moving. I had a great ride, not the fastest as my average on the course was 30 km but with the hills I was happy. I kept enough energy for the run and was able to run without any niggles or problems.

Overall I am happy with my finishers medal for what is my fourth triathlon. I have not seen my result as yet but I think it is in the 40,s... will let you know later. Very happy with the result and there is only room for improvement from here.

The 27 August dawned with much apprehension. This was Aquathlon day. We are required to swim 750m then run 5km. The previous day we all came down to the lake and did a familiarisation of the lake. The swim was great and seemed very easy. I did one lap just to try out the sighting and landmarks. I then did a second lap at a medium pace 12 mins, which should put a race time at about 11:00 mins.

Happy with that we went back for a sleep. The time zones and excitement have still not allowed for a nights sleep, so it was back to lying in the dark visualising the course.

Wednesday we all caught the train from the hotel and checked in for transition at 11:00.

You have to put your running shoes and towel at the change over point and make sure there is plenty of baby powder in the running shoes so that your wet feet slip in easily. The Kiwi team had secured a corner of a tent so we sat relaxing in the shade waiting for the race.

I was scheduled to start at 1:20 so we had a long time to stew on the whole situation.

We eventually got into out tri-suits and wetsuits, time for a few pictures with the room mates and then off the the marshaling point.

Notice the American Elite girls suntanning in the back ground. We felt it would have been impolite not to have allowed them to photo bomb our shot.

It was very hot sitting in our wetsuits as it was a 30 min wait to the start. We sat in any shade we could find and took some pictures.

There are 12 competitors from NZ in the 50 to 54 age group.

The race kicked off and it was a straight swim of 200m to the first turn bouy. I had already decided I would take this at a 75% pace as I did not want to go into oxygen debt or have one of my panic episodes. I was counting out 10 strokes then sighting, every time i looked back I could see I was well ahead of the pack and I was feeling very good at a relaxed pace. I was nearing the first turn bouy and this was the first time I started feeling any discomfort as the entire field would be merging to round the bouy. I was not too worried however as I was clearly in front and would not be in the meat mixer. I rounded the marker and as I straightened I started feeling anxious and feeling a little short of breath. I slowed a little to make sure I was well within my capability and had a few stern words to myself that I did not come all this way to lose. 

My feet were touched a few times and I had one swimmer on my hip drafting off me and then it started, the waves of anxiety and cannot breath, my legs went numb and I was panicking. It is weird but you literally feel like you are going to drown. I stopped to try to breath and calm down. After a few seconds I started swimming breast stroke, going through my mind was, I have to stop, I cannot do this, I wont make it and It required all the mental willpower I have to put my head down and try to swim. I think it must cause a chemical reaction in the body because all my muscles are just totally fatigued and don't want to work any more. I soldiered on at a slow pace stopping to do breaststroke a few more times. 

After what felt like an eternity I was at the finish and started the run up to transition.

I did a reasonable run but knowing I had lost the initiative I was not pushing as hard as I could have been. It was very disappointing but I did finish in 37th place, in the world!

We had the team dinner last night and the elite athletes came along and three of the U23 girls sat with us. It was very interesting to hear about their travels and competitions. It was great experience.

Today, Thursday, we racked our bikes and registered for the race tomorrow. Tonight is the opening ceremony then into bed. 

Hi Everybody

Well we flew from Vancouver to Edmonton after putting  the bikes on a truck to go by road to Edmonton. The flight was at 10:00 and we got in after 12:00. We eventually arrived at the hotel at 2:00 and after getting to the room and sorting things we got to sleep after 3:00am.

Up again at 9:00 for breakfast, I was able then to chat to my room mate, Mark Craig, a GP in Auckland. Great guy and good company for the 9 days. After breakfast out bikes arrived and there was a mad scramble to see if everything had arrived satisfactorily. My bike survived and was together in a flash. Mark was not so lucky, the derailleur screws had stripped. We looked up a bike shop and he ordered a taxi to take the bike there. I agreed to cycle behind. It was fine going through the city but then onto the road bridge, I followed the taxi but soon realised I was on a cars only bridge like the harbour bridge. OOOPS!! I just put my head down and peddled like crazy to the other side. A bit of sprint training.

We fixed the bike and then rode through the old town and university, it is beautiful. The best part is that it is warm summer. The winter it is covered in thick snow and gets down to -30 degrees. We then went to the civic centre to register. It was great to see all of the other competitors from other countries around the world.

After that we made dinner and sat around chatting as nobody could sleep.

At 6:30 this morning we went to ride the cycle course. We had a bunch of all the NZ Team all in the kit. I must say it was a a very memorable moment in my life cycling in a bunch of top NZ triathletes in Canada. I had to pinch myself. The ride is good and will be fast but the roads are a little bumpy.

We then went on to the swim familiarisation. They have spent 2 mill cleaning up the lake and it is clean. The whole transition area is enormous and a little daunting. I had a good easy swim and the wetsuit is excellent, Thank you Dan from T3.

Well I have now arrived in Canada and sitting at Vancouver Airport on the way to Edmonton. More about that later but right now it is time to catch up.

Having achieved goal one it was now goal two. I had identified that you could not get NZ Colours for representing NZ Masters in swimming. I found the alternative to be an event called Aquathlon, which is a 1km swim and 5Km run. The trials for the worlds were in Tauranga in November 2013.

I had been doing some run training but nothing faster than a jog so I would have to ensure my skates were on the do well in the Trials. I set off to Tauranga with a lot of pressure which I had put on my own performance. I did a great swim and managed to maintain a steady pace in the run. I was not very confident at the end as I saw some bald grey guys just like me finish in front of me. Then the results were announced. They called out third place and it was not me, damn so it was either second or forth. They then called second, my heart sank, it was not me so was hardly listening when they called out my name for first place. WoooHoo, I was astounded, I had just won my age group for the NZ Champ and world trials.

The wait was now on for selection in the NZ team. It happened when I was driving to Taupo for a weekend, I stopped in Huntley to buy the obligatory party mix lollies for road trips. I checked my emails and there it was, selected for the NZ team.

I was called by the selector the following week to discuss this with me. She said it was unusual for somebody to only do the Aquathlon at worlds and with my times why did I not do the trials for the Triathlon team. I explained that I did not have a bike and the last time I rode one was in about 1986. So it came to be that on 23 December 2013 I went on to Trademe and bought a time trial bike. It is a really cool Cannondale Aero slice. I started training immediately as the trials were to be held at Kinloch, Taupo in February.

Well the day came and I was as nervous as hell. I went to look at the transition to rack my bike and there were so many things I had not done. I went to register and did not have my bike, wetsuit or helmet so had to go back to collect them. Then I did not have my pump or any transition equipment so had to go back again. I eventually got my numbers and took my bike into transition. I saw that all the others had their numbers on a fancy tri-belt, (the number must be on the back for the bike and front for the run). They had also connected their bike shoes to the bike with elastic bands so they stayed straight during the transition run. The athletes also had elastic laces in their shoes so they did not have to tie lases. Well I did not have elastics so gave up on that but pulled some laces out of some shoes to fashion a tri-belt.

The morning came for the trials and I did a great swim coming out of the water in the front bunch, my changeover was a disaster, I ran with the bike and the shoes were bouncing around in the cleats and came out. When I climbed on I pushed my feet into the shoes and realised the tongue of the shoe was now pushed backwards in front of my toes and very uncomfortable. It was very painful every time I peddled.  To add to this, as I started descending one of the hills, my home made tri-belt was not holding the number and it was flapping in the wind. It then ripped through the attachment holes and went flying across a field next to the road. Well I had at least read the rules and it stated clearly that if you crossed the centreline of the road on the bike it was disqualification so I rode on about 100m down the road to find a marshal. I stopped and asked permission to go back and get my number. They said yes so I rode back, got off the bike and ran across the field to get my number. Why I did not think to adjust the tongues of the shoes at this time I don’t know. Well I rode on with my number down my tri-suit. While descending a steep hill at great speed the suit zip came undone and the number flew out. I decided to leave it.

At the run transition I stopped to tell the official that I had lost my number and asked permission to continue. They said yes so I started the run. At the end on the race, once the results were out, they called me to say they had no record of me passing the halfway mark as my number was not recorded. As a result of this I was disqualified. Well that was my selection, well so I thought.

I was called later in the week to say the selectors had reviewed my times and gave me the opportunity to do the Auckland race in April to qualify. This gave me more time to train so I agreed.

The Akl race was, as expected, a hard race but I made the time and qualified. It was now up to the selectors. I received an email a week later to say I was part of the team. Hooray!!

Now for the Road to Edmonton.

I was still training 4 times a week so needed to fit in cycling and running. I bought an old wind trainer and bought a program for my laptop to train three mornings a week in my room on the bike as it was dark and winter outside. I would then do a long cycle on Saturday mornings with Mike, Jeannie and Barry. My runs were in the evenings with a long run on a Sunday evening. This was my entire week for the whole of winter.

The training on cold dark mornings and running on windy raining evenings took an enormous amount of will power but I kept it up. The only breaks were for a dose of flu for two weeks and 2 weeks after a car accident.

Well the payments were made for the flights, the bags were packed and on 24 August Dave dropped me at Akl International for the flight to Canada.

In April of 2010 I went surfing at the Mount. On returning to the flat Bailey was laughing at me. I eventually got her to admit that her humour was as a result of me looking like a penguin in my wetsuit.  This was due to a small stomach developing.  I put this down to middle aged spread.

It was in July that year I was walking to my car after work and turned my ankle badly. While limping around it occurred to me that this was a result of inactivity.  I was planning a two week trip with Matt to surf and fish the Northland area. I was going to need to get fit.

I finished my packet of cigarettes and went along to South City Masters to start swimming.  John asked me if I had swum before and made it clear that this was not a swim school.  He suggested I swim in the middle lane.  Well after 4 lengths I could not breath and went down to the beginner lane.

I attended training regularly and moved up two lanes quickly. At the end of the year we hosted the short course nationals. I swam these and was very pleased with a 1:14 100m freestyle time.

Over the years I kept working hard and improved my times. After my marriage breakup I set myself two sporting goals.
1. To break a New Zealand record.
2. To be selected to represent New Zealand.

The first task came about last year, 2013, we decided on a mixed team to challenge the+200 mixed relay record. At nationals, again at our home pool we broke this record.

hello everybody and welcome to my blog, very strange word but we will accept it anyway. I have never done a blog in the past and I don't know whether blogging is something that it is for me however I will give it a try to see how this works out for two reasons:

• the most important is to keep all of you updated as to my progress in the ITU world triathlon finals
• to maintain a record of this achievement.

alright let's start then
it was in the 80s in South Africa that I made a decision to start triathlons and during this period I completed two, what was then called Ultra triathlons, but are now referred to as Ironman events. These were the Carling triathlon and Olson's triathlon respectively. I have a picture of one of these events which I will insert below.

is were all seem to stem from my days in life-saving and the friends that I had made during life-saving all of whom were my colleagues and team members in my triathlons.just for your amusement I've decided to add one or two pictures of our life-saving days to give you an indication of how long ago this was.

being as fit as I was at that stage and having competed in life-saving I decided to try my hand at a few standard distance triathlons. My swimming and running had always been very good at the cycling was always a weak point and in order to enhance my skills I sold my car to buy a bike which necessitated having to cycle to and from university on a daily basis. This certainly increased my cycling abilities.

Having completed in a number of the standard triathlon series races I was eventually selected to represent South Africa in the South African games. Bearing in mind the triathlon was very new and it was not as much competition in those days as the race now I was able to secure a third place in the South African games. I was looking for a picture of the race number and medal but cannot find that at the moment. As soon as I'm able I will post this online.

Having completed many years of competitive sport I took the decision to concentrate on family and career and did this, I feel successfully, for many years. One of the unfortunate side effects to this was this came with smoking which was not particularly good for my health.

Having moved to New Zealand in 2007 and starting a new life and career together with living on a lifestyle block much of my time was spent either working or mowing lawns and maintaining the property. There was also however a large amount of fishing involved in my life.