Tim Berkel

It’s been a beautiful summer here in Boulder CO – and an excellent chance to train with my friends. Now it’s to time to pack it all up and head back to Port Macquarie Australia to prepare for one of my favourite events of the year. The Gold Coast Half-Ironman will take place on Sunday, October 3rd at Calypso Bay in Brisbane. It will be a race to remember.

Boulder is such a fantastic place to train, and it’s a bit of a shame I have to leave (although It’ll be great to see my family). You get the high altitude exertion and a fun community with lots of friends who lead very active lifestyles. I spent most of the summer hanging out with Tyler Butterfield, Matty White, James Hadley, Matty Reed, Joe Gambles, Mitchy Robins, Tim Reed, and Adam Hoborow. You guys are the best, and I’m sure we’ll keep crossing paths.

What a rush these last few months have been. I still can’t believe I made away with the [intlink id="456" type="post"]Copenhagen win[/intlink]. It’s really exciting because it’s going to set me up pretty good for next year. And what a fun competition. You almost never see an Ironman that goes through a city, with one monument right after the next. Team Challenge did an awesome job of making us feel relaxed and at home. I rarely go to an [intlink id="21" type="category"]Ironman[/intlink] where I get to let down my hair and party like a rock star afterwards. I’m definitely looking forward to this competition next year!

So after about a month and a half in Australia, I’ll be back in the United States for the World Championship 70.3 Ironman in Clearwater Florida. It’ll be nice to get a bit of a recharge back home before tackling this race. I can’t wait to take my bike into Gordon Street Cycles to get it tuned. I’ve noticed it hasn’t been running quite the same, and they always do a banger of a job. I can’t thank them enough for what they do.

If all goes well, I’ll get my 2011 Canondale Slice in time for the Clearwater race. The Slice has a whole new design this year, and it’s performing better than ever. I would say my win in Copenhagen had a lot to do with this bike. My best mates were getting punctured tires, and I somehow made it through. But what can I say? I’m a sucker for that new bike smell.

I love this time of year. I travel so much I barely get a chance to be in a place I can call home. If you’re going to be in the Port Macquarie area, I’m sure I’ll run into you.

Here’s to seeing you on the other side of the world!

Well it’s February 7th, and I’ve just finished my second race of the year. Two third-place finishes to start off 2010, but there was a top field today so I’m really happy with my result.

I decided to travel on Saturday, for a Sunday race, so I didn’t have many distractions with any of the media commitments. I arrived in Geelong in the early afternoon, so I quickly needed to put the bike together, register, and get my bike into the compound, as soon as I arrived. After I finished all of the necessities, I went and had an early dinner with my mate Clayton Fettell. It’s always good to kick back with him, so I was pretty relaxed leading into the race.

As I said earlier, it was a top field, and they gave me number “2″, and I felt pretty honoured to be given a number so low. I had two time World Champion Craig Alexander (number “1″), on my left, and former World Duathlon Champion Leon Griffin on my right. I was also racing with Triathlon Legend Jason Shortis, as well as Olympian Bronze medalist Jan Rehula. I was also racing against my mates Matty White, and Adam Holborow as well as a host of other Australian pros.

I wished I could’ve done this race last year, however my training wasn’t up to scratch at the same time last season. The race has really good atmosphere, and there were nearly perfect conditions when we started the swim. I expected Clayton and Michael Murphy to go out hard in the swim, so my focus was to just stay with Crowie and Griff. When the gun fired, Clayton took off, and Murphy was trying to hold onto his feet, but that didn’t last long. I would guess that we were only 200 m from the shore, and Clayton was already away on his own. I was swimming well and in the group that I wanted to be with, but when we turned at the first can, we got hit with a lot of chop, and it was difficult to see. I could tell that I was swimming side-by-side with Leon Griffen, but I couldn’t tell who the others were. By the time we turned toward shore, I had fallen back a bit, so I was about 15 seconds behind the group that had all the main contenders in it. I wasn’t concerned, and I had a good transition as we led out on the three-lap bike course.

I was able to catch up to the main group within the first 2 km, so I tried to make it up to the front of that group (which now had about nine guys) just in case anybody was going to make an attack. By the time we reached the turnaround, I could tell that it was only Clayton out in front, and he was looking really strong. As we were coming back into town at the end of our first lap, Matty White seemed to surge ahead a little bit, so I went with him thinking that everybody else was with me. As we made a few of the turns going into town, I saw that we had already created a gap of 20 seconds or so, so we tried to make the commitment to pull away from that group. Unfortunately, the group rallied together and hooked back onto us a few kilometers later.

Somewhere along the second lap, we were joined by the second group, which included Jason Shortis, Adam Holborow, and a few others. So other than Clayton who is out in front and appeared to be pulling away from us, we seem to have the entire men’s pro field stretched out in one long group. Throughout the rest of the three lap bike course, a few others tried to surge ahead, and the only one that looked like it was going to last was when Jan Rahula made a move in the third lap, but that also was in vain, because we caught him before we made it back to the transition area.

I was about the fourth one into T2, but we were all within seconds of each other. I normally have a quick transition, but I decided to put on socks, whereas Crowie and a few others chose not to, so I was about eighth place going out onto the run course. I couldn’t seem to find my run legs straight away, and I could see that a lot of the other guys were going flat out from the beginning. I learned my lesson and Busselton, so I decided to run my own race, and ease into the faster pace when my legs were ready. This paid off for me, and as soon as I was feeling stronger, I started to run down some of those that had shot out of the transition area. I first picked off Rahula, then a few of the other guys. Crowie took the lead from Clayton in the second lap, and Leon was next to overtake him. By the time I made it up to Clayton, he was running side-by-side with Peter Schokman, which represented third and fourth position.

It was early in the third lap, and I was feeling pretty good, so I just eased ahead and even though they tried to stay with me, I think the heat had taken its toll on Peter, and I think Clayton was feeling the effects from smashing it in the swim and bike. I could see at some of the turning points, that Crowie and Leon were uncatchable due to their lead, and the blistering pace they were setting. I was pretty confident that Peter and Clayton weren’t going to get a second wind, so I cruised home to take third. I was really happy with my result considering the quality of field that this race attracted. This race really came down to the run, and even though Crowie had taken a whirlwind trip to the US the weekend prior, he was still able to back it up with a 1:11:57 half marathon. Likewise, Leon ran a 1:13:21, and I clocked a 1:14:51 half marathon. So the three fastest runs of the day represented the top three positions of the race.

So now I’m back to Port Macquarie to continue my training for Ironman Australia, as well as doing the Australian Long Course Championship in Huskisson, NSW in two weeks. I’ll keep you posted with my results.

Well, it has been a  few weeks since Ironman Western Australia, and I guess I’ve been avoiding writing this race report. Physically, I had good preparation in the lead up to this race, and mentally I was feeling quite strong after some decent results in my last four half Ironman races (one first-place, and three second-place finishes). Unfortunately, I picked up a case of the flu about 2 1/2 weeks out from race day, just as I was returning from Shepparton.
It zapped all of my energy, so I wasn’t able to do any hard sessions. It’s hard to say whether that affected my race day, because some people believe that it forced me into some much-needed rest. Either way, in the week leading up to the race, I felt that I had my strength back, and I was feeling mentally tough for the challenge of defending my title. I had a lot more media commitments over in Busselton this year, due to my winning the event in 2008, but I took all of that in stride.
I was no longer under the radar…
There was a lot of hype in town that the race was going to come down to a run between Patrick Vernay and myself, but I also knew that Über cyclist, Jimmy Johnson was going to give the bike leg a crack. I knew that on race day, I had to be aware of who was going to go up there and work with Jimmy on the bike, and I suspected it was going to be my mate Adam Holborow.  But regardless of the talk around town, I knew that all of these theories were going to be thrown out, once we hit the water, because things rarely go the way of the “experts” predict.
Even though the event had more competitors than last year, there seem to be less of a buzz around the event. Even in the warm-up to the swim, it appeared that the media, and spectators, were giving us a lot more space. The conditions look perfect, and the water was flat as we started to swim. It started smoothly, but I soon swallowed a big mouthful of water, which upset my rhythm. I could see that two guys went off the front in the swim, and I was in the second pack of six. I was happy to stay in the back of that group, and let the others set the pace. The two leaders out front never seem to get more than 100 m ahead of us, so I wasn’t concerned, as it is a long day…
As many of you know, the swim goes straight out alongside the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere, then turns around the point and come straight back into the beach. What appeared to be dead flat conditions while we were sitting on the beach, was not the case as we made it out to the turning cans. The swell was quite strong, and I started feeling seasick just after we turned to come back to the beach. As we got closer into the shore, the swell flattened out, however, my belly was still feeling the effects of that mouthful of sea water I swallowed at the start.
Not much changed as we hit the shore, but as soon as I started to run on the sand, I could feel my stomach churning. When I got into the change tent, I spewed up all the water I had swallowed on the swim. Not a pretty sight, but I was glad to get it out of my system, and I felt a bit of relief at that moment. We got onto the bike, and we quickly chased down the two leaders. As predicted, Jimmy shot off the front, but nobody went with him. I had Patrick Vernay riding a few meters behind me, so I knew that if I stayed with him throughout the bike, he and I would be able to push each other through the run.
The ride was pretty uneventful, and I was feeling good. I didn’t think the pace was too difficult, and we always had Jimmy about 3 to 4 minutes ahead of us, but knowing that Jimmy had some issues with his Achilles, I felt it was safer to leave him on his own, and stay as close to Patrick as I could. There were about five or six guys that were riding along with me and Patrick, but it was mostly the two of us that were setting the pace, and the rest of the boys were just hanging off the back of us.
When we made it into T2, I was one of the first into the transition area, and I ran by Jimmy’s bike which was already racked. At that stage I did not know how much of a lead he had, but I made a quick transition and got out onto the run ahead of the rest of the guys in my group. I had only gone about a kilometer before I was joined by Matty White, and Patrick. I knew it was inevitable that they were going to join me, and I was hoping that we could settle into a nice rhythm to set up a good marathon. However, they had other plans, and the pace quickly grew, until I looked down at my Garmin watch, and saw that we were running at a three-minute/kilometer. That is way too fast for a marathon, but I tried to hang on for as long as I could.
Even though I felt strong on the ride, the nausea that I had just after the swim, was coming back to haunt me. At first, I only gave them a few meters, but then I really started feeling sick, and I had no strength. They pulled away from me pretty quickly, so I tried to ease into a pace that I was more comfortable with. Unfortunately, the pace that I was most comfortable with, was walking… and at this stage I only had 37 km to go. So things weren’t looking too good. I don’t think I need to write much more regarding my run/walk. I strolled the marathon in 4:07, where I was hoping to come in somewhere closer to 2:45-ish.
I was amazed with the encouragement that I was getting from the crowds, as well as the other age group competitors who could see I was struggling in the conditions.  So all-in-all I am happy that I finished the race, but still disappointed with my result.  I’ve taken a two week break, and am now training for Port of Tauranga Half Ironman in New Zealand on January 9th (Saturday race…).  I’ll keep you all posted with that as we get closer.

Well it’s my fourth race since my less-than-ideal performance at Roth.  In August I went into the Capricorn Half Ironman in Yeppoon Queensland ill-prepared, I surprised myself with a second place finish.  That was a good confidence booster for not having done any real training for the 5 weeks prior to the event.  I then went up to Port Douglas and won the Long Distance Triathlon up there for my second year in a row.

I came back from that race with some focus, and started to put in some good training sessions, which got me another second place finish in the Gold Coast Half Ironman on October 4^th.  I was a little disappointed that I let such a large gap form with Clayton Fettell on the Gold Coast, but he just put together the perfect race, with an awesome swim/bike combination.

I knew I was going to up against some good cyclist in the Scody Half Ironman here in Port Macquarie, so I had to be aware of the time gaps. So on race morning, I was feeling pretty good, and I was getting a lot of good feedback from the local crowd. I love racing, but racing in Port Macquarie gives me that added buzz.

I was figuring that Cam Watt and Boyd Conrick were going to be the early leaders out of the swim. But I knew with cyclists like Bryan Fuller, and Adam Holborow racing, it would be likely that their lead would get taken back in the bike. I just wanted to be in a position to keep pace with those boys. But as it turned out, Boyd didn’t have the swim I expected, and a relative newcomer named Jamani Francis came out of the water with just over a minute lead over my pack. I still felt that I was in a good position, because I had Joshua Rix, Adam, and Bryan Fuller in there with me, as well as the new young gun, Mitch Robbins and a few other boys.

I had a good transition, and I was hoping that I could keep with that group for the first few kilometers as we rolled through town. We had only gone about a kilometer into the ride, and Adam went off the front as we rolled through the center of town. Just as we started the slight rise up Clarence street, when Brian attacked. I was still struggling to find my legs after the swim, and I wasn’t able to go with him. By the time I reached the top of Clarence Street, I could see Adam and Brian were together a few hundred meters up the road.

I knew that they would be focused on trying to catch Cam and Jamani, and I was hoping that the group that I was riding with, we’re going to work with me in not letting the gap blowout to the race leaders. When we passed the boys on their way back from the first turnaround, I could see that they had opened up a gap of a few minutes. There were a few guys riding with me that weren’t willing to do any work, and maintaining the pace, so I had to drive the group for the majority of the race. Although I was happy to see Mitch Robbins up there in the front with me, and having a go.  Mitch, being a local Port Macquarian, and racing in his first major event in the open category was pretty cool to witness. We were both getting huge cheers from the crowds as we passed through the course.

I think we did a pretty good job of maintaining the pace, because by the time we made it into the transition area after the bike leg I was told that Brian and Adam were just under four minutes ahead of us on the run course. I knew that if I was going to have a good day, it would be my run that would make the difference in this race. I quickly went to work of trying to chase down the boys. With the new three lap run course, it was easy to see if I was carving any time into their lead. I saw them for the first time about three quarters of the way through the first lap, and I knew I had already ran some time into that four minute lead. By the time I completed the first lap, I had already run down Adam, and I had Brian about 45 seconds up the road from me.

I was running a little too hard, and I could feel the pace taking its toll on me, but the crowds were spurring me on, so I maintain my pace until I passed Brian to take the lead. As I passed him, I felt that he didn’t have enough left in the tank, to respond to my attack, so I surged ahead, and I immediately felt much more comfortable with my run. I was only halfway through the run leg, but I was able to relax a little bit, and focus on my turnover. I had a nice smooth rhythm and it felt great, so I was able to appreciate the crowds, and I think I even smiled a few times. On the three lap course, I could see that I was running away from the other boys, but I could see my good mate Mitch making his way through the field. Adam struggled a bit on the run, but once he found his rhythm he was able to hang in there for fifth place. Mitch ran his way into second, so it was incredible for Port Macquarie to have the winner, second place, and Adam rounding out the top five. I ended up posting the fastest run of the day with a 1:15:30, which was four minutes faster than the second fastest run of the day.

Well, it has been awhile since my last update… my race calendar has not been as intense as it was last season, but that is due to my squeezing in a few full Ironman distance events throughout the year.

My win at Ironman Western Australia last December, has had a lot more impact on my career than I had originally anticipated. Previously, I used to do rummage through the industry magazines, to see if there was any mention of my name, or to see if I showed up in any of the photos… Well, the last several months have been an eye-opening experience in terms of the media exposure that I’ve received since December.

Even in the lead up to Country Energy Ironman Australia Triathlon, I was invited to be one of the four professional triathletes to speak at the VIP Breakfast Function on Friday morning. The other three athletes however, were all past or current Hawaiian Ironman Champions, in Chrissie Wellington, Michellie Jones, and Tim DeBoom. I was honored to be invited, and to be listed with some of the legends in this sport.

Other than that, I had a few other media responsibilities, but tried my best to keep a low profile before the race. That can be a bit difficult when you’re racing in your hometown… even just stepping out for a coffee, took longer than expected with all the locals wishing me good luck for the race.

For any of you that have read some of the reports from this race, you will know that our weather was not ideal in the lead up to the race. Fortunately for me, I knew the course, and I was meant to taper anyway, but we had rain on and off throughout the week. This must’ve been frustrating for a lot of the visiting athletes, that were hoping to get familiar with the course during that time.

I felt well-rested on race morning, and other then having to slog through ankle deep mud on my way to the swim start, I was feeling quite good about the day. For the first time, Ironman Australia allowed the pros to start 35 minutes before the age groupers. I don’t think this had much impact on the men’s field, but I think the women’s race was a bit more honest.

In the swim, I anticipated that the usual group (Pete Jacobs, Cam Watt, Mathias Hecht) would pull away early, and I figured that Tim Deboom would be with them, since he has a strong swimming background. I stayed with the second group, and we made a few errors in navigating the course, so we ended up coming out of the water about three minutes back from the leaders.

Once out on the bike, I settled into a good rhythm. I was feeling strong, but I wasn’t interested and trying to catch the lead swimmers too early. I knew there was some good runners with DeBoom and Jacobs up the road from me, but I had 180 km to ease my way back to the leaders. And with a three-lap bike leg, you get to see the time gaps at each end of the course.

About halfway through the ride, I saw Cam Watt breakaway from the rest of the group, and he was having a crack at it. So before this race gets out of hand, I picked up the pace to bring myself back into the lead group, and then I would look into how far ahead Cam would be at that stage.

Just after the start of our third lap, I caught what was left of the leaders, and I could tell from the turnaround that Cam was another two minutes ahead of us. I made the decision not to do anything stupid, like trying to bridge the gap up to Cam, because I felt that the race was going to be coming down to the run, and I was now riding in the vicinity of Vernay, DeBoom, Hecht, Jacobs, as well as Simon Thompson (who is an unknown over this distance, but still a major concern…).

Fellow Port Macquarian professional triathlete Adam Holborrow came around me, and he was flying. He was powering along, and I felt that the pace may be a little too high, considering it was our final lap, and we still had the 42 km marathon ahead of us. I looked over my shoulder, to see how the others were handling this pace, and I could see that Adam and I had dropped the rest of the field and they were about 30 seconds back. I knew that Adam was focused on catching Cam, but I didn’t think that was the best move for my race, so I eased back and let him pursue to Cam on his own.

I gave my legs a little rest while I cruised along, and waited for the other is to join me. I maintained a decent pace throughout the rest of the lap, but every time I turned around I could see the strong runners still hanging off the back.

When we were about a kilometer from the transition area, I could hear the race announcer calling in Adam Holborrow, so he would’ve had a minute and a half on us going into the run. My buddy Nathan Stewart got off the bike just ahead of me, so we both entered the tent together. I made quick work of my transition, and I was the first to exit the change tent, and as soon as I came out, I saw Adam standing (well actually he was hunched over massaging his leg, and I knew he had cramped up) just outside the tent. I think he tried to run out with me down the chute, but it must’ve taken him a while to find his run legs.

I knew I still had Cam up the road from me, so I just try to find a good rhythm, and a comfortable pace. Within the first kilometer, I was joined by New Caledonian, Patrick Vernay, and I settled in to a four minute kilometer pace. Patrick was speaking to me, I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. He has a strong French accent, so I’m not sure if he was speaking to me in French, but either way, I didn’t know what he was saying.

We ran shoulder to shoulder for the first lap, and I could feel him put in a few surges, but nothing that was too difficult to match. After we’d come through for the start of our second lap, he started to pick up the pace, and my Garmin Forerunner displayed that we were doing 3:40/Km’s. I knew this was too fast, but I didn’t want to let him go, so I ran with him for another 3-4 km’s, but by the time we got to the turnaround at Settlement Point, I decided to let him go.

However, I think the elevated pace had taken its toll on me, and I quickly backed off to doing 4:10/Km’s, and even that felt tough. As I approached the halfway of the marathon, I felt I was in a bad patch, and I was just hoping I could get through it as quickly as possible. I could see at the turnaround that Pete Jacobs and Jimmy Johnson were not too far behind, and they look to be running well. The crowd support was incredible, but it wasn’t enough to lift me from the patch I was going through. On the second half of my second lap, I felt Jacobs coming up on me, and rather than try to run with him, I decided to run my own race. He seemed to be focused on catching Patrick, but with 15 km to go, I felt that it was not the right move to try to surge again with Jacobs. Also I was hoping, that if I kept a steady pace, I would be able to catch a tiring Vernay and Jacobs in the final stretch of the race.

But I have to hand it to Patrick and Pete, because on the day they had the stuff, and Patrick walked away with his third consecutive Ironman Australia victory, with Pete taking out second. I finished third, another two minutes and 40 seconds back from Jacobs, but I was really happy with the way I raced. I could have easily sat back on the bike, and let the others set the pace, but I was out there having a go, and I took it to Patrick for the first half of the run, and he is one of the best in the sport.

I have to acknowledge the support I got from “ Team Berkel ‘09” which was the mastermind of my mate, Benjamin “Woodsy” Woods. Woodsy took charge of the project, which involved contacting many of my sponsors to support a fund-raising activity for another mate of mine, Brad Foster.

Woodsy got the support from my clothing sponsor, Scody, to supply 100 singlets, which he sold through a support group on Facebook, to friends and acquaintances that were coming to spectate on the day. Also, Cannondale donated some clothing, gloves, socks, and other items, which were sold and auctioned on the day, to the supporters. And lastly, PowerBar came through with those inflatable noisemakers, which were a huge hit amongst the athletes.

“Team Berkel” set up camp at the top of Windmill Hill, so they were able to see us on each lap of the bike, and each lap of the run. I know these guys were supporting all the competitors, including the other pros racing against me, but it was always the highlight of every lap for me to come up over that hill, and listened to the alcohol-induced crowd go crazy.

I think every athlete will go home with some fond memories of these “fool’s on the Hill”, but the best part is that we were able to raise over $4000 for my mate Brad Foster, who was attempting to raise $140,600 for the K.I.D.S Foundation. He didn’t reach his goal, but we were glad to be part of it, and he’s coming back next year to do it again, and reach his fund raising objective. And I’m sure we will be back to do our part…

My next race will be the Busselton Half Ironman on May 2. I haven’t done a lot of short course training yet, but it will be good to get back into doing some shorter sessions in preparation for some races I’m doing in North America. I’ll keep you posted as the season unfolds.

1 Patrick VERNAY 8:24:53
2 Pete JACOBS 8:29:03
3 Tim BERKEL 8:31:43
4 Jimmy JOHNSEN 8:33:43
5 Maik TWELSIEK 8:34:10
6 Timothy DEBOOM 8:39:47
7 Simon THOMPSON 8:42:21
9 Matt WHITE 8:50:59
10 Chris DMITRIEFF 8:53:06