Anaconda Series 2008 - Round 3, Dunnsborough, WA, Australia

A whole day after flying back in to Nelson from Trinidad it was bags packed and off to the airport once again. This time minus Elina who had decided she had suffered through enough travelling in the past 3 weeks and would relax at home while I headed for the West Coast of Australia and the third round of the Anaconda series held 3 hours south of Perth in Dunnsborough.

After a quick check of the air points account I managed to secure an upgrade into business class which eased the discomfort considerably and after a couple of nice NZ wines, a 3 course meal and quick kip we were there – it would be easy to get use to travelling business class that’s for sure. The trip to Dunsborough I thought was 2 hours of driving but after almost 4 hours I finally arrived just after midnight after an almost 24 hour day thanks to the time difference. Luckily I’d met up with Australian Multisporter Christie Sim in Perth and the company definitely helped keep the eyes from closing.

The following days were spent checking out the various sections of the course, a few visits to the local schools in conjunction with the race and some tentative swims in the crystal clear waters on the Western Australian Coast. Normally I worry about the snakes, creepy crawlies and especially the sharks in Australia but it is especially disconcerting when the Aussies are also packing themselves about the creatures lurking in the waters. The area just south of the start where we kayak to is apparently an area frequented by Great White sharks, not this time of the year I’m assured, but enough to make swimming solo out of the question – better percentages of not getting eaten if there is more than one option to cater for the sharks tastes  I reckon. I also managed to lose a bit of skin when I went down on the MTB course. For many of the single track sections it is covered in pea gravel which creates a surface similar to the track being covered in marbles. It is also highly abrasive and subsequently my bed looked like someone had been butchered in there as the wounds kept weeping during the night.

Race morning was fine and clear for the record crowd of just under 1600 athletes, by all calculations a world record for this type of race. The race course in WA consists of an 1800 metre swim, followed by a 13 km ski paddle, a 15km run, a 22 km MTB and finished off with a 1800 metre run to the finish which the teams have to complete together.

The start was absolute chaos as everyone raced for the first buoy a few hundred metres off shore. I thought I was starting from a reasonable position but was quickly swamped by people on either side, and quickly lost the front group of swimmers. Round the buoy it spread out somewhat but given I was swimming past people for a change I knew I’d probably lost the chance to get a draft off any of the quicker swimmers. The highlight of the swim, besides finishing it, was swimming straight over the top of a Wobbegong shark which didn’t seem the least perturbed by the chaos above.

Onto the ski leg and two of my main competitors had fared much better in the swim. Sean O’Neil was out of sight and although paddling is his weakest leg it took a while before I was able to make out his ski, it took longer still for me to finally reel him in. Only a couple of months ago I was able to paddle straight past Sean but he’s been focusing on improving his paddling and so when I went past he jumped on my wash and it was with great effort I was finally able to drop him. Jarad Kohlar was the real surprise though coming in just 30 sec behind me. With the calm weather there was very little chance to catch any good runs on the waves so it was great to hit the beach after paddling frantically for just over an hour and exhausting the upper body completely. Oh well, it was all up to the legs now anyway.

I’ve been focusing on my running a bit more this year and although I haven’t done my key training blocks yet I’ve been feeling good on the run sections. Today was no exception and I was able to get through the sandy sections with maybe not any more speed but definitely without creating the fatigue I’d experienced last year. Sean and Jarad had closed in at the halfway point where there is a water jump for all the runners to negotiate. It is only a small jump but there were a few surges in the channel we had to swim across and as I reached the far side I looked up to see a wall of white water just about to engulf me. I was picked up along with a team runner in the surge and bounced along the rocks on the side before being left high and dry on the rocks as the swell surged back out. Not the most graceful exit from the water but with the others not far behind there was no time for reflection and it was off on the second portion of the run. This is where I managed to pull away last year and this year I was determined not to make it easy if the other individuals where entertaining thoughts of a win. As I headed up the last climb I could see Sean a few hundred metres behind, I got a hell of a shock a few minutes later when I became aware of a runner approaching at speed from behind, I hadn’t seen any team runners for a while and so assumed it was Sean. A minute or so later the runner came sweeping past and I was relieved it wasn’t Sean but the team runner who’d been swept up n the rocks with me. Having recovered and now on a much better surface he was now flying back through the field. I hung on for a while, knowing that every minute I could stay with him was going to take me further away from the other guys and by the time I reached the MTB transition I had been well and truly dropped but had re-established a lead approaching 2 minutes.

The MTB course is a mixture of sandy fields, ripping single track and treacherous sections of trail covered in Pea gravel. Soon after the start a team rider caught me and I was able to tuck in and pace myself off them. I knew if I had a solid ride it was unlikely now that I’d be caught but that it was also that if I got complacent then I would open the door for the others to come back at me. A pattern developed where the team rider would pull away slightly on the open sections and I would gradually catch up in the single track sections. The further we got into the ride and the more pea gravel we encountered the more I became aware the name of the game was really self preservation and making it through to the end of the ride in one piece. The end of the section was now only a few km’s away, mainly downhill and we’d almost caught another team up. As we closed in on the transition it was nice to check over the shoulder and see clear trail behind. For me the MTB sections are always the most nerve wracking as the chance of a puncture or a mechanical is always a possibility and it is always nice to reach the TA – no matter how nice the trails are.

Into the final TA and it was a quick change of shoes for the quick dash along the beach to the finish. As soon as you round the first small point you can see the finish and my only motivation for the final few minutes was to try and chase down the two teams directly in front of me. I managed to get one but missed the second one by a few seconds. My time was a tick over 3 hours 56 minutes and also saw me slip into 3rd place overall. Sean O’Neil finished strongly for 2nd in the individuals just under 5 minutes behind and Jarad Kholar rounded out the podium despite carrying a foot injury. Jarad is going to be a member of our team which is heading to Abu Dhabi in December and there is a strong likely hood that Sean will join us at some stage next year if we are able to secure some funds for more overseas team racing.

In the women’s race Kirsty Holmes smoked the other girls in the swim and paddle and had a solid run to put some serious pressure on the established pecking order.  Christe Sim and Deanna Bleg where closing her down in the run and MTB with Christie just managing to slip past in the final stages of the MTB to claim the win. Kirsty is a former top Surf Iron woman and in just her second Multisport race showed she will be a real force if she decides to focus on it in the future. The top 3 women were separated by less than 5 minutes after almost 5 hours of racing to provide plenty of excitement for the people watching the action unfold.

Back in NZ now and I’m looking forward to a few weeks at home and finally getting some training under the belt. Elina and I will be at the Lake to Lighthouse race in mid November and it looks like a trip to the final race in the Anaconda series in December is on the cards now. 

Thanks to the support in Australia from Epic Kayaks and also all of our NZ sponsors, especially Subway who make the racing possible.