August 19th 2017 was a good day, I claimed my second World title. That makes for a pretty good day. :)

​This race was one of my major goals this year, and it was satisfying to pull it off and perform when planned.
​Penticton Canada, was the race destination this year, to hold the first ITU Multisport festival World Champs, which included Duathlon, along with Aquathon, Long Distance Tri, and Cross Triathlon.
​Penticton was not what I expected of BC Canada at all! I had envisioned lush green forest surrounding me, mountain backdrops and wild bears looming not too far away. Penticton however is more the desert of Canada. Still very pretty, but warm and dry with wineries and drier folage, based beside Lake Okanagan to replace my lush forests I had in my head.
​But when it comes to racing this suited me just fine. I am an Aussie after all and hot and dry weather is in my blood!

​I dropped in late to Penticton from my training base in the USA, giving myself just over day to get settled. Friday morning was the bike recon and seeing this course only gave me a confidence boost and a smug smile. It was hard...like really hard! a 6 lap bike course with a huge amount of climbing every lap. I knew then and there that this race would be a battle of attrition and strength. You could only win this race if you were strong and could hold your own. I had not expected the course to be so tough prior to arriving, but the training I had done in the weeks lead up had prepared me exactly for this type of course regardless.

​Race day came and I was feeling good. Not amazing I must admit. But it was go time so it didn't matter anymore whether I was ready or not!
​The girls field was small, but not short on quality. We had some very quality runners in there, past World Champs, and I knew I would have to be smart in this race.
​What most people don't know, is that my running prep had been next to nothing. Unfortunately 5 or 6 weeks out from the race I rolled my ankle and was unable to run. No, very not ideal for a Duathlon World Champs! I couldn't even walk let alone run for a while. I managed a couple of key sessions prior to racing to get me as race ready as I possibly could under the circumstances. I had maintained my fitness other ways, and full kudos has to go to my coach for ensuring I kept my fitness up through this period. Whilst I was dummy spitting about being unable to run and prepare for this race properly. He ensured I still never missed a beat on the fitness front regardless to how unconventional it may have been.
​So yes I was nervous about my run form. I was confident I was fit and strong, but I had honestly no idea how fast I could run or if my running legs would be on fire, or fall in a heap. All I knew is that I would have to be smart.

​The first 10km was hot on the pace. Clocking in a 33.30 first ten km! The pace was being pushed by Sarah Dossena and Emma Pallant. I had expected to see these girls running hard, and one by one we whittled down to a group of 3 by the end of the first 10km. Perfect. A small group was best for this course.
​I had a great transition and was out on the bike first and straight up the first of the long climbs. I was feeling pretty comfortable so kept pushing up the hill, expecting the 2 girls to jump on my wheel. Half way up the climb I still had a gap, and it was only increasing as the hill went up. So I made the decision to attack and go for it! It was a big gamble so early on in a race to go off front solo knowing it would be a 40km TT! A little scary. But under my circumstances and prep, I made the decision to go. Sometimes to win something big you have to do something big. So I committed to a TT effort, and it was the best decision I made that day.
​Everyone would be tired after that bike, you had to be, it was the nature of the bike course, and after building a sizeable gap to 2nd and 3rd I was able to run the second run comfortably without any pressure, and without any risk to the great position I had found myself in. I was happy just to get the job done on the second run and be gentle on my poor run legs that just survived the biggest belting I had given them in a while!

​I am ecstatic to claim my second World Title, and to represent the green and gold on the world stage once again.

​Big congratulations to Margarita Garcia Canellas from Spain, and Emma Pallant from Great Britain for second and third place. Everyone earns their keep on that course.

​Lastly a big thanks to all those that make this possible. Coach Cam, my supportive sponsors, those that help with my physio, massage, gym, local tri community, aussies and all those who cheered on the course. Thanks! Trisutto, my training buddies, friends that keep it real, those who take an interest and for all the well wishes, its all appreciated. Family and of course mum and dad that always ride the highs and lows too.

its a team effort.

​Thanks :)

​Flick xx

​Thanks to Delly Carr and Wagner Araujo for capturing the moments below too!

In all my years of triathlon this was the first time I got to race in Canada! I was super pumped to see somewhere new, and its always been a bucket list spot for me to visit. (and go back for that matter!), though i'm more drawn to the beauty of the outdoors of Canada than the big cities. Aussies who share a similar sense of humour with the Canuks also made the place seem so inviting.

I had mixed emotions heading into this race. I was extremely excited for the opportunity to race at the highest level again, but also not really sure what to expect. After a lot of change and a lot of work to improve my weakness, I really had no idea if it was too soon to expect improvement, if i was going to have my a** handed to me, or be leaps and bounds ahead.
On top of that my run prep had been a bit skewed after my run in with a tree root that left my ankle fat and blue and unable to walk just a few weeks prior. Of course after this there is a trajectory of time that follows of time off, whinging, cursing, healing, and building back up to where you left off. You cant alter time and i needed to buy back more of it, but that was impossible, so the run form would be a bit more unknown race day. I strapped it up and just as long as i could get through unscathed it would be a win on that front.

A smaller than normal field fronted the man made lake in Edmonton for a really cool swim around a little island. Just before the hooter sounded i watched a group of ducks swim very slowly across about a meter in front of us! 35 ppl about to jump on their heads! They cant start us now, these poor things are going to die! I dont know what happened to them cos the hooter went and I was off! I wish them luck! It was a pretty stacked swimmers field that always throws more challenges my way. With my new technique thrashing away i was in touch until around the last 200m. going slughtly offline was costly as fatigue was creeping in and i just fell short before the exit.

Fight or flight kicked in, in T1, as the group headed out of transition..Frantic to get on but a few seconds too slow. So the next 20km was a TT chasing the group ahead. After a tough bike for everyone climbing up a large hill 6 times, losing time on the leaders but holding the chase pack meant the race would be finally won up the road, but a good run would move you up the ranks. My ankle did all I asked of it, gave me a solid run to finish 20th, and success in the 'beat your start number game' ;)
But for now its been back to the daily grind to improve.

Flick

Where to even start! Half way through 2017 and I am only just putting my electronic metaphoric pen to paper!
​So summarizing is a massively abbreviated version of start til now.

​My year started out with the broadest spectrum looking forwards I have in many years. Meaning I broadened my horizon of objectives and goals, and really sat down and assessed where I wanted to be, what I wanted to achieve, and potentially how. I wanted a different experience to last year, and went through a rigorous interrogation process of myself and those that would help me facilitate this. Time for a shake up and a change, and a new canvas to play on.

Rewinding in fast forward (if that even makes sense) haha, it was exciting to start working with a new Coach, Cam Watt. Some early season niggle saw me miss the first few races and I did a training camp in Brissy instead.
​I jumped into a few World cups in the deep end coming out of niggle territory so did not see my best performances out of these but great to be back out there racing more than last year!
​I raced in Chengdu World cup China, first up, where I simultaneously won and lost a race at the same time - B final win!
After the race here in China the voyage North continued. I settled back in sunny France where I indulged in fresh lettuce again, and got training ahead of the next World Cup in Madrid in a few weeks.​

I was really excited about the new race course in Madrid, nice hard bike!....until my bike never arrived from the airplane. :( Slight hiccup...ok massive hiccup. First I was worried about the my pre race prep going so pear shaped, until I realized it was never going to arrive on time, and I had to worry if I was gong to be able to race at all instead! (Iberia customer service gets about a 1/10 on this on this occasion) and I actually had no bike to race on at all. Thanks to the help of the Spanish federation however, they sourced me a bike that morning. I'de be lying if I said I wasn't on the verge of pulling out. I had no race gear except my togs and run shoes. The likelihood of a crash on a foreign bike, far from my own bike set up! in someone else's bike shoes, with brakes back to front, made me nervous let alone how on earth I was going to keep up, on that hill on this bike! Somehow I got through it, definitely not the way I wanted too, I had to write that one off, but at least I got to race and saw some run legs creeping back with one of the fastest splits, I guess, I'm looking for silver linings, and I also apologize to the girls I was riding with if I was being a bit twitchy haha, now you know why!

​Final pit stop of the World Cup trifecta was Cagliari, Italy. A seaside town in Sardinia, and it automatically won my affection with pink flamingos, and the way to my heart by way of gelato. :) The Italians sure know how to make gelato right!
​I was fortunate enough to have my own set of wheels this time, which made for a better result, but with some big changes I had made this year, and my previous niggle, I had hurried into these races, before I found my real "groove" again. Though I knew that before I started, I still made time for a little tanty about it post race.​

​A new adventure loomed after Cagliari. I packed my bags, and beanie, and hoodie, and headed up to train somewhere new to me. Up to the beautiful mountains in Switzerland, to St Moritz, with the Trisutto crew. (be prepared for photo spam)
​Well if I had a mortgage it would be sold to go on the cost of living here, but you certainly buy beauty. The place is quite stunning. And an amazing backdrop to train in. Sitting at 1850m, snowcapped mountains, lakes, forests, dirt trails, its quite breathtaking. I wake up every morning and say wow. Except when its freezing and raining then its more a 4 letter word, f&*k. :0.
​Without a doubt trail running is one of my favs. I just love it, and there is a network of running trails here that are just insane. This tied in nicely with my niggle being the past and finally being able to clock up some decent miles to my delight, to go and get lost in the woods!
​
So with running coming back together nicely now, training ticking along well, I ducked down to do a local Swiss race in a place called Uri. More mountains, more pretty lakes, #Switzerland . I got to test out my new Blue seventy Helix wetty, (which was awesome by the way) had a solid bike, and was on target running down the girls to run onto the podium, until race mishap showed its head again and I fell flat on my face. I rolled my ankle, I had stepped on a tree root hidden in the grass running full tilt, and did a land version of Astro boy sliding along the grass. I hobbled my way to finish the race and inspect the damage. I wont replay the verbal dialogue going through my head here, as I had just got my running coming back together, but I knew I was out of action again for a bit, and the stench of chlorine was going to grow rather rapidly on me the next few weeks.

​So there we are, 6 months in 8 paragraphs! I am still up the mountain enjoying my fresh O2 depleted air, paying exorbitant prices for tomatoes, sticky taping my foot together, spending the longest time in a pair of tracksuit pants I have in 8 years, and getting ready to race again! Next race up will be Edmonton WTS.

​Flick xx

Here is just a small slide show of some extra pictures. I thought id should share.

When athletes go quiet, it usually means one of a couple of things. Things are going really great! they are minding their own business, focusing on themselves...or...Things are going really shit! and they want to lay low due to one of a hundred things...or lastly, simply, they are just really lazy at writing. ;)
And yes I fell into one of these 3 categories..maybe all 3 at some point recently;)

I wont dwell looking back on a few months ago for me, because quite frankly, life was hurling lemons from every angle, and though I tried to keep up, I just couldn't make lemonade and even use the spares for tequila fast enough! To the point I oh so nearly pulled the pin on 2016 racing.

​However...without going into whys or hows, I decided not to. Instead of packing it in, I packed my bags, and jumped on a plane to France!

​I was under no disillusion that this was a gamble, and I had taken a few steps back from where I had been a few months prior. It really seemed so overwhelming to have to start over again building back up...again... for the 'I don't know how many-th time' ! To where I had already been. I feel I have recycled this scenario a few too many times than the usual, annual cycle in my last few years, Only falling short with some misfortune just as I'm ready to get to the fun part of racing well! But I would certainly not be alone in this scenario, sharing this fate with many other athletes I'm sure! But I had done so much work before, it seemed such a shame to let it all go to waste.

​I decided to follow this quote. Felicity, "First you do what is necessary.
.
Then you do what is possible.

​Then suddenly, you will begin to do the impossible."

​"St Francis of Assisis"

​SO...I rebooted my training at a place called Font Romeu in France up in the Pyrenees. It is an altitude training center in France. (Above)
​And I loved it up there. The weather played ball with warm sunny days almost every day. I go crazy for beautiful run trails and this place is littered with them! Running up in Font reminds me of running in Alice in Wonderland. I would not have blinked if I saw that big purple cat smiling at me from a branch. It was easy to clock up my run kms there, usually by getting myself lost and running twice as far as planned, ;) Personally I love running like a mountain goat, on technical, ankle rolling, obstacle courses, as much, if not more, than flat 'keep your tendons in tact'  trails. Not every triathetes cup of tea, but you have both to choose from up there and I like the balance of both. So despite the grimace from the lack of oxygen running, I was smiling from the mountain views, flowers, streams and close encounters with 'the worlds happiest cows', to reach a neutral facial expression for most runs.

​Halfway through my stint at Font I had an old friend Thomas, join me, from my very first trip to France! We hadn't caught up in years, so to have him come and join in for some training as he preps for Kona, was also a real bonus!  Naturally he didn't shy away from the kms, being in IM training either, so it worked out well for us both...except for our fights for who got to the couch first afterwards, to watch the Olympics! :) Font consisted of training and passing out in front of the tele to watch the Olympics on repeat!

​So training was going great, and the "necessary" box was being ticked. One thing however that Font also has plenty of, no surprises here, being up a mountain...is hills. Hills are my fave. Long climbs on the bike are my bread and butter. But after getting a little too excited and over indulging on this free bread and butter buffet for a few weeks, my leg machinery, also know as a knee, was getting rather agitated. Unfortunately just before my first race back with a new team I was force to take a small hiatus off the bike and running again. Aside from that first phase reboot at Font went well. Next abode Girona, Spain.

​Being so close to Girona, having wanted to go that way for some time, now was perfect opportunity. I took the scenic route through the mountain and down to oxygen laden Girona to meet Coach Danielle, and her VIS boys. Who were kind enough to let me join in for a few sessions in the pool and on the track. Was great to see these boys gearing up in there final prep to rep Aus at the World Champs the weekend just passed.

From Girona I raced my first French GP for the season with my new team Tri Val de Gray! :) though being forced to sit out biking and running for a week or so, was not my ideal prep for a race back. Plus with only a few weeks full training back under my belt, well, I knew I was gonna just have to suck it up and it was gonna be ugly out there! It was kinda ugly, but with one of the quickest runs of the day, and a painful mere 3 sec swim deficit costing me front pack, it was much less ugly than it could have been. Il take it! Even better Tri Val finished 2nd! go team! :) I know the worst is over and I can only get faster and better than that from here.

​So lastly, Girona. Its a beautiful small city, an hour from Barcelona. Its a cycling hub. I loved the old town, a nightmare for high heals or road bikes as its booby trapped with cobbled streets everywhere! But that's definitely part of the appeal.  Small streets, with restaurants lining its cobbled pavements, old buildings lining streets and the river, chilled people, a safe, fun, and relaxing, atmosphere. It's really quite a romantic little spot! I loved it. Most of my days were spent rolling around getting lost on the bike. I saw a lot, always choosing new routes, riding in the mountains, through the farms, forest, and down to the Costa Brava coast. I got a pretty good feel for the place, as once again, I would often get lost! Funny now, annoying at the time! Was great to have a change of scenery, meet some cool peeps, get my tortilla fix...so addicted, and catch up with a few old friends I hadn't seen in a long time. And of course lay down some more work before my next race! ;)

​Its back to France now, back in the old stomping ground, and I'm really excited to head up to my next race this weekend at the La Baule Triathlon!

​Its been a great few weeks, and thanks to the variety of people who helped out the last few weeks, and the mix of training buddies. The next month will now have a few more races coming up, now I have had some time to lose the wobbly bits again ;)

​Cheers

​Flick :)​

Well 2015 season came to a hault a little prematurely for me unfortunately. I had been thoroughly looking forward to hitting the last 3 races of the season hard, World Duathlon Champs in Australia, Tongyeong World Cup, and then Noosa Triathlon.
I had done a lot of work over the European summer and was getting excited to finally showcase the work and get out there and see what I had to race!...Unfortunately as mentioned in my last blog, I tore my hammy just before I left to come home. I had probably somewhat naively thought it must be minor, I could be back up and race ready two weeks later if I backed off for another week, and try for the last race of the season at least, Noosa.

After resting it I very quickly learnt I was holding on to false hope, and it was not going to be close to ready. With bigger goals in my sights for next year, it then became an easy decision. Not racing as the only decision, heal up so I am ready to go for next year. I think sometimes when you know you have put in a lot of work, and been anticipating putting that work into good use, I was hoping too much that I could still salvage it, and make all those hours seem more worthwhile, but at the same time that want and eagerness to perform, hides the reality that stares you in the face. Glass half full vs glass half empty, in which case I was trying to see what I wanted to see.

So after a week hanging out swim training in Noosa paradise, and watching my good buddy Joe Maloy take his first Noosa win!
Its now time to kick back, and enjoy that ability to do nothing and relax for a while! Holidays!

But on reflection there were plenty of highs and lows from this season for me, and here is a look at the season of 2015 in summary!


7th at Mooloolaba World Cup to kick start the season! - great start as I was not far back off the podium here! and was so happy to return back to race this race. Cant beat a home race!

Then off to NZ where as good as I had felt hammering the bike in Mooloolaba last week, I felt as bad on the bike the following week. Very disappointing race for me in New Plymouth World Cup.

Then a blinder of a race saw me win my second Bussleton 70.3 Half Ironman! First race on my TT Felt IA bike too, and it made a huge difference on the bike to me riding a TT bike vs a road bike! Noted for next race :) This was a highlight of my year racing with my family friends and little niece and nephews seeing what its all about.

The following week I tried to back up another ITU World Cup, 6 days later in China, and got oh so close to my elusive WC podium, running into 3rd...to just die on the last lap and fall back to 6th. I was actually amazed with the result! Because if anyone out there had felt how my legs felt the whole day I was expecting to come in about 40th! I would say that is single handedly the worst and most absolute cactus I have ever felt pre and during a race, by a long shot! That's was definitely my half Ironman legs, and looong travel's fault.

Then a low low point...
24 hours after touching down in France I had my bike stolen. :(
This caused havoc on my training for 3 weeks and mentally. After being so driven and focused to prepare for my next world cup and keep chasing a podium, the universe played a cruel joke and stole my bike. So my preparation for Huatulco World Cup was a combination of trying to minimise collateral damage on a somewhat ordinary mountain bike! two different road bikes, up to 3 hour rides in my sneakers, a car trip across the country, tears, missed sleep, missed sessions, countless hours on the internet, trying to find a replacement bike, and a big thanks to the girls who lent me something in the mean time!
Then just as crazy, when I was going to pull the pin on the race, it had cost me way to much at this stage....3 weeks later a friend drove past a guy riding my bike in the city beside where I live! the odds of  this happening?..1 in a million! and I got my little Felt bike back:)

I took that as my sign as said F#@k it! I will give it a shot anyway, and I will just do the best with what I've got, so I went to Huatulco World Cup.

Huatulco Mexico World Cup -  Great swim and I made front pack on the bike!..and the extremely challenging bike course proved too much for my disrupted bike training, and I felt so foreign on my own bike after fluffing about, and having to change bikes so many times in the lead up. I finished 13th in Huatulco. Once again disappointing, and not what I had set out to achieve, but I did my best under challenging circumstances there.

After all this it was time to wipe the slate clean again. A change of scenery and a breath of "fresh air" up at Boulder Colarado for a training block sans O2, aka altitude. Was on the agenda. What an amazing place it was! I loved it up there! and it gave me a chance to "practice my English" again! haha
I did my biggest running week ever up there and used that to bounce into my next races back down at sea level.

New York City Big Lifetime Triathlon was my welcome back to oxygen!..maybe not quite in the middle of the race! but before and after at least. I finished 3rd in the Big Apple with a finishing chute down the beautiful Central Park, and kick started my racing again here.


Then the highlight of my year by a long shot!...

A win at Tizzy ITU World Cup!!!

This meant the absolute world to me, and this, ...is what I had been chasing.

Circumstance had made the last two attempts at this even more challenging, but I was estactic, we had finally succeeded!!


Back in france it was time to switch bikes again, but this time by choice! it was out on the big rig! TT Time! It was so much fun riding my tt bike for a while. I was off to try a new race, the 'Beijing International Triathlon' China time!
IMG put on a superb course through the Garden expo, up to temples, through the city, and who can forget the 600 stairs we ran up! I finished on the podium here again in 3rd!

One last podium in France for myself and my team Saint Raphael gave the team its best ever result finishing second overall to finish the French Grand Prix season! Its was so much fun to share a podium with the team, and this would be my last podium for 2015.

About now is where the hamstring decided to time out, and call it a day.

Once again a season with high highs, and low lows.
But as always you learn again. Some mistakes were made, some mistakes were fixed, some things were just done better than before, others need more work, all in all, aiming to smoothe it all out!

...and of course a massive thanks to everyone that played a part in the 2015 season. Friends, family, coaches, training partners. medical staff, and sponsors,
Scody, Felt, Brooks, Oakley, Zealous, Shotz, Outotec, Cyclemania, ..its never unnoticed or under appreciated!

Flick

One special privilege you don't often get to enjoy is not only racing a world champs...but racing a world champs at home!
This year Adelaide Australia, would be host to the 2015 World Duathlon Champs, and I was super excited to go down and race and try and defend my World Title which I won back in 2012.

Training had been going just as planned, and I was feeling good.  I was just coming into start the finishing touches from my base in France, to get me ready to race and take the long trip home!...

It was the day before I was due to fly back home, and my left leg pulled up terribly sore during a running session. The nasty little words of doubt and concern crept into my mind, but with not much time to do anything about it I jumped on a plane and headed for home, pi**ed off and and annoyed my leg was causing me some pain, and I was unable to complete the session, knowing I had no other opportunities to get it back as I was travelling and would need to get over jet lag when I got home. None the less, you learn as an athlete so often,  not everything goes perfect, and I let it go, and arrived back home in sunny Perth, still sore, but put it down to travel, and set about doing all the right things to recover quickly for the coming race.

However more concern crept in when I tried to run, and was unable to run at all! A little hobble, and I knew I had more than just your normal muscle soreness. This did not feel good, and I knew I had a tight time frame to fix me up before Worlds...one week.

Straight to physio, if anyone can fix me he can! and dumped him with the tedious task of trying to do the impossible. Get me race ready in one week. Unfortunately the end result was I had just done a small tear in my hamstring, and less than a week to race day...ominous task. I was not one happy camper.

I did my very best to get me to that start line, and maximise the healing I could do in a few very short days, and with no idea if I would even been able to do a jog warm up, it was mentally challenging few days leading into the race, trying to stay positive. I had so desperately wanted a repeat performance of my last Duathlon race, but the cards dealt had now changed dramatically.

Long story short, I made the start line. Big achievement when I could not even jog 4 days prior. I raced the first ten km, and hung on to the 3 leaders just trying my best to do as little as I possibly could on my leg, but from the get go, I was in quite some discomfort, and in the last lap, that only increased. Out on the bike and my leg was not wanting to play ball anymore, and I dropped off the 3 leaders. A huge disappointment for me, but I was struggling. Combining that I then got a flat tire! :( the day was only going backwards. I had to make the hard call to pull the pin on the race.

I do not like to DNF, especially when I had gone in with big expectations, and at a home race, and I hate to disappoint myself and a home crowd, but I had to make a call. To make the start line was an achievement, but to make the finish line was just asking too much, no matter how desperately I had hoped it could happen. But the reality was, I just didn't have the time on my side to fix my leg.

These are the highs and lows of racing though, everyone has them, and I am sure every athlete can identify with them. It sucks...so much, and I cant hide I am bitterly disappointed with the outcome, and changes to my end of season plans, but once in the past it becomes unchangeable I guess, and you have to look forward instead, and move on.

I have also with disappointment, had to pull out of the World Cup in Tongyeong, I had planned for the following week, and so that probably almost wraps up the 2015 season,  now I will be eager for more redemption in 2016!

Special thanks to Sloces, Jimmy and Liz who went out of their way and hours!, to help me try and make the race, we did our best! Much appreciated.

So I was going to blog chronologically...then this happened! So I am going to skip forward in time to a special event.

Yes I had my first World Cup win! :)

Tiszaujavaros in Hungary is one of the most iconic World Cups on the scene. Its been running for donkeys years, and that's because its just so good! Athletes love it, the town loves it, and they do a great job transforming this tiny little blip on a map into something special. The atmosphere is electric, everything is a stone throws away and they make it into a fun filled festival for all. Hard to believe but this was my 5th time coming back to Tizzy! I had my first ever World cup podium in Tizzy, and this year Tizzy was even more generous to me taking out my first World Cup win!

Tizzy changed its format a few years ago into a different style of racing, individual to any other World Cups. It runs a semi final sprint distance race on the Saturday, and those qualifying race another sprint distance Finals race on the Sunday. For girls there were 2 heats with 14 in each going through to the final, and the 2 best times. I wont go into detail of the semi's, but I obviously qualified and felt pretty good out there day 1. Recovery was going to be key between the two days of racing, to see who could back it up again the following day. So I was straight into a cool down, hydrating, massage, ice baths, and a good feed at "Mamma Rosas", to give myself the best chance the following day.

Finals day! Waking up a little bit tired from the day before, but thats ok. Everyone is going to have a little fatigue under their legs..I hoped! haha. The day was hot. I think it was 37 deg, But I like the heat, I am more than used to the hot sun beating me down in training, so it was nothing new, and I knew I could handle the heat better than others.

Swim course is a dog fight, 3 laps of 250m with only 100m to the first buoy! 30 people merging around a buoy at the same time you can only imagine it's pretty scrappy, and if you managed to 'swim' properly count your lucky stars!
I am not the fastest off the mark in the water and I had come to peace with the fact I was just going to be belted through the swim...I just had to try and keep that gap as small as possible, and at least the lake isn't that deep if I were to sink. :)

Exiting the water just off the second pack I knew every second counted, and I would have to work hard if there was a chance to bridge that gap back up, and I must commend the dedication of a number of girls in my pack who all rode hard and were committed to the chase. Although it doesn't look hard, Tizzy has a number of corners, and dead turns throughout the course that really put some sting in your legs, when constantly accelerating out of every turn. Between us we managed to close down the gap to the leaders around lap 6 of 8 I think through hard work, which would see everyone coming into transition together!

Out of transition quick, and much smoother than the day before, when I collided with 5 bikes! ( that's easily a new record for me! ) and onto a 4 lap run course, now it would come down to the fun part! I tried to push the pace straight away...before the French girls pushed it up again, and that burnt most people off, unfortunately maybe even themselves! By the last lap it would be a fight between 3 for line honours, and I was just so ecstatic and overwhelmed to be graced with that privilege!

You only but hope and dream of those moments in your athletic career, and when they happen you do cherish them. Especially when you have worked for them. So much emotion and sensation can be rolled into the final ten seconds of a race, especially a close finish. Legs and lungs are screaming, focus and concentration can't slip, drive , determination, desperation, fear, excitement, and the thrill of racing all roll into one, in those vital moments until the end when you can see the possibility but aren't quite there yet!...and sometimes maybe there is just a little bit of luck on your side ;)

This race meant a great deal to me, and for that I was just so, so, excited and maybe even more relieved! A lot went into it, from myself and my coach,.. so it was very satisfying to get a lot out of it! :) and to cap it off to share the experience with a friend, Audrey Merle from France, who finished second, and Sara Dossena from Italy came in 3rd.

Wow I still can't believe it! and at Tizzy one of my all time favourites! ....

Sponosrs, coach, family, one for the team! thanks for the leg up :)

Flick