Queensland Sprint Championships

Ready to go on race morning!!

As part of my training I was racing in the Queensland Sprint Championships today. I’m building up to race in the open category in Raby Bay next week so I was hoping to take a little bit of confidence from this race. I’m nervous about racing next weekend. In all likelihood I’ll struggle to make the main pack in the swim next weekend so a good race was needed.

Multinational Club Contingent!

The course in Redcliffe for the Queensland Sprint Championships is a real mixed bag. A sea swim followed by five laps of a tight and twisty bike course, finishing with a fast flat run course out and back along Sutton’s beach seafront.

Race Morning Dawned Bright ... Pity it Didn't last!!

You can see the storm out at sea that soon engulfed the race course. As I made my way down to the swim start I was worrying about sighting the markers as I was wearing tinted goggles. I shouldn’t have worried because I had a terrible start to the swim. I had plenty of feet to follow from that point on. Thankfully I managed to get a bit of a surge going towards the end and exited somewhere in the top fifteen.

Running up the beach I was greeted by the enthusiastic announcer welcoming ‘Taddy Cronin’ all the way from ‘IIIIRRRrrreland’. Fantastic … Taddy … I’ll add that to the other names I’ve been called in the past, Trevor, Tyrone, Thomas and my favourite Tadj (true story). I didn’t like the bike course full stop. It was raining at this point and having to negotiate four roundabouts and two u-turns per lap just left me feeling uneasy.

Coming in off the bike feeling relieved!!

In to t2 and the announcer once again welcomed ‘Taddy Cronin’ back into transition. Apparently I looked like I was ‘full of beans’ heading out on the run … ‘magic beans’ came the shout from a spectator. I think it was a leprechaun reference but I didn’t stop to find out.

For the first time this year I felt pretty good running off the bike. I knew I was in the top six overall and felt good. I pushed all the way and managed to catch one chap just before the end. As I mentioned in a previous post I was trying to keep my cadence consistent and high. I probably could have caught another lad had I sprinted the final 60 meters or so but for some reason I didn’t. Not like me … Probably because I was pretty spent at that point.

I was happy with my race crossing the line. Granted I had a poor enough swim but the bike went OK and I felt like I ran well off the bike. Next it’s on to Raby Bay to race the final Gatorade Series race here in Queensland. Should be a cracker and I might even let Mr Cervelo have race wheels for the day.

As always thanks to my gorgeous girl Sharon for all her support and all the pictures you see on this post.

Sporting my medal for 2nd in my Age Group. Smile !!!