Kiwis Overcome Darkness and Dogs in Triathlons Over the Weekend
The weekend’s racing was highlighted by podium finishes for Simone Ackerman and Cameron Brown while James Elvery finished a creditable fourth in their respective triathlon events on Sunday evening NZT, with Ackermann and Elvery having to cope with darkness and wild dogs in their day's work in the Philippines.
Ackerman and Elvery were both racing at the ITU Asian Cup event at Subic Bay in the Philippines while Brown was racing at the Port McQuarrie 70.3 event in Australia where he overcame mechanical issues to match Ackermann in finishing third.
The third place finish is an especially pleasing one for 21 year old Ackermann (Whangarei) as she continues to improve on the world stage, backing up from her 39th place finish at the Mooloolaba ITU World Cup in late March.
For Elvery also it is a steady progression in his form this year and saw the Aucklander pick up vital ranking points in Olympic qualifying year.
“The standard of competition in these events is usually pretty easy, but with everyone battling for points this year it was actually quite a decent field with three top Russians Turbaevsky, Malyshev and Parienko, Reto Hug from Switzerland, and a bunch of other guys capable of racing well.
“This race is known for being one of attrition in the stinking hot humid conditions. These lower level ITU races can also throw up a few surprises, traps for ‘young players'. Here we had to ride 15km in the pitch dark at 4.30am to get to the swim start and then watch out for a couple of packs of wild dogs wandering on and off the course.
“I just did all the little things right and stayed out of trouble to get a good result. I swam well near the front as I was aware the three Russians might try and breakaway early. I rode over the hilly bike course well positioned near the front and looked after myself for the run, drinking a full two bottles of Replace on the bike. Once on to the run I felt pretty good and moved into the lead group of about ten runners.
“At 6km three time Olympian Reto Hug put in a good surge and broke away with Parienko from Russia and 2009 U23 World Champ Franz Loeschke from Germany. I increased my pace and was holding them at about 20 seconds on my own for the next lap. I was worried about having a meltdown in the heat so played it safe and didn't push really hard until about 800m to go. I got up to within 20m of the lead trio but they then started sprinting for the line and got away again. I finished in 4th feeling pretty fresh which is good because I have a hard race next weekend in Mexico, the Monterrey World Cup.”
Brown meanwhile had to cope with a puncture on his way to third place at the Port McQuarrie 70.3 (half ironman) event.
“Out of the swim I was with the main contenders Joe Gambles and Leon Griffen of Australia, we were 1:15 down out of the 2km swim but quickly made up that lost time taking the lead at around the 35km mark on a hilly and windy bike course.
“I was feeling good but at the 75km mark I punctured and found myself 4 to 5 minutes down by the time we got back to transition, I managed to just catch up to the 2nd group coming off the bike and ran out of T2 in 8th place.
“I thought there was no way I would be on the podium after my mishap as I didn't feel like my running legs were ready to put in a good run spilt but as every kilometre passed I felt a little better and started picking of the guys in front one by one. With 3km to go I finally managed to pass Christian Kemp and make the podium which was great considering the time I lost on the bike.”
Caption: Cameron Brown placed third at Port McQuarrie 70.3
Image: courtesy of Cameron Brown