Maiden Win in Noosa

What a weekend!! Noosa Multi Sports Festival is the biggest triathlon in Australia and if you have been fortunate enough to be a part of the festivities, it is easy to understand why so many people keep coming back. The five days incorporates fun and social events and a huge expo and also includes events that showcase some of Australia’s (and the worlds) best talent. After the 1000m swim, crit race and the Noosa Bolt, Sunday rolled around quite quickly and it was now the triathlete’s turn.

Elite race start was 6.15am, which meant for a very early wake up. I had been coming down with a little sickness during the week, although I was fortunate enough to slowly be feeling better while poor Josh just got worse! It has been a huge year for me so I was feeling tired and not my energetic self. In the swim I found myself with a French girl who had locked herself onto my hip, with a few other girls getting away only metres from my fingertips. Open water swimming skills is number one on my priority list for 2013!! As soon as I exited the water I knew that I had work to do on the bike. I felt quietly confident after some promising 40km time trials, and my increasing strength on the bike during 2012. Felicity Sheedy-Ryan and I picked up and passed quite a number of girls during the first half of the bike leg. There was a little rain coming down during the 40km, so I took caution around the roundabouts coming back into town. Fliss and I came into transition 2 with Lisa Marangon and also Mel Rollinson who had caught us in the last couple of kilometres.

Running out of transition I wasn’t too confident although within a few hundred metres I felt strong and ready to run! I kicked away from the other girls and did not look back. Liz Blatchford and Caroline Steffan had a significant gap although I never thought of giving up and ran fully determined to catch the girls. Liz and Caroline were running side by side and they were in my sights before the turnaround. When I past the ladies, I really tried to keep the pressure on and the pace high. I have never felt so good in the final stages of my run and I truly think the crowd support had something to do with it. To come away with the Noosa title this year is very special and truly an honour. I could not think of a better way to be finishing 2012. Congratulations to Felicity Sheedy-Ryan who ran into second and to Liz Blatchford who rounded out the podium.

Sunday night did not disappoint and everyone seemed to be having a very good time ;) Thank you very much to USM Events for the great weekend and congratulations to the thousands of athletes who also participated in the fantastic event. Next stop for me is Hamilton Island Triathlon. I have been to the event the past two years and it is another one of those "must do" weekends which I'm very much looking forward to. Very relaxed atmosphere, although you can’t relax too much as there's quite a brutal 20km ride! Tune back in for a little report and some cool pictures.

Thanks for reading,
Ash