IM NZ quick wrap up

Hi Guys,

Well I went for it. At one point I was sitting in 7th/8th at the 20km mark on the run with 3 speedsters chasing me down with a guaranteed Hawaii spot on the line. I had the choice of keeping a steady pace and hoping that they blew up or going for it. I went for it. Unfortunately I had two mini blow ups in the next 20kms that cost me. I went for it and it didn't come off, as a side note, the guys chasing me ran through all with great runs and no blow ups. I ended up coming 14th male pro.
I have just been to the Hawaii roll downs and I ended up missing out by one spot on a pro slot (ie. I was next person up). Must of been the year for rolling over. You can not pick it as many years there are no slot roll overs in the pro section hence going for the automatic qualification position.
I have improved on last year and it was good to be up there mixing it with the guys. I need to work more on my second half of the run. But after only 4 real months of training under Mark Watson, I have improved a lot and we will continue this progression.
I will file a race report and hopefully some nice photo's as well.
I am a bit disappointed on missing a Hawaii slot, but happy that I gave everything to nail one and am improving my overall position/racing.
Cheers,
Bevan.

The Night Before

Everything is now ready for the race. It looks like the weather has been good to us with winds and rain last night and early today. Otherwise it has been dry and calm. This means either a nightmare day weather-wise tomorrow as we are one-day of the forecast, or a brilliant mid temperature day with little wind. It is a deceptively tough course here in Taupo. I am well prepared under Mark Watson's guidance and will leave everything out there going for a good position and time. I want to thank everyone for their well wishes, sms', emails, blog notes, and facebook messages. Also to the Newcastle cycling boys for the extra bodies in training and likewise the Sydney crew. Thanks again to the guys at Platypus Asset Management for supporting me again for this tilt at the New Zealand Ironman. It was great to hear and see Frankie & Sam tonight on Skype - got to love those computer aids when they work.

Remember, you can follow my progress tomorrow on http://www.ironmanlive.com/ under race number 38 and if you click on my name it should give you progress reports/times/splits at the timing mats over the course.
Thanks to the Bynon and Leach families for their support and well wishes. Also to my sponsors High5, Brooks, and Platypus Asset Management, many thanks for aiding me in my training and racing goals.
Well, it is time to out the legs up, sleep, and wait for the race to start.
Cheers,
Bevan.

Ironman New Zealand - Sat 7th March 2009

Hi Everyone,

I have arrived safe in sunny Taupo. I flew directly into Taupo on a very small plane that Sam would hate. Two bikes were able to fit in out of three and my one made it. Let's hope the luck continues all weekend. Good weather by NZ standards has greeted me so far but is forecast to change for the next few days. Built the bike, did the test ride, and all good. Tv reports said the wind was getting up to 60km/hr+ and it was a tad wobbly on the road during the test ride. Water in the lake is crystal clear with no waves and without the usual NZ chill. Was quite warm actually but definitely a wetsuit swim. Everyone is out in their gear on the strip. Sensible ones though are inside watching the tv, internet, or sleeping. Taper is going well and I am looking forward to letting it all rip on the Saturday.

I am race number 38. You can follow the race on http://www.ironmanlive.com/ through either the athlete tracker or updates. Race day weather forecast is rain, 16-22 degrees Celsius, with a moderate northerly wind. Not sure what moderate wind means by NZ standards probably an Aussie cyclone. The wind pushed the waves on the lake up to 1-1.5m the other day which if it occurs on Saturday will make it interesting for a lot of competitors.

The pro briefing was today. They are going to hammer drafting, littering, and infractions this year. They even have a chopper with a tv to bust drafters and have them sit out their penalty on entering transition 2. Littering, including banana peels, will be a u-turn and pick up plus penalty. We have a 15min start on the age-groupers so that they can police the race better and also it is a new worldwide WTC rule change. This may change as the race director seems to want us to start with the age-groupers and may give us a late start 'due to darkness' but not change the age-grouper start time. We will find out race morning. Otherwise, it is as per normal and a good field of racers that should make the viewing interesting. I will touch base again before race day .

Cheers,
Bevan.

New Zealand Ironman - Lake Taupo

Well, I am now into the final week of my preparation for IM NZ and things have been going well. I am lighter than I have been for a few years for an Australasian race and I have put in a great block of training. I feel good, well prepared, and ready to go. It is just a matter of keeping things together for the last week, travelling well, and firing on race day. Platypus Asset Management will be supporting me again this year and I want to thank Nick, Gabrielle, and the guys for helping me out and all their encouragement. It will be interesting to see how the race plays out with a few people already qualified for Hawaii, some Olympians stepping up, the World 70.3 (Half Ironman) Champion racing with pre-qualification, and the 15 minute head start on the Age-groupers. The head start is good for me as it does not allow the slower swimming pro's to be dragged along in the swim to quicker times thereby lessening the gap to the better swim-bikers. There will be a few people going bust for podium positions which should splinter the field and a few will survive with others blowing up. The weather has been shocking the last few days but forecast is for similar rain and wind to last year on race day. Overall, good things for me as the weather does not bother me and I am happy for splintering groups with people not sure if they will make the distance or have correct nutrition strategies. I am race number 38 and will have the linkages for following the race posted this week sometime. I have some old mates from Sydney and abroad racing in Taupo so it will be great to catch up with them.
Cheers,
Bevan.

Goondiwindi Photos - Courtesy of Andrew Sawatske of Hi-Tide Photography

All photo's are courtesy of Andrew Sawatske from Hi-Tide Photography (http://www.hitidephotography.com.au/) who was also my road trip partner for the weekend. The last shot will be going into "Triathlete" magazine that is distributed worldwide (esp USA & Australia). Some nice shots in there. You can see how my aero bars 'broke' during the race making it 'interesting' to ride the return 40km, although I still managed to have the fastest bike time and win the prime (a bottle of lovely wine).

Cheers,

Bevan.

Frankie Photo's

Here are two photo's of Frankie in the past week. Check out our cutie!

I've made Xtri.com photo gallery for Hell of West Triathlon

Here is a link to the xtri.com triathlon website that does galleries of races from around the world. Andrew has taken some great photo's and here is the gallery for the Goondiwindi Hell of the West - link is: http://www.xtri.com/pix_thms.aspx?navT=1&navC=12&navG=115&navAll=1^12^115 . I am in two photo's, just click on the far right side both top (on bike) and bottom rows (just after finish line) to check it out. The last photo is the headline image for the gallery and on the main page also www.xtri.com .

Cheers,
Bevan.