Tim Reed and Melissa Rollison win 2XU Falls Creek Australian Long Course Championship

Tim Reed and Melissa Rollison have taken out the Australian Long Course Titles at the 2XU Falls Creek Triathlon. Tim Had to come from behind in the swim and chase down a pack of around 7 leaders who were around 30 seconds ahead of Reed out of the water.

World Ironman 70.3 champion Melissa Rollison came out of the water a couple of meters behind Madeleine Oldfield then put 1min in to her on the first of three bike laps. Oldfield came back and took 10 seconds out of Rollison on the 2nd lap but lost another minute to Rollison on the last bike lap. Oldfield headed out on to the run about a minute and a half down. Rollison did her usual run and tore up the field. She ran almost 9 minutes faster than Oldfield and ran faster than a lot of the elite men. She finished with a 1:18:10 run and a final time of 4:14 for a course record by around 20 minutes. Oldfield beat her winning time last year by almost 10 minutes.

In the men’s race there were a couple of guys who came out of the water way down on their usual times. Mitch Anderson had a bit of a problem in the swim and had to settle himself down before getting back in to it. Bill Scanlan was setting up in transition when he realised his wetsuit had disappeared. Unknown to him another of the pros had accidentally picked up his wetsuit, took it to 2XU to exchange it for a new one because it had to many nicks in it. Without realising they had Scanlan’s wetsuit, 2XU loaned Scanlan a suit but the one they had was slightly too small and Scanlan struggled in the swim. Scanlan went on to have one of the faster runs of the day.

Out on the bike and Tim Reed caught up to the front bunch fairly quickly with a fast T1 and a bit of power early on in the bike. By the end of the first bike lap Luke Bell was leading by over 30 seconds with Joe Gambles and Tim Reed behind. The three leaders had put a gap on the field which they held until the end of the race. Bell headed out of T2 1:13 ahead of Gambles with Reed a further minute back.

Luke Bell apparently rolled his ankle and slowed down to preserve it for IM Melbourne no doubt. This turned the race in to a running race between Joe Gambles and Tim Reed. Reed caught Gambles at 10kms and stayed with him for 2kms then pushed on to see if Gambles would stay with him. Once he realised he had a enough of a gap it hen became a matter of keeping the distance at a safe level.

Joe Gambles used this race as a test to see how he is placed 5 weeks out from Ironman Melbourne. After only picked up his bike in the last three weeks and hasn’t been running over four minute kms in training yet. After the race he now knows what to work on in the next few weeks. A weeks rest then a block before IM Melbourne.

Tim Reed is looking at racing Ironman New Zealand. At this stage it is a 95% race. Following that a break while Tim and his wife to be have a baby. During this time he will race some local Olympic distance races.

Mitch Anderson had one of the races of the day. After the hiccup in the swim he went on to ride through the field and then ran one of the quickest runs of the day at 1:17:28 to take third place overall. The third place obviously meant something by the looks of his smile as he crossed the line.

Casey Munroe had one of the rides of the day but didn’t post a finishing time. Not sure what happened yet. Hopefully his run legs were not left out on the bike course.

Other results of note were a 4th place for Sydney 2000 Olympic Bronze Medalist Jan Rehula. Rehula was visibly overjoyed with his race and result. Rehula now has a role with Triathlon Australia in the talent area.

Other solid performances were seen from many of the younger elite guys. Monty Frankish (who has started going to Ollie Whistler’s hairdresser) had a good race. Michael Fox went well albeit slightly off pace on the bike. Lindsey Wall went well. Ben Allen was slightly slower than expected and David Dellow, who is often either hot or cold, showed the impact 6 weeks of solid training can have on you.

Performances of note came from Sam Rix who has become a very capable triathlete over the last six months and won the 25-29 Australian long course title at Falls Creek. The brother of Josh Rix and boyfriend of Madeleine Oldfield showed a new piece of race kit that hopefully won’t take off. Richmond footy socks are not that stylish on a triathlon course. It made for some good natured comments.

Another outstanding performance came from youngster Ryan Waddington in the 18-24 age group. Waddington ran 1:16 for the 20kms to finish almost 40mins ahead of the next competitor in his age group. This was only a minute and a half off Tim Reed’s run. Ryan’s overall time was 4:09. He has to be one of the more focused and determined young triathlete we have seen for a long time.

In the men’s 30-34 age group Peter Loveridge finished with a time of 4:07:26 and a run time of 1:17:59.