Tim Berkel

Well, Matty and I began our journey for New Hampshire on Friday morning. For the past two years, I’ve been traveling on my own, whilst staying in North America. It’s great to have Matty as a training partner, but also as a travel partner.

We had heard that the weather forecast was not looking very good for the weekend, but on Saturday we didn’t get the rain they were expecting. It was actually really hot, and I was looking forward to that as I like racing in the heat.

But when Sunday morning rolled around, we got the bad weather they were expecting. There was a wave start, so we didn’t have to contend with any age grouper’s trying to swim over top of us. The professional field wasn’t huge, but there were several really good names to look out for. I came out of the water in eighth place, in 25:20. Matty was with me as well as two other guys, and one guy was about 30 seconds ahead of us.

This was the first year they had the Mooseman 70.3, so all of us professional were in the same boat in terms of knowing the course. The bike course was tough, and there were a lot of hills. The hills themselves were not all that difficult but it was raining the entire time which made the descents pretty hairy. It was cool weather, and with all the rain, I was freezing. I’ve never been that cold during a race before, and I thought I was going to die.

One of the guys that came out of the water with us, was the eventual winner Maksym Kriat (from the Ukraine). He took off early in the bike, and we lost sight of him. Another American that came out of the water with me was Tyler Butterfield, and he rode along with Matty and I throughout the bike leg. We were going along at a really good pace, and about two thirds of the way through the bike leg, we could see that we are closing in on Kriat. He must have spotted us, because he really kicked up the pace, and ended up coming in nearly 5 minutes ahead of us at T2.

I typically have a good transition at T2, however I struggled getting my socks on, and Tyler and Matty got a bit of a jump on me. The boys were holding a really good pace in the early part of the run, and Matty started to pull away from Tyler. After my deficit that I had created in the early part of the run, I started to close in on Tyler. Once the numbness had subsided a little bit, I started feeling my legs again, as I overtook Tyler. Not long after overtaking him I picked up Tim O’Donnell, who I thought was going to be the race favourite.

Matty was setting a blistering pace through the middle portion of the run, but I was starting to make up some ground on him. At one stage he had a 40 second lead on me, but I was able to get within 7 seconds of him as he crossed the line to take third place. I was happy to take fourth, in my first hit out in North America.

Matty clocked the fastest run of the day in 1:15:22, and I was the second fastest only 2 seconds slower. Not a bad result for the two of us considering the conditions we were racing in.

Well, Sunday afternoon we took off to head down to Boston. We didn’t have to fly back to Denver until Monday afternoon, so we were looking to get into some mischief. We only have a few days back home, then we will be heading off later in the week to go to Boise Idaho to do the 70.3 there next Saturday. I will keep you posted…

Cheers,

Tim

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.