UltraHumps journey to the Cameron Brown Award includes the Kinloch Triathlon with the Erin Baker Category.
Hello blog followers
Welcome to this edition of my journey to the Cameron Brown Award which is event # 3 of 5, having also completed the 3 events of the IronMaori / Port of Tauranga Legend Series (all in the same season). So how did the Erin Baker Kinloch Triathlon go?
I had trained to Coach Ray’s training plan all week, which was a mixture of full time training at the start of the week and the later part of the week became the taper period before the event. Normally Coach Ray plans the week complete before events as a taper, but I guess as this was an Olympic distance triathlon event he wasn’t going to let me off lightly. I arrived in Taupo early evening Friday from Wellington after swinging by Palmerston North as my mother had come to visit, so it was a matter of matching her airport timings and then letting her know we were heading to Taupo for an event. She always loves coming to my events although I know at her age it takes it out of her, and the heat zaps her as well, but I enjoy having her on location supporting me, even though I worry about her when on the course.
Saturday afternoon we headed to Kinloch for registration and bike racking, then rested that evening back at the Army Leave Centre in Acacia Bay, Taupo for an early start on Sunday morning. The Kinloch Triathlon has a few events for the day, with the main 3 events being the Erin Baker Award, followed by the Sprint Triathlon, followed by a youth event. So we were first up for our 1.5 km swim, 40 km cycle, followed by a 10 km run, with Transition opening at 0545 hours. I was one of the first there, so I laid all my gear out in sequence before putting on my swim wetsuit. Once I was ready with my bag handed in, I spent time with my Mum whilst the other athletes prepared themselves then headed to the water for a warm up at the lake’s edge before the Race Brief.
The starter went off a few minutes after the 0650 hours start time and we were off. Coach Ray’s race plan was “go hard”, as it was a shorter distance course to what I normally compete in. Unfortunately about New Years I had just got over a 100 day cough which felt like I had it for double that period and had picked up a cold the previous weekend. To my surprise, I was still feeling the effects once in the water so I took my time during the swim. Coach Ray would have advised “go hard”, but also would advise “pace yourself if a problem”. I was well back in the field coming out of the swim, but I wasn’t too worried as I thought I’d make it up in the bike and run.
Well after Transition # 1 that didn’t exactly go to plan on the bike. The first few kilometres were around Kinloch and I completely missed a turn as it was probably the one intersection (roundabout) that didn’t have a Marshall guiding athletes. So as I headed up the road a Marshall from further up the road ran towards me and told me to turn around and go back (he was probably rolling his eyes back in his head as will Coach Ray). So I headed back to where I knew the turn was, but went further to stay on the course in case another athlete saw me and thought I was cheating, so I guess I gave myself an extra couple of kilometres overall for punishment (it is the athlete’s responsibility to know the course). Bugger it, I thought, I’ll pick the pace up to make up time. Then my chain come off, so that was extra punishment for myself. Once on my way I got through the first lap and spotted a road kill possum near the turn around point, so that was my marker on the second lap which seemed to go a lot faster than the first lap…funny that!
When I got off the bike I was into the run so I picked up the pace to make the most of it. The run was 4 laps and I knew it was going to be a hot day. I was pleased how the run went for me, even lapping someone and chasing down others. Overall I had an average time of 3 hours 13 minutes for the 1.5 km swim, 40 km cycle and 10 km run. It is definitely not a flat course, but it is a great event.
Stay tuned team as I head to the 4th event for the Cameron Brown Award being the Swim Across Lake Taupo in two weeks time (23 February 2019).
Regards John Humphries (aka UltraHumps).
Humps will be writing weekly as he continues his journey raising funds for the Fallen Hero’s Trust
Read Humps’ article from last week here:
And all his previous articles are stored here: