When Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast of Australia was announced to the the venue for the 2016 Ironman 70.3 World Championships, I just had to try and qualify to do the race. I had lived and worked on the Sunshine Coast until 1997 before moving to Saipan for 5 years and then here to Japan for the past 14 years. The first and only 70.3 Worlds that I went to was at Clearwater, Florida in 2008. When I was there I had the thought that the Sunshine Coast was a very similar location and would make a great venue in the future. Luckily the powers at be at Ironman had the exact same thought and decided to rotate the race around the world to different regions. After Europe (Austria) last year, it was Asia Pacific's turn to host the race in 2016. And Mooloolaba was the chosen location. Mooloolaba has a great pedigree as it has hosted an excellent standard distance triathlon since 1992. (I actually did that race and every year until I left the coast in 1997). And they have held a 70.3 race over a similar course there since 2013. You can read about about the race and the course here.
Aussies made up the largest contingent of course. Next was the USA.
With Nakajima-san and Chiemi-san pre-race.
My rival and good friend, Ernesto.
Long time friend, the famous Taro Shirato of Athlonia.
Most of the Tokyo group at the official Welcome Banquet.
And the other best thing about these Worlds was that a bunch of Tokyo friends and training partners had also qualified, with eleven showing up to race. As I was the "local", it was also a great pleasure for me to help out with advice about the race and the course, as well as giving tips on making the most of the trip to Australia. I was going back for the first time in 4 years so I also wanted to catch up with friends and enjoy Aussie food and drink again . Maybe a little too much before the race. I arranged a "Welcome to the Sunshine Coast" BBQ on the Thursday night before the race which was a great success.
The BBQ at my good friend's beach house.
It was a great night.
Meat, meat, meat.
For me, it was all about qualifying for the Worlds and racing there. This year I had entered three 70.3 races- Busan in June, Cebu in August and the Worlds in September. Cebu was the Asia Pacific Championships and my "A" race as I know that I would not be competitive at Mooloolaba. Way out of my league. But I could be in Cebu after coming second last year. So I put all my training effort into Cebu and it paid off as I won the Championship for my Age Group. The other two races, including the Worlds were just for fun. This is how my race at Mooloolaba turned out to be. But I did set a target of finishing inside the top 50% of my Age Group. (There were 148 registered, so better than 74th place). I came 51st, so mission achieved. But a top 50 placing would have been a little sweeter.
My race:
DIV RANK: 51 OVERALL RANK: 1526
| Swim: | 33:00 |
| Bike | 2:50:30 |
| Run | 1:44:29 |
| Overall | 5:18:33 |
Transition was a bit of a squeeze, but it worked. Just!
The might have been the world's most picturesque Transition area. A P&O cruise ship was offshore.
Swim 1.9km
A weather trough passed through the region early on the day before the race which turned the wind to a stiff northerly and pushed in an increase in swell. This made the ocean conditions at Mooloolaba beach to be quite "bumpy" and rough. Everyone was worried about what the conditions would be like on race day. But all week the forecast had shown perfect weather for race day (Sunday). Sunny and clear, 22 degrees and light offshore winds. Come race day, this is how the weather turned out except for a bit of a headwind on the return leg of the bike course. The sea was very calm and flat. All in all a typical, perfect, spectacular spring day for the Sunshine Coast. And as a local, I also tried to ease concerns about sharks. Sharks are common in the waters there, but not off the beach we were to swim at.
Sunrise over Transition.
Mooloolaba Beach on a perfect Sunshine Coast day.
This race was a "wave start", with the Age Groups going off at 5 or 10 minute intervals. I started at 07:45, one hour ten minutes behind the first AG wave at 06:35. with time to kill I parked myself at my long time favourite coffee shop, The Coffee Club at Mooloolaba, to wait for my start over a flat white. It was a relaxing way to wait.
Right before my wave start.
Perfect, flat beach conditions.
One of the AG wave starts.
My swim went pretty well. It was a deep water start, we had to swim out 100m and then line up before the starter's gun went off. The course was very wide and it was super easy to sight the big buoys that marked it. I had an uneventful swim and was happy to hit the beach with a Scottish chap that I know who had beaten me in the swim at Cebu last year. One small victory!
Bike 90km
Had a problem before the race with the valve extender on my front wheel. Couldn't get more air into it with a pump. So I made a mad dash to the bike mechanics to get it fixed as even though I could have done it, I didn't want to make a mistake. After about 20 minutes of trying, the wheel was fixed and I was good to go.
Don't panic!
They had changed the bike course from the usual 70.3 race to be 20km straight up the flat Sunshine Motorway and 20km back. Then there was a couple of loops over a hilly section of the hinterland until transition back at Mooloolaba to make up the other 50km. I knew first part of the course like the back of my hand, but was unfamiliar with the hilly loop section as I had only driven out that way a handful of times over 20 years ago. A couple of days before the race on a practice ride I had actually gotten a bit lost, but I soon worked out the course. There was one short, sharp hill of 20% gradient that was not much fun. Lots had to walk up it during the race. But the practice two rides up it that I did before the race really helped.
The pro men on the Motorway, showing how it is done by riding legally. (not drafting)
The uphill grind on the one big hill.
My only chance of a top 25 or so overall placing (my pipe dream) was to have a fast bike, so I went out hard. I passed many in my AG on the first 40km, but then a pack of most of them reeled me back in on the road to the loops so that dream was all over for me. Drafting on the Motorway section was rife, and the Marshalls were not strict enough. This disheartened me, so I decided to just finish well and make the most of the experience.
There has been some controversy about the hilly laps with a bunch of people being DQed for going the wrong way. I thought it was easy to navigate and so did all of my friends, some of whom didn't even get the chance to ride the course before the race. It is always the athlete's responsibility to know the course, so there can be no excuse for getting it wrong. You can read about this here on Slowtwitch.
Run 21.1km
I must have run over most of the course hundreds of times, so this was always going to be easy for me. It was a two lap course and there was one small hill, Alexandra Headland (Alex), that we had to go over and back twice. The rest was pancake flat. Hundreds of spectators on Alex made the experience great and a lot of fun. I cruised it in by just trying to stay under 1:45 which I just managed to do.
Was a happy camper at the finish.
Summary
The total race experience was excellent. Before and after the race. My only concern was how would they fit the 3,000 odd bike into the transition area and how it would flow on race day? They managed to make the bikes fit, but they were jam packed. Transition was very long, and crowded, but it worked. I am very proud of the Sunshine Sunshine coast for staging such a successful, spectacular race. All of my friends and everyone else I spoke to had a great time. There were many international visitors, all of whom were friendly and easy to talk to. There were about 3,000 athletes from 82 countries represented. After the Aussies, the next largest group was Americans. Japanese ranked 10th. Many more than I expected came from South or Central America, I was always seeing Brazilians, Chileans and Mexicans in large groups. The atmosphere was relaxed, everyone seemed to be happy to race there and to soak up the laid back atmosphere of the Sunny Coast.
TiT Group recovery on the beach.
Finisher fun.
Full and detailed race results are here.
