Luke Harrop National Sprint Championships Race Report
Photo by: Unknown Luke Harrop Triathlon.
Event
25/2/18
6.15am start Elite Women
Sprint distance
DUATHLON CHANGE – very poor water quality!
1lap 2.5km run mass start- flat. 2 x 10km lap ride flat & simple. 2x 2.5km lap run-flat
Weather
Humid but overcast. No real winds. Low 20’s
Result
1st - Australian Elite Sprint Triathlon (Duathlon?) Champ
The last race of February was on the Gold Coast, heading up for the memorable Luke Harrop Triathlon event, which hosted this year’s Australian Elite National Sprint Championship Event.
The pressing cyclone far north meant the sunshine state was not dishing up its usual beautiful weather, and instead I was welcomed to rain and storms, and with this heavy rain flooding in the Australian Elite Sprint Championships was turned into a Duathlon- 2.5km run, 20km cycle & 5km run, because the water quality measured at over 200x the passable level of cleanliness considered okay to swim in, gross!
That's racing, as athletes we need to be adaptable to whatever the conditions, everyone is in the same boat & although I certainly would have preferred a swim you've just got to take it as it is & get on with the racing!!
Kicking off bright and early at 6.15am for the Elite women Aussie Tri Champs, the weather was playing nice & my reverse psychology of buying an umbrella worked wonders to stop the rain haha.
I was wanting to take the first 2.5km run out strong and put the field under pressure to try and string out the upcoming bike pack, and if you haven't noticed yet it's my only style of racing that I know, old school Aussie- hard from the gun. The field broke up as hoped & a front pack of 6 emerged on the run, & with a smooth first transition I got a little gap on the field and went for it solo off the front on the bike!
Onto the 20km ride the race was as per usual from here & I settled down onto the aero bars, pushing to stay away from the chase pack behind. At the first 5km turn I got a look back at the gap & was comfortable here & continued to work! By 10km the pack of 7 chasers weren't too far away so I made the move to ease up and join the bunch, rolling strong turns we all worked well as a front bunch to keep the pace there!
Heading off onto the second run with a hard 5km ahead! Having U/23 Katinka right with me heading out to the first 1.25km turn, she was doing a great job at keeping me honest, as were the chasing girls on our heels! I decided to test the waters and put down a surge before the turn and got the gap I was after to pull away in the lead. The girls behind certainly kept me running hard, pushing all the way to the finish with some strong runners there!
I was thrilled to take the tape for a second weekend in a row & take the Australian Elite Sprint title after winning the Oceania Elite title the weekend prior! A special double & a real positive sign for where I'm at & moving forward! Bring it ALL on!! (Preferably triathlon over duathlons in future though please & thanks!)
Certainly HAPPY DAYS, and soaking it up now because there’s plenty more hard racing to come!! It was terrific to have my coach Mick & his family clan thereon the Gold Coast to watch with their homemade "go Emma" signs in Green & Gold which was awesome!
The true athlete life, straight to media & anti-doping control, packing Bikes, checking out of the hotel, running back to presentation & cheering on all the age groupers before hustling to the airport to make my flight home!!