I own 19th Place

Another restless night trying to sleep after a race...can never really sleep well...just toss and turn all night. It just after 5am here, breakfast starts at 6:30am so thats what I have to look forward to! A shuttle is coming to pick me up at 7:50am and I am flying out of here at 8:55am. Should be back in Victoria before I know it!

So another hard race in the bag...equalled my performance from three weeks ago in Australia finishing in the top 20 again. That means that I get a couple World Cup points...something that I was not able to do at all before this year...the improvements are coming...little by little.

Coming into the race I was given the number 12 because of the race in Mooloolaba. High number means good start position! Usually I have a number way higher than that...it was a change to be able to pick a position before 65 other guys. BANG. Wicked start, head down, pounding out some strokes. I look around me and I have a body length on the rest of the field after 50 meters...badass start speed. I led the field for 700 out of the 750meters first lap. First one after the first swim lap gets the swim prime of $500US...so Marco Albert from Estonia comes flying by me in the last 50meters to steal my money...next time it is mine! The second lap I just stayed in the front pack getting tossed around with the swim current...came out of the water in 4th.

Out of the water ahead of me were the three that broke away and had a awesome bike. I got swallowed up by the pack that I stayed with the rest of the bike. This pack included Whitfield, Tichelaar, and McMahon all from Canada. Good to have some teammates up there with you. The pack worked OK not giving too much time to the three ahead of us, and we were distancing ourselves from the massive pack of guys behind up. It was crazy windy in some sections of the course...and with my 808's (deep rim wheels) I was getting blown all over the road...I had to really concentrate on stearing the bike...a little scary at times. I was glad to be getting off that bike after 40km.

I had about a 90 second cushion on the 40 or so guys in the bike pack behind us after the bike starting the run. I knew that if I was going to get another top 20 that I could not let them catch me. I never really felt good on the run, I had to really dig deep to keep the pace high and stay with the 2-3 other guys that I was running with. The run was 3 laps of up and over a big bridge, turn around at the bottom, come back over and down, then two out and back flat sections and repeat. The hill (bridge) was not my friend. I tried to warm up to her, run softly on her, seduce her...but she was a cold hard bitch of pavement that gave no mercy. I ended up running ok, finishing in 19th again after giving everything on that run, going through a world of hurt for 35min. Crossing the line I was so close to puking...I didn't want to move so I was taken away by the medical team, and put on a table. I played it up a bit that I was out of it so they would give me a IV cocktail. Sweet! Only got about half a litre in me and then they wanted to bring me to the hospital...UP I GOT saying NO and that I was fine.

All in all it is a good start to the 2007 season. Our squad I going to be working hard to keep the momentum going for the rest of the year. Next up on the bill is another World Cup race in Lisbon, Portugal in three weeks and then the weekend after that in Richards Bay, South Africa for the 4th World Cup of the year. On the way to Lisbon I stop off in Ontario for a couple days to see the family and on the way back from South Africa I have another 5 days with them...I am excited to spend some time back home in the Hammer.

Thanks for everyones support and encouragement!