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         Race Report"Scroll down to check out the latest & past race reports !!!!" Scody Half Ironman, Port Macquarie, NSW (9/11/08) - Race Report After my race in Forster three weeks ago, I had scheduled myself for two weeks of solid training, with a light taper week before this event. The first week went as planned, however, my second week started with some suss tasting chicken and come sunday morning we were all feeling a bit crook. Mum and Mick got over it quite quickly but my food poisoning lasted until Thursday ! I won't go into details.... it wasn't pretty. So I effectively missed the middle ' hard week', so I used my final week and half of preparation to just get my energy levels back up to scratch. If you would have asked me a week before the race, I would have felt lucky to be in the top 10. But as the week went on, I was feeling stronger and more relaxed. With this race being a hometown event, the media attention has always been a little daunting, but I am becoming more and more confident in these situations. This year, the race brought in the reisgning World Ironman Champion, Craig "Crowie" Alexander, and I was stoked that he picked me as the favorite to win the race, which was a feature story in the Friday paper. On Friday, a lot of my competitors (and mates) started rolling into town, so it was great to catch up with some familiar faces. On Saturday, I did a photo shoot for my clothing supplier, Scody. It took the better part of the day, but it was a lot of fun, and it was a relaxed atmosphere with the other models (my sometimes training partner Adam Holborow, Bek Keat, Charlotte Paul and her husband Kristian). We were all helping to promote the new 2009 line of clothing, so it will be exciting to see this when it hits the magazines. Race morning, I threw on my new race kit, which was delivered to me the day before. It's a new look, but I wanted to try something different. I recently received the new 2009 Cannondale Slice, which is all white with some red and black highlights. My new race clothing is predominantly white with some red and black graphics which closely match the bike. Ironically, I have recently received a huge amount of support from Token, which are now supplying my wheels and groupsets for my bikes. Their colour scheme, is nearly a perfect match with Cannondales graphics and my new Scody race kit. I'm looking hot !!!! The other thing that is unique about my clothing, is that I had it made with short sleeves (just a little shy of my elbow). I got a lot of positive comments about the new kit, and for the first time I did not get any chafing around my armpits and neck, so I think we are on the something with the new race kit. Well back to racing… the forecast was for a few light showers, and the sky was gray while I was setting up my transition area. I knew there was some good swimmers in the pro field, but I also knew that with cyclists like Brian Fuller, Nathan Stewart, and Adam Holborrow I didn’t have to kill myself to come out with the leaders. As I suspected, Christian Kemp, Boyd Conrick, and Cam Watt were the first to exit the water, and by the time I made it to my bike, I was told that they were about 55 seconds ahead of the group I was with. I was expecting to come out with Peter Loveridge, Adam, and Nathan but I was a little surprised that Brian Fuller was with us already. Also there was a French guy, Laurent Suppi, and I didn’t know much about him. In my pre-race game plan, I was expecting Brian to come join us after we had peddled a few k’s out of town, and then I was going to try to keep pace with him. Unfortunately, that plan didn’t happen, because he was with me from the start of the bike, and he took off like a rocket. I wish I had had the legs to stay with him, but I felt a little sluggish at the beginning. Me and the boys were keeping a good pace while we got ourselves out of town, and by the time we were about 10 K’s into the race, we saw Boyd up ahead (but there was no sight of Cam, Kemp or Brian). We were taking turns to keep the pace high, but somewhere on the way to the turnaround (on the first lap) to Lake Cathie, we lost Boyd. As we approached the turnaround, we passed the leaders going the other way, and we saw that Brian Fuller was riding with Cam and Christian. I was a little concerned about that, because I knew Christian was a great runner, so I rallied the boys to pick up the pace. When we reached the top of the hill at Matthew Flinders Drive, we were told that the leaders were 1: 42 ahead of us. I was feeling really strong, so we drove the pace a little harder into town, and by the time we turned around, we began to lose Adam, and Loveridge. As we started our second lap, the skies were looking greyer, the temperature was noticeably cooler, and the headwinds going south were definitely stronger than our first lap. At this stage I really only had Nathan working with me, as the French guy was only interested in sitting off the back. When we were about 5 km from the southern end of the course on our second lap, we swallowed up Kemp who is riding on his own. When we saw Fuller and Watt heading the other way they were flying (partially because they had a tail wind, and we had a killer headwind). When we finally made it to the turnaround, we got our relief from the wind, but the rain started coming. It didn’t last long, but it did come down hard, for a period. First we lost Kemp, then the French guy dropped off soon after that. Eventually, even Nathan fell off my pace, so I rode into town alone. When I rolled into transition, I was 3:21 down from the two leaders. Although I have struggled, with my last few races, in finding my run legs… I felt good from the start. By the time I reached the end of the break wall (which would be about 5 km into the race) I was told my gap was down to 2:39, and another 2 km later I had cut the lead down to 2:16. By the time I made it three quarters of the way through my final lap, Fuller was still holding on to the lead, with Cam another 27 seconds back, and I was tailing Cam by about 50 seconds. We had cyclists (with fluorescent flags) marking each of the top four men, and as I was coming down Windmill Hill on my final lap, I could see Cam overtake Brian at the base of the hill. So with only about 2 ½ km to go, I could see my targets ahead of me. As I ran along the break wall, the local support was awesome. I was coming up on Fuller, and confident that I was going to be able to catch him before the finish. By the time we reached the Buller Street Bridge, we were running side-by-side. As we edged around the Country Comfort Hotel, I got a few metres on him, and held that lead to the finish. Unfortunately, I was not able to run down Cam, but he had an awesome race. He was second out of the water, second fastest on the bike, and second fastest in the run. I was happy with my race, and I don’t think I could’ve run any harder. I’ve posted the fastest run of the day with a 1:17:00 to take out second (for my third time in the last two months), but to come second by 38 seconds is a little disappointing.
Time now to regroup, and set my focus and training on Western Australia Ironman next month. Cheers for now ........Tim
8/10/08 - Well, it has been a while since my last report. As most of you know, I have returned from the USA, and I altered some of my race schedule. After my bad result of pulling out of the Newfoundland 70.3, due to a puncture, I then had a few weeks break before doing the Half Ironman in Boulder, Colorado (5430 Race). Unfortunately, I had another bad result and had to pull out of the swim. It just wasn't my day(s). I decided to cut my U.S season short, and I cancelled my 70.3 race in New Hampshire, and opted to do the 70.3 race in Singapore instead. So I returned to Australia on a Sunday morning, made my way home to Port Macquarie, only to leave the following Thursday to head off to Singapore. The race was a hot one, and they had a top field there. I finished eighth, which wasn't bad considering the amount of travel, training and rest (that I was able to get) in the lead up to the race. So after Singapore, I 'really' returned home to Port and was able to get in several weeks of solid training efforts, and my typical Australian diet. I have a hectic schedule which began this past weekend (read my Gold Coast report below) and will end on December 7th when I race the West Australian Ironman ! Gold Coast Half Ironman, Calypso Bay, QLD (5/10/08) - Race Report On Sunday, I raced the Gold Coast Half Ironman event and I've always done reasonably well up there. Two years ago I finished third and last year I finished second. I was seeded number two, but it was a large field with some big names entered. Leon Griffin and Jason Shortis were two of the big names, but they pulled out prior to the race start. Including to the two big guys that pulled out, there were 32 men in the open division, which was one of the biggest fields I've faced. It included most of the Australian guys that dominate the Half Ironman series, as well as some young ITU guys that were a bit of a concern to me. I was familiar with some of these guys, and knew they had the legs in the run to be a threat. The swim went well, although we let a group of six get away. I exited the water with four other guys and we knew we had some work to do to chase the six ahead of us. I was glad to have my (occasional) training partner, Adam Holborow with me, so we quickly got to work. The clock had me coming out of the water in ninth place and Adam in 11th but that was just how we crossed the timing mat. I knew I wanted to drop some of the guys I was with and start working on the six ahead of us. It didn't take us long to thin out the group, and I saw that we had Gavin Scott making his way up towards us (he exited the water about 30 seconds behind us). Gav is a great cyclist, so when he joined us, we put the hammer down and spat a few guys out the back. I knew I had Cameron Watt and David Dellow up the road and we came up upon a few of the guys that had exited the waters with those two. At the 15km mark, we had dropped everyone and according to the spilts we had Watt and Dellow about one minute 40 seconds up the road. We maintained as average speed of over 40km an hour which put Watt and Dellow in our sights at about a third of the way into our second lap (the race was two x 45km laps). Once we caught these boys, Adam made a move and by the time we reached the turnaround point (67km), he had given himself about 250m lead. I think he had second thoughts about doing the last 23kms on his own, so he sat up and we reeled him in. We still kept our pace up and eventually dropped Watt and Dellow, which gave us about 40 seconds in the lead into the transition area. I, unfortunately was not able to enter the transition area at the same time, as I gotted nabbed for littering !!!!!! I was trying to put a bottle into the back of my jersey and it slipped out of my hand. A technical official was riding alongside of me when this happened and gave me an on-the-spot littering penalty. So, I waited until the last penalty box, which was just outside the transition area. I had to do a stop-go penalty, which means I had to get off the bike, lift the bike over my head, then I was able to go again. I made quick work of my penalty and was back into the transition area, threw on my Newton running shoes and I actually beat the other guys out onto the run. So, I was now in first place and pulling away from the other guys. I struggled to find my rhythm and I knew I had some good runners (in Dellow, Loveridge and some of the ITU guys) that were going to be chasing me down. The course was flat, and it was getting warm out there on the course. The venue is a new waterfront development with lots of canals. The run course meandered in and out of several cul-de-sacs, most of which were barren empty lots. I could see Dellow closing in on me and he overtook me about 4km into the course. I was still struggling to find my legs and I just couldn't hold his stride. Since the course had so many cul-de-sacs I could see Dellow opening up his lead but I also knew I was pulling away from all the other guys. It was a three lap 7km course, which got a little monotonous. Dellow won the event in 3:58:36 and had I known the race time, I may not have high-fived so many people along the finished chute because I finished 4:00:06 and it would've been nice to go sub 4 hour (but also love my supporters). Cameron Watt finished third another five minutes later. 1st - David Dellow, 03:58:36
Once again a special thank you my sponsors: Scody, Expressway Spares, Cannondale, Powerbar, Newton Running Shoes, Gordon Street Cycles, Coastline Chiropractic, Oakley, Erox & Coastal Homes & Developments, Coach - Grant Giles, Manager - Mike McElligott. Thanks for all your time, generosity and support - I wouldn't be here without you !!!! Cheers, Tim Vineman 70.3 Sonoma County California (20/7/08) - Race Report Well I’m now 2/3 thru my challenge of three Half Ironman’s, in three consecutive weekends. Today’s race was probably the strongest field I’ve ever faced. I have raced many of these guys before, but never all in one place. In alphabetical order, the big hitters were Craig “Crowie” Alexander, Paul Ambrose, Paul Amey, Terenzo Bozzone, Matty Clark, Steve Larsen, Chris Legh, Chris Lieto, and TJ Tollakson. The race this weekend was another point-to-point, so we had one transition area at the swim start, and then we rode to the second transition area, which was only about 30 Kms away by car. The Swim took place in a river, but there is a dam so the current wasn’t too bad. I had a strong swim and was feeling great when we exited the water. I was in with the lead pack, so I felt good, and the pace wasn’t blistering like the week before. I had all the big hitters with me, so I knew the race was going to be with the guys in pack. The pack was maintaining a good pace, however there were a few stages where someone ahead of me would begin to lose some ground, so I had to surge every few kilometers to get back in the group. We were maintaining a legal 10 metre space between riders, but when you see someone ahead of you start to let that gap grow to 30 or 40 metres, you have to respond, or it could mean that you lose sight of the main pack. The annoying point was after you would do all the work to fight your way back to the leaders; the same person that caused the gap then passes you again. I could feel that these surges were doing a number on my legs, and I was already a little sore from the traveling. Just to give you a little insight to my traveling drama, I was at Boston’s Logan Airport waiting in line for 20 minutes to board my Delta flight to San Francisco. I had plenty of time before the flight, so I wasn’t too stressed. After finally making it to the front of the queue, I was told by the Delta staff, that they don’t fly to San Francisco. So after a closer inspection of my ticket, I made my way to United Airlines, to catch my flight. Note to self: Read Ticket before showing up at airport. Second note to self: Next time I have to rush across a huge airport with Bike Box and luggage in hand – Rent a Trolley to help save the legs for racing. So, back to the race. We all entered the Bike-to-Run transition area together, with Bozzone going out first, then Crowie about 15 seconds with a few others, then I was about another 15 seconds back. Crowie and Bozzone took off quick, and a few of the others tried to follow, but my legs were feeling dead, so I just tried to find a good pace. I eventually settled in and got passed by Chris Legh, who eventually ran his way into 5th. So I knew I had six guys ahead of me, but I was running the best I could on the day, and I had Paul Ambrose on my heels. We stayed together until the end, and with about 300 metres to go, he pulled around me to sprint to the line. Fortunately, I had a little more in the tank, and went back around him to beat him to the line by about 12 seconds. It was a close 7th, but I’ll take it. Terenzo won the event with a great run of 1:11:00, and Crowie was right behind him with a 1:12:26 Half Marathon 1st - Terenzo Bozzone, Mairangi Bay, NZL, 23yrs, 03:49:40
Other notables were TJ Tollakson got 15th,and Matty Clark finished 17th. Also a special thank you to Larry Rosa, who took the photos above. Cheers, Tim
MY BEST RESULT YET ! ! ! ! ! - Ironman Australia - Port Macquarie - 6 April 2008 After what was a long week leading up to the race, Sunday the 6th of April finally rolled around, and despite the ominous weather I was geared up and ready to race. The rain cleared just as the cannon marked the start of the swim, and I managed to pull out an okay first leg, coming out of the water 7th in 51.30. I jumped on my new Cannondale Slice, and what a difference a light carbon frame makes over the rolling hills. I rode the first 25 km solo before getting caught by Mitch Anderson, Nathan Stuart, Matt White, along with training partner and fellow Port Macquarie Triathlete, Adam Holborrow. We then picked up Luke Bell on the 2nd lap. The bike went well, although the rain returned this time accompanied by a strong southerly, and I was focusing on keeping up my nutrition, which let me down last year. I was stocked with Powerbar Gels and Bars and kept up with the fluids so that I would not be depleted to start my Marathon. By the last lap there were three of us left. Nathan Stewart, Matt White & myself were still riding together, but Luke and Adam had dropped back, and in a show of power, Mitch rode off the front of us, and I felt it was wiser to hold back rather than wasting my legs, just to keep up with Mitch. I came off the bike in 6th in a time of 4:56 feeling really good for the marathon, and having a newfound confidence in this last leg after considerable work on my marathon over the last few months. Starting the run I was over 13 minutes behind the race leader Luke McKenzie, and Switzerland’s Mathias Hecht was 12:35 ahead, with Mitch Anderson in third (and still 10:46 ahead). My closest competitor was Patrick Vernay, who was only 7:42 ahead, but I knew he was strong in the run. I had a great run and my legs were feeling great. The local support along the way, which was just amazing and I was getting splits along the way. On a three-lap course I could see myself getting closer to the leaders, but Vernay was also plowing through the field so my targets kept changing. I was adding space to the guys behind me, and I could see McKenzie and Hecht coming into my sights. I moved into 4th with 3km to go, picking up Mackenzie, however with about 2km (and Hecht within striking distance), I blew up. I felt like I was walking and even stopped at the special needs station to get a can of Red Bull I had stashed for an emergency. I was only about 400 metres from the finish line, but I skulled half the can, and was able to make it home in 4th with a 2:55:49 marathon, the second fastest run of the day behind Vernay, who ran 2:50:44. In fact it was only Vernay and me that posted a sub 3-hour marathon, so I am proud of that accomplishment. Coming down the finish shoot, I was totally over the moon to come 4th in my hometown, shaving 13mins off last year’s 7th place with an overall time of 8:44. Again I want to thank everyone who was involved with the race, as well as those involved personally with me including my sponsors: Scody, Expressway Spares, Cannondale, Powerbar, Newton Running Shoes, Gordon Street Cycles, Coastline Chiropractic, Oakley, Erox & Coastal Homes & Developments, Coach - Grant Giles, Manager - Mike McElligott. Thanks for all your time, generosity and support, sounds cliché but I couldn’t have done it alone! Cheers for now, Berkel !
MY FIRST WIN ! ! ! ! ! - Campbells Shepparton Half Ironman 07 - 18th November 2007 Having come out of the Port Mac Half a little disappointed with my race, I was excited to return to Shepparton, where I raced my first Half Ironman, and I was far more relaxed (I have to say), than two weeks previous at Port Mac. The calm nerves seemed to be a good omen because I had such an enjoyable race and was relieved and stoked to have some good form and an awesome result ! The swim around Kialla Lakes gave me a good start and by the second buoy I found I was in the lead, and from there I led the swim out of the water with about 12 seconds on the group with a time of 24:49, a great feat for me as swimming is usually my weaker leg. I got onto the bike where I was quickly joined by fellow Port Mac training mate, Adam Holborow and we had a nice little lead on the chase group. I was feeling awesome on the bike, considering the rain and wind, and ended up averaging over 40km/hr. With about 10 km to go, I was feeling good and got a gap on Adam, entering transition with 1:20 on him and 6 mins on the chase group, with a fastest ride of the day, a time of 2:14. I got onto the run feeling pretty good and was able to maintain a solid pace throughout, and came across the line, lapping up my first win and PB of 3:58:36, with the legend Pete Murray once again calling me in as Commentator. In all it was an awesome race for me, I really enjoyed it and was happy with the form I had on the day. A big thanks to all the support from my mates on the day and a congratulations to some notable efforts: Adam Holborow and John Cornish who were doing an awesome job on the ride before they flatted, a bit of bad luck guys. Big thanks to my family and sponsors, Mum and Mick , Manager Mike McElligott, SCODY: Bernard, EROX: Florian and Jacquie, AEROMAX: Grant and Mel, POWERBAR: Emma and Cadence, GORDON ST CYCLES: Bill & Lloyd, COASTLINE CHIROPRACTIC: Darren & Vanessa, EXPRESSWAY SPARES: Patrick & David A very special thanks to Pete Murray and training partners Adam and Benny (Justin Timberlake).
Cheers for now, Berkel !
Wow - what a day out !. I woke up race day feeling really good and deciding it was going to be a great day with not a bad pro field on the start list. We headed down to Coomera Waters just outside the Goldie for a 6am start, with what turned out to be great, although pretty hot, weather. In the swim I felt pretty strong, coming out of the water in 5th with a time of 24:35. I mounted the bike feeling strong, and along with Oyvind Johannesen managed to get a break on the chase group, picking up race leader Paul Matthews at the 45km mark. The pace shut down after we picked up Paul, all of us motivated to save our legs for what was shaping up to be a very hot run. We came off the bike with about 4 minutes on the chase group, with me clocking a time of 2:17:08, still feeling good and pumped for the 21km run. We ran the first 1km together, spurred on by my good mate Pete Murray who was going off in the commentary box. Johannessen was the first to be dropped, with me taking a few kms to get my running legs and by the half way mark Matthews had established a gap of 1:50. However I started to come good as he began to fade slightly and I began bringing the gap back, eventually running out of miles however, with Matthews taking the win in 4:03:04 and me coming in 1:25 behind (4:04:31) with a running time of 1:22:47. My good mate John Cornish rounded out the podium with a time of 4:10:01. Overall I was stoked running down the finish line having the support of my family and the crew from Port Mac, and the 2nd place has only given me more motivation to go one better next year ! Thanks again to Mum, Mick, Em and all the support crew from Port and a huge thanks to my sponsors whom I couldn't have done it without ! EROX: Florian and Jacquie, AEROMAX: Grant and Mel, POWERBAR: Emma and Cadence, GORDON ST CYCLES: Bill & Lloyd, COASTLINE CHIROPRACTIC: Darren & Vanessa, EXPRESSWAY SPARES: Patrick & David A very special thanks to Pete Murray and training partners Adam and Benny ..... Gold Coast Top Ten
The week leading into the Cannibal Gold Coast Half Ironman I spent with my coach Gilesy and his family at Lennox Heads. It was a relaxing week with plenty of surfing, training and a few brews along the way. Tim Prowse and I headed up to the Gold Coast on Friday and the weather was perfect. I woke up race day feeling very nervous with such a strong pro field to compete against. We headed down to Coomera Waters to get ready for the race. In the swim I tucked myself into a group and I swam 24:06{pb}. I mounted the bike feeling pretty strong and I mixed it up with some strong riders, I came in off the bike{2:20:30} feeling pretty smashed but pumped and ready for the 21km run. It took me a bit to find my legs, but running with Craig McKenzie for a few km´s kept me motivated, Craig pulled away from me and I dug deep to get a good result. I ran myself into 3rd place with Prowsie 12 seconds behind me finishing 4th. Running down the finishing line I was lapping it up and it was awesome to have competed in such a good race with such a strong field and especially finishing with Prowsie after all the hard work we have been doing over the couple of months. I would like to thank my coach, Gilesy, Lloydy and Billy from Gordon st Cycles, Vannesa and Darren from Coastline Chiropractic and Mizuno. Gold Coast Top Ten
Sunday morning 5pm 13/08/06, I woke full of excitement to be here at the Yappoon Half Ironman. I got up had my usual brecky for the day and went through my usual routine. I headed down to transition, ready to race and totally focused on the day ahead, knowing it was going to be tough with Belly and Shorto leading such a strong field. We headed out for 1.9k swim; my swim wasn´t going quite to plan with a few ups and downs along the way. Although disappointed with my swim, once I mounted my bike I refocused and put my swim behind me. I knew I had some hard work in front of me. I really enjoyed the bike ride and I had some good company in my good mate, young gun pro, Johnny Cornish. We encouraged each other and settled into a pretty good pace. After getting off the bike in 8th position, I felt pretty smashed but I dug deep because I knew I was capable of running a good 21k's with all the work my coach, Gilesy, has been putting into me. After running down a few competitors I had Bord Connerick in my sights, when I caught up to him he let me know I was running 4th. As I saw the finishing line approaching I was overcome with excitement at getting 4th in such a strong pro field. I had a brilliant weekend at Yappoon, the resort was great, the race was run really well by all the volunteers and the weather was beautiful. The meltdown party was awesome, I met some really great people and enjoyed a well earn beer.
A special thanks to my coach, Grant Giles And my sponsors Gordon st Cycles Mizuno Peter Bowen massage Athletes Foot Albury Peter Wynd Podiatry. Busselton Race Report - May 2006 Hey all, I decided to go back to Busso this year, it´s a beautiful place and it was great to go there again. The field was pretty tough with 26 pro´s racing and I had my work cut out for me! Race day began at 8:30am so we were all awake early. Before the race began we all stood up for the national anthem and away we went. The swim leg was pretty tough for me, I hit the beach in 15th position, my swim time was 28:03. The bike leg began with Pete Jacobs in front; he ended up winning the race. I had a good bike leg and came off the bike in 12th position, riding a PB with 2:18 Got off the bike felling pretty strong knowing that I could make up a few spots in the run. I had the fastest run of the day with 1:18:31, very happy with that leg and ran my way into 7th overall. I am stoaked with my position considering the field. My overall time was 4:04:51 (a PB!) The top eleven positions were as follows:
Overall The trip to Bussleton was excellent, had a ball on Saturday night at the meltdown party with the boys, special thanks to Macca who came all the way from Albury to watch and give support. Thanks mate! Also want to thanks Rouley for the laughs, and my sponsors. Mizuno Peter Bowen Athletes Foot The Full Cycle Border Chiropractic Cheers, Tim.
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