Out of all ITU races that I have done, Devonport has been my most recurrent race location. Competing in Devonport this year made it my 5th time racing there (2 as a Junior and 3 as an Eilte), which was quite a nice realisation once I had added the years together.
For those unaware, Devonport is located on the Northern part of Tasmania, an isolated island which lies off the south coast mainland Australia. This meant that the race took place along the coast of Tasmania with the swim being in the ocean and the bike and run along the foreshore.
Going into Devonport, I was slightly sceptical with how my form would be, more so from a recovery perspective since it would be the second Olympic Distance in two weeks following my race in Abu Dhabi. We tried to make the most out of the 9 days that we had back in Melbourne: we took training a bit easier during the first few days to give our bodies some rest and did a bit of ‘sharpening’ as the departure date was approaching.
We arrived into Devonport on Thursday, two days before race day on Saturday. This gave us enough time to settle in and familiarise ourselves with the course. Like previous years, the bike course featured a steep 200m hill each lap so this is something we were keen to ride up and get a feel for the amount fatigue we would be accumulating on race day.
Pre-race swim and stretch
A slight misfortune for me, my sister had decided to share her cold with me the day before I left to Devonport which certainly didn’t offer any help. I felt horrible waking up on the Friday morning, a day out from the race. It wasn’t ideal at all, but thankfully the cold had cleared a lot by the Saturday and I felt in more of a state to race. That said, I tried not to think too much about the implications of this and did my best to rest and be ready to go.
Before I knew it, I was lining up getting ready to start the race on the beach. I enjoy beach starts; it seems to be an area where I can get some advantage with my longer limbs that help skip over some of the shallow waters. It worked for me this time too since off the start I was able to make some ground on my neighbouring competitors. Sometimes it can be hard to get some rhythm in the swim stroke when the conditions are like this but I find that trying to mimic the flow of the waves can help with overcoming that feeling. I was one of the first to make it around the first swim buoy and I kept pushing the pace to stay ahead.
Throughout the second lap, I started to feel I was swimming a lot better; my stroke felt strong and more natural and eventually exited the water for the second lap in 2nd/3rd position.
Swim start and swim exit (Pics: Cordell Richardson)
As I ran out of the water and ran into the first transition, I could hear the commentator listing out the names of the swimmers coming. I heard Matt’s name in there and instantly knew that things were in an ideal situation. Matt and I had a clear plan for the bike leg of the race; that was make it hard and establish a lead so that coming off the bike we could be in control for the run. We both started working together to distance ourselves from the 4/5 or so athletes behind us and began to catch Taylor Reid (NZ) who was just up the road. Once the 3 of us were together, we all committed to working together and made the effort to establish a lead.
3 man breakaway working together
Riding up North Street hill for the first time was as I expected it to be: STEEP!! But everyone was faced with the same challenge to lug themselves up so no one was left out from the fun. The three of us worked well and before we knew it, we had already established a lead of over a minute. Matt and I didn’t want to leave anything at chance so we both made a move on Taylor up the hill on the fourth lap to see whether he had the legs to keep up. He hung in there behind us and from then on we decided to work as a trio and it seemed to work since we continued to distance ourselves from the chase group.
By the end of the bike, the three of us had extended our lead on the chase group to about 2 minutes. I felt comfortable with this going into the run as I knew it was enough not to be caught and felt like I hadn’t expended too much energy on the bike.
Transitions are always a mad hurry and T2 was no exception. I racked my bike, slipped my shoes on, took my helmet off and was on my way to start the run. Even though I didn’t have the smoothest transition I was able to exit with Taylor but Matt had done the change a few seconds quicker and was just ahead.
Onto the run
I could see that Matt was pushing the pace ahead and I knew I needed to catch him if I wanted to have a chance at battling with him for the win. I noticed that Taylor had dropped off behind me moments after getting onto the run which gave me a slight relief. I tried my best to close the gap to Matt. For the first kilometre, I was able to hold my distance sticking about 15 meters behind. Despite trying to hang in there, I didn’t have it in me to reduce the distance further and he slowly distanced me. I could tell that he was running strong ahead and knew that it would take something extra for me to catch him. My gap with Taylor, who was the first one behind me, was sizeable enough to not have to worry so I could continue on to the finish line.
Elite Men's podium
I crossed the finish line on the second position, a result that reflected my performance, and one that I’m proud of. There is always room for improvement and I hope to be in a better condition next time. Nevertheless, I was really happy for Matt to get the win, he had raced well and certainly deserved it. It is certainly a course that I will look forward to returning to in the future if I have a chance!
Now I am in full preparation for Gold Coast WTS. This is one that I am really excited for, getting the opportunity to race here and have the chance to throw my name in the mix for Commonwealth Games selection is an honour. My eyes are set on that and I am more determined than ever to have a crack!!
