Shepparton 70.3 has been run and won by Leon Griffin, amidst controversy Leon was by far the dominant athlete and deserved every bit of his victory. For me I was extremely happy to cross the line in 4th and later find out I had been moved to 3rd position after Ollie Whistler was disqualified from the race.  Regardless of the final position I was satisfied I had performed well and it was great to get a solid hit out before my main goal of the last couple of months, Busselton Ironman.

(ed. Luke's splits Swim: 24:51, Ride: 2:18:26, Run: 1:19:06)

After a disappointing start to the season in Yeppon it was great to put the injury woes behind me and get ‘some runs on the board’ so to speak. I knew I was fit leading into this race and was excited to test my training from the last few months after starting with coach Kristian Mannietta. It has been a positive start and I have already seen significant change to several aspects of my ‘game’ since starting with Kristian.

After a solid swim warm-up and slight delay on the start line, we were finally off. I was keen to start hard but also careful not to sink myself too far into the red at the start of the swim, which I have done in the past for fear of being dropped. I was patient over the first couple of hundred metres settling into the middle of the back and getting a draft off the swimmers beside and in front of me. I placed myself in the top six guys for the first 500m or so and was working hard to maintain good rhythm, maintain pace yet stay under control. At 500m White, Whistler, Baillie and Ambrose got a gap on us. I kept pushing and eventually moved to back of the pack of six that I was left swimming with and set about just trying to hang on for the remainder of the swim, which has traditionally been a weakness in my game. I was happy to exit with the chase pack in a time of 24:51

I started the bike leg with a group of 7 including Griffin, Berkel, Rix, Rehula, Wall, Frankish and myself. We were quickly strung out as Griffin was out of sight within seconds and not long after Berkel was putting down the hammer and slowed pulled away. I settled into my rhythm and by the 20km mark was on my own just keeping Frankish ahead of me in sight. After 45km White, Bailie and Whistler had a significant gap and Griffin had all but caught them before the trio turned early on the bike course following the lead car. Griffin then had his work cut out to try and bridge across again. Berkel was a minute or so down on Griffin, Frankish back a little further and myself about 90sec back. My power dwindled in the last 20-30km of the bike course and I lost a chunk of time to Frankish and a group containing Shortis, Rix and Wall caught me about a km from T2.

Heading out onto the run course we were informed that Berkel and White had pulled out, Griffin was 9 minutes up the road and Whistler, Frankish and Bailie were running close together a ways back. At this stage I was still unaware of any of the issues that had unfolded, included the time penalties. I set about trying to catch the trio in front of me and quickly got a gap on Shortis, Rix and Wall. I wasn’t able to find my usual run speed and felt a little sluggish. I was slowly windling away the time gap to the three in front. At the last turn around I thought my chances of bridging across were all but gone as Whistler and Frankish still had 3 and 2 minutes respectively on me and Bailie about 1min. Shortis was also creeping up behind me and I knew I had to give everything to just hold onto 5th let alone gain a position. I continued to push and finally caught Bailie with about 200m to go crossing the line in 4th just in front of Bailie and Shortis.

I was content with my efforts on finishing and know there is still a lot of improvement needed in my performance before Busselton if I am to reach my expectations. Obviously there is little to be gained fitness wise in that time, but getting my first race for season out of the way is a good way to remind my body of race intensity. I was happy to finish 4th amongst the field that toed the line, despite knowing there was a few under injury clouds and tired from racing the Northern Hemisphere summer.

An hour or two after the race I was informed that I was now promoted to third and a podium finish, still oblivious to the events that had unfolded. Ollie Whistler had been disqualified as a result receiving two penalties. I have since read and heard different versions of the events that unfolded. Either way it was not the most rewarding way to finish on the podium.

All efforts over the next couple of days for me will go into recovering and getting the body right to get some good training in at the end of this week, before the Ironman taper begins. Again I am thankful for the unbelievable support I receive from my wife Tarryn and son Oscar. I am grateful for the work being put in behind the scenes from new coach Kristian and also Dan from DTR sports management. I am lucky to have access to some great products through the support of my terrific sponsors. I gave my new Champion System kit its first proper workout yesterday and it was ridiculously comfortable (a close second to the birthday suite:). My Trek Speed Concept was exceptional as always and wouldn’t run as smoothly without the work put in by Cecil Walker Cycles. I have changed from racing in Saucony Fast Twitch to Kinvara and these shoes where light, comfortable and I didn’t notice them so that’s all you can ask for. A big thanks also to Winners Bars, Ryders Eyewear and hopefully you’re reading this report on my website bought to you by Nashypix!!

See you Busso!!