Tim Berkel

Well I’m about to head off to the US for six months, so I wanted to get this report out before I take off. Last weekend I raced the Busselton Half Ironman. I flew out of Port Macquarie on Thursday morning, and met up with my training partner, and mate, Mitch Robbins in Sydney, Then we both flew across to Perth.

This was going to be my first race after Ironman Australia, so I wasn’t putting a lot of expectations on myself. I was mainly using this race as an indicator to see how well my body has recovered, and how my post ironman training has been going. I’ve been pretty exhausted lately, but I’ve been doing the training. I knew there were going to be some good athletes at this race, like Luke McKenzie, Courtney Ogden, Tim Reed, and my mate Mitch, who has been killing me and training.

When we arrived in Busselton, we were looked after really well by Brian, and Hayley. Even though this was only a Half Ironman event, it had the feel of a full Ironman. They had a press conference that they invited me to, which was held at The Goose. Mitch Anderson wasn’t racing, but he was on hand to be the MC at the press conference. It was good fun, and we were stirring each other.

On race morning I was feeling pretty good, and I felt comfortable in the water during my warm-up swim. As expected, Luke McKenzie, and Paul Matthews edged away from us, early in the swim, but they didn’t make as much ground as I thought they would. Once we settled into a rhythm, I was sitting on the feet of Mitch Robbins, and when we came up on the beach, I noticed we had Courtney, and Guy Crawford with us.

I’m not sure what happened to Courtney, but once we got out on the bike, he wasn’t with us.The course was similar to the full Ironman course that they use, with just one section of it missing. So in the two lap bike leg, we were able to see how our time gap was to Luke, and Paul. Luke was flying, and I could see he was pulling away from us. Paul looked like he was about two minutes behind Luke, but we were slowly gaining on him. Just over halfway through the bike leg, Courtney finally caught up to me. Not only did he catch the group that I was riding with, but he flew around the outside, and set a good pace.

Ten minutes after Courtney caught up to me, we came upon Paul Matthews, so there was only Luke up the road, but I was guessing that his lead was over five minutes. With less than 10 km remaining on the bike, Mitch got pinged for drafting by the technical official that had been watching us the entire day. I could sense he was frustrated, and knowing that he had to serve a time penalty, he took off pretty hard, and nobody tried to stay with him.

When we arrived back into T2, I heard somebody say that Luke had over five minutes on us, so we all pretty much came out of the transition together to start the run. Paul, Guy Crawford, and Tim Reed were all with me, and Tim seemed to be matching me stride for stride. For the first quarter of the run we were all together, but then Tim and I dropped Paul and Guy as we are returning back from our first lap.

I tried to take a few surges to drop Tim, but nothing was working. He tried to surge ahead a few times as well, but we were pretty evenly matched on the day. As we got into the closing portion of the run, we knew that Luke had the race won, and it was going to be a battle between Tim and me for second place. In the final kilometer, we were both jockeying for position, to try to get the inside track coming into the finish chute. In retrospect, it was quite funny the way we were shifting across the course, to get a better line on the finish. But Tim was more stubborn than me, and he held that inside position. As soon as we turned into the straight section of the finish chute, he put a big surge on, for a moment I considered challenging him, but my legs were dead. He took second place, and I came in 2 seconds behind him for third. I clocked the fastest run of the day, so I was stoked to get the extra prime to add to the prize money.

All in all, I was happy with my race, and I was happy to see my form considering how rundown I have felt over the past three weeks. Next week will occupy my time traveling, and getting situated in Boulder Colorado. Then I’ll still have another 2 1/2 weeks before my first North American 70.3 event. I’ll keep you posted, and check my website for any updates.

Yesterday was the Urban Hotel Group Ironman Australia here in Port Macquarie. For those of you who were not following the lead up to this race, there were a few of the top competitors that withdrew over the last few weeks. The race lost Leon Griffin, Mitch Anderson, and Pete Jacobs (who was last year’s second-place finisher).

While losing some of these top competitors, there was still Patrick Vernay, Scott Neyedli, Olivier Marceau, and Jason Shortis as well as a few others that could upset the mix. I didn’t have the best preparation, as I came down with The Flu about 3 1/2 weeks out from the race. I got myself on some antibiotics, which was great for the Flu, however, it zapped all my energy, and effected my guts in a bad way, but won’t go into those details…

It was frustrating to not have the energy to do the big blocks of training that I needed for the race, but I needed to let the antibiotics take their course. Once I felt that I was over the infection, I got out of town, and headed up to Alstonville to do some training with the boys up there. I stayed at Clayton Fettell’s place, and we got some really good training in. I really like training up in that area, because we are able to push each other in our training sessions, and the roads are better, with a lot less traffic.

I stayed away from town until Monday, which only had me dealing with the media frenzy for four or five days, which was a good thing. After coming in third at Ironman Australia last year, and considering that last year’s second-place finisher, Pete Jacobs, had withdrawn due to a broken collarbone, there was a lot of local media that were making this a showdown between Patrick and me.

Patrick is strong, and he has the experience, but I knew there was a lot of other guys in this field that were capable of winning this race over Patrick or me. I had several media commitments throughout the week, and all of the questions were geared towards how I would race against Patrick, or how I would go compared to last year…

I tried not to get too caught up in the focus on Patrick, and tried to focus on keeping my head clear, so I could race the race, as it unfolded.

The Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, was doing his first Ironman event, and that took almost all of the media attention away from us professionals. I’ve never seen so many cameras, or reporters covering an event, and fortunately for us, they weren’t in our face while we were preparing ourselves for the race.

The race start was going to be slightly different from last year, so the race organisers were going with a mass start.  Also, in the pre-race briefing, we were told there would be a Canon firing to signify the start of the race.  However, once they had positioned us to form a floating start line, we all began to drift forword, not wanting anyone to have any advantage over the rest of us. We were all jockeying for positions, when someone on the shoreline sounded one of those “air horns”. I saw a few guys make the jump, and suddenly there was thrashing water all around me. I started swimming with the rest of them, but could faintly hear the announcer on the sideline, trying to stop us and call us back to the start line. I could see that no one around me was willing to stop, so I wasn’t going to be the only idiot to swim back. After about another 5 to 10 seconds, they decided to ignore our false start, and the cannon went off. It was a bit unnerving to have a start like that, but I was trying to find a quick rhythm.

Several of the faster age groupers made it quickly up to the lead pack of professionals, and I could see on the one side of me a few swim around the outside to move ahead of me.  we were moving along at a pretty good pace, and as we came around to start our second, I slowly started drifting back out of the draft zone coming off the swimmer in front of me. I tried to get back up to him, but eventually gave up, and swam the second lap on my own, with about seven or eight guys off my feet.  A little frustrated,  I led the second group out of the water, and made a quick transition to get to my bike. I needed to find out who the guys were that were out ahead of me, and I would only know that once I got the Pro bike racks.  Unfortunately for me, that group included Vernay, Olivier, Paul Ambrose, and Scott Neyedli. I led the second group out of the water, but we were already one minute 30 seconds down from the first pack.

Once I got out on the bike, I try to settle in to a good rhythm, and most of the groups that came through the transition area with me were all hanging off the back. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to see what the time gap was, until I reached the turnaround at the southern end of the course. I felt we were holding a pretty good pace throughout the southbound leg, but when we pass the leaders on the Ghost Road, I knew they were putting some more time into us.

When I saw the pack was being driven by Olivier Marceau, I was concerned because I know how good of a cyclist he can be. I tried to get the pace increased, but some of the other guys I was riding with didn’t seem to have the legs on the day. So it was frustrating to see the leaders continue to pull away from us at each of the turnaround points.

By the time we reached T2, I think that group had 6 1/2 minutes on us. I had a quick transition, and set out on a pace to run them down. Just after I finished my first lap, I was able to overtake Olivier Marceau. Then halfway through my second lap I overtook Paul Ambrose. And on the latter part of that second lap, I was able to catch Adrian Cominotto along the break wall, but I also was starting to feel the effects of the pace that I had been holding.

Very quickly, I had a feeling of sluggishness come over me, and as it passed through the carpark at Town Beach, I was dreading the hills that were ahead of me. Just as I was hitting the first big climb up Windmill Hill, I had Matty White overtake me. Up until that point, he had pretty much been holding pace with me, but running about 150 m behind me. So I felt a bit demoralized as I realized that the sluggishness I was feeling in my head, had passed on to my legs, because Matty flew by me, and I soon walked part of the way up the hill.

I got some inspiration from the Team Berkel supporters that were camped out at the top of Windmill Hill, so I was able to get into a decent rhythm again coming back in through town and all the way out to Settlement Point. I was feeling quite crook as I was approaching that turnaround point, and I ended up throwing up In a Portaloo (Toilet). It must have been while I was sitting on that fiberglass thrown, that Paul Ambrose overtook me again. But with my body back on track I was able to finish my third lap, but unfortunately I was not able to make up ground on any of the leaders ahead of me, so I ended up finishing seventh on the day.

Not one of my better outings, and I’m still a little disappointed that I wasn’t able to stay with the lead swimmers back in the earlier stages of the race. But it’s all a good reminder to me that I need to stay focused at all times. I would have loved for this to come down to a running race with Patrick, Scott, Courtney, Matty and me. It would have been interesting…

But it’s no longer time to dwell on the past, and put all my focus and training into racing the Half Ironman in Busselton in early May. After that race I will be heading to the USA for six months of racing in the northern hemisphere. Looking forward to that, but I will keep you all posted on my website, and twitter.

Cheers for now,

Tim

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