Blog 5 Runaway Bay
In mid December I competed interstate in the opening race of the Australian Junior Series and I attended the National Junior Development Camp. The first race of the series was the Runaway Bay Super Sprint Race Weekend on the Gold Coast which followed on straight into the development camp.
The race at Runaway Bay isn’t your traditional triathlon as the racing is spread out over 3 days. The race is points based as shown below:
On the first day there were three races including an aquathlon, a bike criterium and a 1km track run. My time in the aquathlon wasn’t fast enough to acquire any points but it was good to get a feel for the swim and run course. The bike criterium included a 300m run into transition to collect your bike and a 300m run off the bike to the finish. I was expecting to gain points in this event but coming back into transition I dropped to the back of the front pack and finished 6th missing out on points by one position. I was really disappointed but I used this as determination to run well later that afternoon. For the 1km run there were several heats and the two fastest athletes in each heat qualified for the final. I won my heat with the fastest qualifying time of all the heats with a time of 2:36 for the 1km. An hour later the final was conducted and I was able to finish 2nd with a new PB of 2:34. This meant I was on 20 points and in 9th position going into day two.
On day two there were two short triathlons. The first was in the morning and it was a 300m swim, a 6km ride and 1.6km run. I had a strong race finishing 1st in my heat and with the 9th fastest time overall. This meant going into event 5 I was on 41 points. In the afternoon the second triathlon was raced over a 200m swim, a 4km ride and a 1.2km run and as you can imagine this was a sprint the whole way. Once again I backed up with a strong performance finishing 3rd in my heat and had the 9th fastest overall and therefore I was on 62 points. As there are so many competitors the Final race on Sunday is split up into A,B,C and D Finals. Depending on where you are placed and how many points you have determines what final you are in. The top 18 athletes with the most points make the A final and fortunately I was in 9th position and was stoked to have made the prestigious A final. The most points are offered in the A final over the whole competition so it was very important to me to race well and gain as many points as possible.
The triathlon on the Sunday morning was the longest event of the weekend with a 400m swim, an 8km ride and a 2.4km run. I did a PB 400m swim of 5:05 to start of the race so I was already at a high heart rate going onto the bike. I rode solo most of the way trying to make up as much ground as I could on the competitors ahead. As I got onto the track for the run the three lead runners had already done just over 400m lapping me but I was determined to catch up as I was confident in my run. After a lap and a half I had caught the leaders and once I got to the back of them I decided to go straight past to make a statement. They were all surprised that I was unlapping myself but I was just trying to catch up as many places as possible to gain maximum points. I stayed on the leaders pace for majority of the 2.4km until they sprinted for the finish. I ended up in 9th position once again but jumped into 7th on the overall points score with a total of 86 points. I’m proud to say this was the best result a S.A triathlete had done at the Super Sprint Race Weekend.
If you would like to view the results to the race click on the following link:
As I had raced so well Triathlon Australia rewarded me by inviting me to stay for the National Development Camp for three extra days at the Super Sports Centre. I learnt a lot from all the national coaches and got to know some of the interstate triathletes better. On the final day of the camp we had a 1km swim time trial and I did a PB of 13:50 improving on my previous best by 10 seconds.
Daniel