The second race of the Gatorade series took us to Elwood. A few days prior I was keenly watching the weather as there was reports of bad weather on the horizon. Friday afternoon reports confirmed this and event organisers cancelled the swim leg and changed it to a run.
Unfortunately somebody believed it a good idea to reinstate the run on Saturday afternoon despite the forecast not really changing. This left many people that had already arrived in town, without their swim gear and causing lots of frustration and anger.
Come race morning it was terrible. We arrived and it was clear the wrong decision had been made. There was a briefing and event organisers gave the option of swimming, or waiting at the swim exit until your wave had finished and stating at the run. My wave started 47 minutes after the elite race so I watched and evaluated. What followed was not encouraging.
I stood there with Nat as we watched boat load after boat load of swimmers being pulled from the water. They actually had to bring in a third rescue craft. It was unfortunate to watch and made my decision rather easy. As shameful as it was, I opted to avoid the conditions and would commence my race from the run.
I was excited at the idea of being a little fresher going into T1 and having a good crack at the bike and run. This bike leg would eventually be a lot kinder than the previous race. Kinder to the degree of nearly 30 minutes.
I came into the last leg fresh and made good ground passing others. With around 2 km to go I steadied and sat on the heels of another competitor. He paced for a while and then I pushed for a little. You could definitely feel mutual respect was there as we urged each other along nearing the finish. We came to a point in the course and the marshals told us were 300 m from the finish. The pace picked up as we looked for a little more to finish off. We both put the foot down and put on a good show as we sprinted the last few hundred metres.
This is the reason I love the sport. The respect, emotions and connections you give the sport and each other make every pain from training and race, worth it.
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