Friday after packing all the gear and picking up the boat I was surprised the back seats were empty with all the gear we had. The Outlander with the boat and bikes on the racks had plenty of room for all our stuff. We had a leisurely trip down to Freycinet on Friday and eventually made our way to the accommodation at Swanwick. Nice digs but phone reception was very poor. I had a paddle with a group from Hobart organised for late afternoon. Conditions were quite tricky and rough Friday and out by Picnic Island I really struggled in the rough water. Only 1 swim but I need way more practice in these type of conditions.

Saturday we spent the day watching all the competitors in the day 1 challenge and how everything worked in transition. Plenty of people we knew and the day went quite quickly. Roz & James were competing both days but Roz had to pull out due to severe cramps on the day 1 road bike. Talking with them a friendly challenge emerged, who could take out the day 2 honours in the veteran mixed pairs due to their elimination on day 1? Suddenly we were racing and not just aiming to finish! Saturday arvo was spent walking on the beaches and just chilling out.

Sunday morning came around and a very early 5AM start was required so we could get a prime parking spot near the boat ramp as well as enough time for my big breakfast to settle before the race started. We had to vacate our accommodation as well with new people coming in before the race would finish. Sunday morning was magic, nice and still and clear with little or no swell unlike the previous 2 days. We got our prime parking spot and got the boat down onto the beach for the start, a real relief not getting stuck in the rush and plenty of time to chill.

https://youtu.be/1RI-Xm2rH7A

An in water start today but I held back behind the field till they sorted out a bit and then got into it. On the first 2 laps conditions were perfect and I did my fastest ever 10km split by several minutes. Another guy and I in Stellar kayaks went side by side for most of the 2 laps each of us overtaking the other and being re-overtaken. The breeze was starting to get up during lap 2 of 3 and the chop started to build. I started to struggle in the side chop directly onto the side of the boat and slowed considerably on the last lap (3rd) but stayed in the boat. When I ran up the beach and  transitioned to Sharon for the road bike leg we were already 12 minutes down on Roz and James. I was happy with my no swim 1:32:55 but I had held back on the first 2 laps to have a real sprint on the last lap but couldn’t use it as I was too busy trying to stay in the boat. I was 111th out of 135 on day 2 so plenty behind me still. The other Stellar only finished a few minutes in front of me so it would not have made a huge difference.

Sharon was up against James on the road bike and she smashed out a great time for her averaging nearly 31km/h on the 35km course and came back in 1:09:17 completely spent (it was a race now) but only loosing 4 minutes to James putting us 16 minutes behind going into the mountain bike leg (MTB). Sharon did a great time coming in 96th overall on day 2. Our first transition muck up happened here when Sharon arrived back earlier than I expected and I was a bit slow getting going while chatting to Roz, but only loosing 30 seconds or so was Ok.

My plan on the MTB leg was to be conservative as I was unsure how I would cope with the 13km run straight after the 20km MTB leg that had a couple of stonker hills in it. About 500M in when I started passing people up the first climb this all went out the window and I was pushing to try and catch James as I knew he was slower up the hills but probably faster down them. I felt strong and rode all the hills without having to get off and push but on the last descent only 5km from home I tore my rear tyre on a sharp rock and I was forced to stop and put a tube in as the hole was to big for the tubeless sealant to seal it. Loosing 7 minutes putting the tube in deflated me a little but I still finished the MTB leg in ok 1:02:41, 59th overall. Taking out the stopped time putting the tube in I would have come 28th overall so I was pushing. I still pulled back 8 minutes on James and would have been very close to catching him without the flat.

Transition from the MTB to the run I thought was organised so I would rack my bike and my gear would be there to change, eat, drink and be off but our second doggy transition started as I arrived from the MTB leg going up and down the racks looking for my gear. After what seemed like a few minutes Sharon came running across the transition area and we got organised and I headed off into my first run leg ever after popping a gel and changing into fresh socks and running shoes. I took the run out at a steady pace hoping to get to the Wineglass saddle without stopping. I was starting to suffer from the warm afternoon and luckily I had a mate take some water to the top for me as I really needed it when I got there. I had to power walk the rock step section near the top but ran all of the rest.

The water pepped me up a lot and Sharon was waiting at the car park on my return for another quick drink. She told me Roz was down the road a bit but I didn’t think I would catch her at that stage as she passed me running down as I was still going up. Keeping a steady pace and finding as much shade as possible along the road. Sharon met me at the beach entrance after chasing me around on her road bike with dead legs. A quick drink and I could see Roz about half way along the beach. It took me the whole length of Richardson’s beach to catch up to her but she was really struggling now. I powered on once I hit the bitumen for the last few KM and upped the pace quite a bit to power home in 1:20:38 in 91st for the day putting 11 minutes between myself and Roz to win the day 2 challenge between our two teams.

Sharon missed me finishing as she had to ride the long way around back to the start finish line but arrived just after I crossed the line. We managed to some how win the mixed day 2 teams outright as well by 6 minutes. We didn’t get a prize though, just the glory of being read out in the presentations even though they stuffed up our team name in the announcement. We were pretty stoked for our first multi-sport event. We are already talking about next year but there are many events coming up that need our attention first and much practice required in the ocean kayak leg where we lost the most time.

[Show as slideshow]