Eltham Tri sent a very strong contingent to Shepparton this year with 19 members out racing in near perfect conditions.  Some lightning times were recorded on the day and some PBs set which show significant improvements in the group.  Nine "top ten" Category placings tells a great story and bears testament to a lot of hard training this winter. Well done and congratulations to all!

Kate Murphy on her way to 1st place

A View from the front of the race with Paul Attard ....

With the weather forecast looking pretty ordinary for the weekend it was going to be a different race to what we are used to in Shepparton. Usually the temperature is in the high 30’s and even 40’s! The prediction during the week was for lots of rain and about 20c temperature. Luckily for us racing in Shep we were blessed with the best racing conditions I have ever raced in! It was a wetsuit swim, with no wind or rain all day and only small amounts of sun. The temperature did get up about 25 during the day but that was after I had finished.

The swim started fast reasonably quick and I found myself with the leaders for the first part of the race and then slowly fell off the pack to be about 1:40 down on the main guys out of the water. This was not a bad position for me but I knew I had to ride pretty solid as I was on my own and there was a group of 5-6 guys together up ahead.

I felt pretty good on the bike and found that I was managing to hold a pretty good pace. I gained a few places and as it turned out I only lost about 20 seconds to the main guys ahead of me, so they had a 2 minute head start on the run course.

I was feeling pretty good on the run but a little sore from the ride. After the first k I was told I was 5^th place as the race leader had pulled out which left 4 guys ahead of but I could only see two of them. I caught the guy just in front of me pretty quick and then I was in 4^th about 90 seconds down on Ollie in 3^rd. With plenty of encouragement from the crowd and especially Deanne I lifted a little and with 3k to go I finally caught Ollie. From there it was a big effort to keep the pace high enough s he couldn’t go with me managed to put a minute into him and come across the line in 3^rd place in3.52:35.

This has been my fastest race over this distance and it’s been very encouraging considering 8 weeks ago I wasn’t running and though I may not race this year at all. It’s great to see what a difference a good race can have on your mind. I can’t wait to race the Canberra Half Ironman in a month’s time!

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