Noosa Triathlon Elite Preview

It is almost impossible to pick the winners at major races like Noosa nowdays. The last two years have thrown up male winners that possibly weren’t the short priced favourites.

This year the race is very open although the smart money for the men is on Aaron Royle who won Nepean last weekend. We were doing an open water swim squad a couple of weeks ago with Royle (‘with’ being a loose use of the word) and afterwards, while chatting, Royle mentioned the wattage that he was currently able to push for 40kms. This gave us a fairly solid indication that he was going to be hard to beat at Nepean. We don’t think much will change for Noosa. (at this stage we are going off the official start list)

Will we see a repeat of last weekend when the Kiwi with the cycling ‘Ihi’ Tom Davison (no ‘d’ after the ‘i’ you other media guys) created a supersonic drag zone which saw Royle and Sam Appleton biting their bars while trying to keep up. Getting in to the lead swim pack is going to be more important this weekend than just about any other. These superfish can now ride and run as fast as anyone.

Throw in Greg Bennett, Clayton Fettell, Josh Amberger, James Hodge, Courtney Atkinson, Joey Lampe, Dan Wilson, James Hodge and a couple of other possible lead swim pack triathletes and the pace on the bike is going to be ferocious.

Last year’s winner Peter Kerr isn’t back to his best yet but his hitout last weekend in Penrith should have fired up the legs a bit.

Once again there is no Brendan Sexton on the start line. This is a shame as after his Annus Horribilus he had Nepean and Noosa as his A races. He will be back faster and stronger in 2014 after the dreaded Platnar derailed the start of his season and no a serious chest infection has put him out of action for the end of the season.

Cameron Good and Ryan Bailie both had themselves placed well at Nepean on to the run and made Sticksy work every second of the run for his third place. Even though their bike split was done on the three front guys this was not a true picture of how they could ride. Although the tougher bike course will sort some out this weekend.

We are looking forward to seeing Sam Betten go around again. Betten should feature in the swim pack and will add to the pace on the bike at the front of the race.

As we saw at Penrith last weekend the run pace is going to be ferocious.

Apologies to anyone who hasn’t had a mention. It is a time thing. We are always happy to hear from about how you are going and what goals you have for the race.

Women

In the women’s race it is hard to go past Emma Moffatt again. Ashleigh Gentle spoke to us after last weekend’s Nepean Triathlon and she said her run speed is still not where it should be after a less than ideal start to 2013. She struggles to get to the start line at San Diego but still came 9th overall.

Moffatt is the Australia ITU athlete of the moment and is in some great form. She is loving riding her TT and this weekend she will have an opportunity to show the strength she is building on the bike.

Of course there is Melissa Hauchildt to contend with over the non-drafting course. Hauschildt, a previous Noosa winner) won the Ironman 70.3 world championship recently but a week later was beaten over the same distance by the third placed 70.3 world champ female Annabel Luxford. Luxford was confident earlier in the year that once she dealt with her injuries, knee surgery etc that competing with Hauschildt’s bike and run pace would be possible if everything else went to plan. With the relative distances of the swim/bike/run in the OD format slightly skewed towards the swim/runners Moffatt is the favourite.

World No.3 ranked female Ironman triathlete Liz Blatchford will be hoping the legs hold out for just under two hours this weekend. Blatchford is one of the lead pack swimmers and is stronger over the bike and run. Her 3rd place at Kona surprised many but not Trizone. We quietly knew that she would mix it with the best. Her debut at Cairns over the distance with a win was quite a formidable result. Blatchford simply followed Ironman great Gina Crawford and turned the screws when it mattered in the latter stages on the run.

ITU great Laura Bennett is racing and her powerful swim will get her out at the front.

We haven’t seen anything online to indicate the recently crowned XTERRA World Champ Kiwi Nicky Samuels won’t be racing. There could be some serious bike strength seen from her if she toes the line.

Charlotte McShane wasn’t happy with her race last weekend in Penrith. No doubt she will do some tweaking and we should see the U23 World Champion produce a better race this weekend.

In her first professional race ever we will see Sydney based GBR athelete Laura Siddall race against some of the best in the world. Siddall won her age group at the Ironman 70.3 World Champs and came 11th overall in the female race. She then backed up a week later in London over the Olympic distance to win her second age group world title in 2013. Siddall will be off the pace on the swim but keep a very close eye on her on the bike. Her power output is usually a lot higher than most men. The fast pace of the 10km run will test her.

Men

Bib # Cap Colour First Name Last Name DOB Category Race Country

1 White Peter Kerr 17/09/1988 Male Elite Australia

2 White Courtney Atkinson 15/08/1979 Male Elite Australia

3 White Ryan Fisher 05/04/1991 Male Elite Australia

4 White Brad Kahlefeldt 27/07/1979 Male Elite Australia

5 White Joseph Lampe 30/04/1988 Male Elite Australia

6 White Greg Bennett 02/07/1972 Male Elite Australia

7 White Clayton Fettell 29/05/1986 Male Elite Australia

8 White Dan Wilson 03/06/1985 Male Elite Australia

9 White Aaron Royle 26/07/1990 Male Elite Australia

10 White Josh Amberger 12/04/1989 Male Elite Australia

11 White Sam Betten 07/02/1988 Male Elite Australia

12 White Ben Shaw 14/11/1991 Male Elite Australia

13 White Cameron Good 10/11/1986 Male Elite Australia

14 White Tom Davidson 05/01/1990 Male Elite New Zealand

15 White Bryce McMaster 28/12/1989 Male Elite New Zealand

16 White Shane Barrie 25/01/1988 Male Elite Australia

17 White Ryan Bailie 19/07/1990 Male Elite Australia

18 White Luke Farrell 05/03/1993 Male Elite Australia

19 White Marc Widmer 15/06/1984 Male Elite Switzerland

20 White James Hodge 18/01/1992 Male Elite Australia

21 White Mitchell Kibby 28/09/1988 Male Elite Australia

22 White Lucini Audric 06/07/1992 Male Elite France

23 White Patrick Baldacchino 19/09/1989 Male Elite Australia

24 White Nathan Buschkuehl 18/01/1993 Male Elite Australia

25 White Daniel Coleman 23/03/1995 Male Elite Australia

26 White Hamish Hammond 06/04/1990 Male Elite New Zealand

27 White Lachlan Kerin 09/10/1994 Male Elite Australia

28 White Richard Pearson 16/03/1989 Male Elite Australia

29 White Kieran Roche 08/03/1993 Male Elite Australia

30 White Benjamin Williams 07/10/1983 Male Elite United States

31 White Ben Cook 20/05/1994 Male Elite Australia

32 White Jonathan Butler 28/09/1994 Male Elite Australia

33 White Giles Clayton 28/12/1983 Male Elite Australia

34 White Daniel Stein 10/04/1986 Male Elite Australia

Women

Bib # Cap Colour First Name Last Name DOB Category Race Country

61 Black Ashleigh Gentle 25/02/1991 Female Elite Australia

62 Black Mel Hauschildt 13/04/1983 Female Elite Australia

63 Black Emma Jackson 20/08/1991 Female Elite Australia

65 Black Felicity Abram 16/08/1986 Female Elite Australia (out)

66 Black Emma Moffatt 07/09/1984 Female Elite Australia

67 Black Liz Blatchford 05/02/1980 Female Elite Australia

68 Black Laura Bennett 25/04/1975 Female Elite United States

69 Black Sarah Crowley 04/02/1983 Female Elite Australia

70 Black Nicky Samuels 28/02/1983 Female Elite New Zealand

71 Black Charlotte McShane 14/08/1990 Female Elite Australia

73 Black Kirralee Seidel 08/04/1986 Female Elite Australia

74 Black Rebecca Preston 04/09/1979 Female Elite Australia

75 Black Kym Jaenke 23/03/1977 Female Elite Australia

76 Black Maddison Allen 05/10/1992 Female Elite Australia

77 Black Gillian Backhouse 20/06/1991 Female Elite Australia

78 Black Lyndal Dew 30/09/1990 Female Elite Australia

79 Black Penny Hayes 19/06/1991 Female Elite New Zealand

80 Black Sarah Lester 01/08/1985 Female Elite Australia (out)

81 Black Lauren Parker 15/12/1988 Female Elite Australia

82 Black Melinda Vernon 27/09/1985 Female Elite Australia

83 Black Annelise Jefferies 08/09/1992 Female Elite Australia

84 Black Laura Siddall 10/09/1980 Female Elite Great Britain