Jamie Whyte gives a personal account of the Busselton 70.3 half ironman in Western Australia, where he finished fifth.
The course is dead flat and is known for being extremely fast. This sort of course suits the fast runners and there was a good bunch of top Australians racing who are renowned for their running ability amongst the field of 20 pro men.
However, some of them raced last weekend at Port Macquarie so despite the course suiting them, there was an opportunity to catch them out on tired legs.
We all exited the water together. It was a massive group with just two guys up the road. The big bunch was moving pretty slowly, so after 10km it was time to test their legs out. I pinned it on the front several times to try and break the pack up, but with the bike course being fast and flat it was very hard to create any gaps.
Finally with about 15km to go I hit it hard on the front through an aid station and finally got away with familiar company in Australian Josh Rix, who I rode with off the front for most of Challenge Wanaka.
Entering T2 with the second fastest bike split I had moved up to third (a good start for racing on the new Cervelo P4!) but the breakaway was too late in the ride to really distance ourselves from the chasing pack of runners.
On the first lap of three, I was over taken by a fast moving group of Australian including Tim Berkal (eventual winner), Matty White, Tim Reed, David Dellow and Leon Griffen, which meant I was back in eighth and off the podium.
I stuck at it and overhauled the initial leader off the bike, Guy Crawford, and then caught Leon Griffen back. When David Dellow blew up and pulled out I was back in fifth and held that place through to the finish.
It was also a new personal best time for me over the half ironman distance in 3:57:10. Of my last six starts in 70.3 events I have top five podium finishes in every one.
A huge congratulations to our Kiwi ironman legend Jo Lawn for winning the women's race only six days after also winning the Port Macquarie 70.3. Two great results for her and is in some seriously good form!
I fly out for Cairns now where I will train for the next four weeks leading into Challenge Cairns (ironman distance race). I am looking forward to getting stuck into some quality training there and ramping the form up for the big race.
Thanks to everyone for taking a moment to read my race update.
Jamie Whyte
