Age Grouper
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Photos Of The Sprint Finish In Boise
Posted on June 17th, 2009 1 commentThese photos are from Boise where Craig Alexander sprinted ahead to take the win away from a heartbroken Chris Lieto.
I think these photos speak for themselves!
Age Grouper, Australia, Bike, Bike Accessories, Bikes, Brad Kahlefeldt, Chris Lieto, Chris McCormack, Country, Courtney Atkinson, Craig Alexander, Emma Moffat, Emma Snowsill, Equipment, Half Ironman (70.3), Half Marathon, Ironman, Olympic, Run, Sprint, Swim, Training, Triathletes, Triathlon News, USA -
Westpac Tour de Tri 24HR Triathlon
Posted on June 11th, 2009 No comments
“The physical, mental and social exhilaration was much more than we had anticipated, so consequently, we are already looking forward to the next one.” (Team Daffy Ducks)
Almost 200 competitors took part in the inaugural Westpac Tour de Tri 24hr on the weekend where many settled in with camping tents, campervans and mattresses in the back of horse floats. A few thousand laps were swum, thousands of km’s were rode, and tens of thousands of steps were taken, all in the effort to raise funds for the Law Enforcement Torch Run. The event’s first year’s popularity will see it made a permanent feature on the triathlon calendar on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.
Winners of "Teams of 5 or more" Category
Leon Colbert won the epic 24hr event with an inspiring 28 laps of the 300m/9km/3km course, closely contended by Aaron Whittaker who finished with 27 laps. In total, Colbert completed 8.4km in the pool, 252km on the bike, and ran 84km. The veteran Ironman’s strategy was to continue through the night while others took small doses of rest, but some would say that it was mere mental strength that kept Colbert going with only a 10min break throughout the entire 24 hour period.
One of a surprising number of first time triathletes competing, Penelope O’Regan, took out the female 24hr individual event and also 3rd place overall with a total of 25 laps. The 6 hour event winners were James Greenslade-yeats (9 laps) and Dayna Williamz (10 laps). Special mention goes to Linda Earle for taking out the “Pumpkin Award” for bringing two left shoes to race in.
All proceeds from this event will go to the Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) in support of Special Olympics Qld. This will assist the State Team to travel next March to Adelaide for the National Games where Special Olympics Qld will be sending a team of just over 180 athletes as well as a support team of coaches, assistants and medical staff to travel with them. A percentage of the money raised will also go towards the continued development of sports throughout Queensland to raise the profile and participation for persons with intellectual disabilities.
Source: USMEvents.com.au
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Christian Bodson Gets the Win Over a Bunch of Champions
Posted on May 6th, 2009 No comments
Christian Bodson is no stranger to the Ford Ironman World Championship, but he’s not exactly a regular, either. This was his third finish and his first win.After some friends spoke to him about triathlons, Bodson participated in his first race in 1986 but didn’t make it to Hawaii until 1998. Racing in the Men’s 40-44 age group, he finished with a respectable 10:13:43 in 14th place.
It was eight years later that he qualified at Ironman Lanzarote with a time of 10:57:01 for his second trip to Kona. He raced in the Men’s 45-49 age group and finished third with a time of 9:27:34.Bodson is a massage therapist and trains as much as possible. About three months before Kona he bumps this up to at least 20 hours a week. The bike is his strongest ability in triathlon but his ability to run off the bike is also strong. This is a result of his long participation in 400, 800 and 1500 m on the track He really enjoys the effort of triathlon and the good companionship in sports.
In 2008, Bodson qualified for Kona with a first place win in the men’s 50-54 age group at Ironman France with a time of 9:29:22, finishing 21st overall.
This set him up for a great race in Kona. He knew his competition would be tough with Jeff Cuddeback, Joe Bonness, Helge Bable and Kevin Moats racing. He also knew he could run a good race and winning was only a dream. He came out of the water in 39th place, made it through T1 and headed out on his bike. A 5:10:05 split moved him up to third and a marathon of 3:09:09 gave him the championship win. “I only tried to do my best,” he said.
In this case, it was plenty. Bodson celebrated his win with four of his friends who came to the race. His dream came true! And hopefully he will be back in 2009 to defend his win.
Our Amazing Age-Group Winners are the backbone of the Ironman race and bring excitement and incredible stories of courage and determination with them.
source: Ironman.com
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Follow The Jump From Olympic To Half Ironman (70.3) Racing As An Age Grouper
Posted on May 1st, 2009 3 comments
We read in every magazine and website the stories of our sport’s elite. Their lives dedicated to training and how they rise to contest for the top spots in the world. Unfortunately I, like the vast majority of triathletes out there, will never be able to challenge the best in the world but this doesn’t mean that I don’t have great goals and aspirations that I am striving to achieve.Whilst I always like to be competitive, my goals are not so much focused around the places I get in future races but instead just completing the biggest and hardest races around that normal (non-triathlete) people out there couldn’t even imagine completing. The two races that I now have my heart set on are the Port Macquarie Ironman in April 2010 and then the Coast to Coast in New Zealand Feb 2011. Once I have completed these two races I will have enough experience to really know what I enjoy the most and focus on beating my times.
I originally got into triathlons when I was getting bored at the gym and knew that I had to have a change of scenery before falling back into my routine downward spiral back into laziness. Since then I have never looked back. I only started training in October (08) but jumped straight into it and competed in most of the Gatorade Series in Queensland, Australia. I must say that the Gatorade Series is a fantastic way to get into the sport offering a range of short courses which seem a lot more achievable to the beginner than something as big as an Olympic distance race. Anyone out there who is considering giving it a go but hasn’t yet plucked up quite enough courage should give one of those races a go, you won’t regret it. On average I have always finished about 25% of the way down my age group which I have always been pretty happy with due to my lack of experience and other commitments.
I finished my 08-09 season off with my first Olympic distance race at Mooloolaba, Australia. I came 371st out of 2058 finishers and completed the race in 2:23:52. I realised during this race that I much preferred the feeling of the Olympic race over the sprint distance races. It is for this reason that I really can’t wait to jump straight into the Half Ironman (70.3) Distance races next season!
Unfortunately I started triathlons with very poor core stability and inwards rolling feet. Mainly due to these factors (and some serious inconsistencies in my training) I have suffered from quite a few little injuries including bruised bones in my feet and some knee pain. I have, however, been doing heaps of core work with my club and believe that everything is finally starting to fall into place. Along with a crazy amount of core work we have done a lot of different running drills recently that really highlight just how much of a difference your posture and core strength make when running. I have to admit I was a little sceptical at first when my coach told me that various abs exercises would cure my knee pain and make me run heaps faster but now I am really left with no doubt in my mind. If there is anyone out there reading this who does not focus much on core strength work but instead believes that if you just go out there and pound the pavement you’ll get just as far I must tell you that you are greatly mistaken!So I have booked myself into the 70.3 at Yeppoon on August 16th and have finally settled into some great, consistent, offseason training with very high hopes for beating 5:30:00 (which I am told is a very achievable goal even with my lack of experience). My coach has identified that our club in general seems to struggle the most with our run splits and so as a club we are really focussing on getting our running form perfected, or at least improved, and are putting in some high volume runs with the aim of practicing this form and getting it right before we start to increase intensity again.
I will leave it there for now but I am going to keep this blog updated with my progress towards making the jump from Olympic Distance races to Half Ironman (70.3) Distance races. If anyone else out there has any advice for me or is in a similar position themselves please let me know your thoughts and how you are going.
All the best, train safe, Dave, Age Grouper Triathlete.