Tim Reed wins PEARL iZUMi Huskisson Long Course 2013

In a weekend that saw around 4000 athletes race various distances at the PEARL iZUMi Huskisson Long Course triathlon festival the main long course race was a fitting finale to the weekend. Over 1450 triathletes entered the long course triathlon.

Tim Reed has continued his current form with a win at the 2013 PEAR IZUMi Hiskisson Long Course. Reed came out of the swim with the lead pack. Brad Kahlefeldt, Sam Appleton, Ben Allen, Patrick Baldacchino, Michael Fox, Lindsey Wall, Sam Douglas, Jemani Francis, Deniel Nelson, Rhett Russell, Daniel Nelson and Daniel Stein were all there and heading out on to the bike together. The pack had a plan to try and drop Reed in the swim. They put in a hard minute out of each buoy turn to try to punish Reed and wear him out. It almost worked but Reed dug deep each time and did everything he could to hang on. If he was dropped on this swim it would have been a lonely one.

Ben Allen wasted no time and put the power down to pull away fairly quickly. At the end of the 1^st of three laps Allen had put 50 seconds in to the chase pack. The chase pack was riding leisurely for the first few kms then Reed started to push the pace to try and tire Kahlefledt’s legs. Tim Reed started to push the pace in the second lap and at this stage did not know that Ben Allen was ahead. After the second lap the gap had been pulled back to 30seconds but the lead chase pack guys still did not know that Allen was ahead. They were riding in to tail end age groupers so it was not obvious that Allen was ahead. Fox and Reed tried to break the pack up but the guys were hanging on for dear life.

Kahlefeldt received a 5min drafting penalty on the bike and lost touch with the group. Coming in to T2 Sticksy still had the 5min gap. The gap stayed that way between him and Reed until the end of the race. A 1:08:13 saw him run through the field to take fourth overall. The huge crowds at Husky really enjoyed seeing the Commonwealth Games gold medalist and two time Olympian stick it out and have real crack at the run.

By the end of the bike Allen’s lead had been eroded and he headed out on to the run with Michael Fox and half a dozen guys hot on his heels. The man they were all watching was Tim Reed who was going to always be one of the quickest on the day.

Reed ran side by side with Appleton for the 1st 7kms. “I surged a couple of times to try to break Sam and kept the running hard until the 10km mark before I felt comfortable that I had the race under control. I was never 100% comfortable though with Kahlefeldt lurking somewhere behind me.”

Sam Appleton kept in close touch with Reed and finished strongly with a 1:09:25 and even though Reed was 7th at the Asia Pacific 70.3 champs in Auckland recently pulled away Appleton didn’t loose anything in the second half of the run. Showing once again that the young guy from the Blue Mountains has a huge future in the sport. Appleton also backed up from Geelong the previous weekend.

Michael Fox showed once again that he is now a top swim/biker and his run is coming on. Still with a bit of work to do he is now feeling the benefits of extra confidence in his ability to race with the top pros. The last few races have seen him swim and ride with the leaders. Canberra and Auckland 70.3s gave Fox a huge amount of confidence.

Next for Reed is Ironman Melbourne which he is finding he is a tad nervous about. After a false start last year when NZ Ironman was cancelled and replaced with a 70.3 Melbourne will be Reed’s first foray in to the longer distance. “I can’t wait to race Ironman Melbourne but I will be going in to completely uncharted territory. Racing a 70.3 is one thing and I know I am going to be on a learning experience.”

Reed had a great year last year with a number of 70.3 wins and 10 podium spots in major races in total. He was second in the NZ 70.3 in Taupo, 2nd at the Australia 70.3 champs in Mandurah and as one of the most feared runners on the sport he will have many more.

It was great to see Sam Douglas back racing. He didn’t disappoint with a strong swim/bike and a solid run as he moves up from Olympic distance to the longer format. Douglas is looking at heading over to the US this winter for a stint of training and racing to build up his experience.

Ryan Waddington showed his continued potential with the honour of being the first age grouper home in 3:50 with a 1:11 run.

Ben Bell had his usual age defying race for second age grouper and 9th overall. Right behind Ben was Adriel ‘Bacon’ Young who despite turning down and opportunity to race open showed once again that after 10 months in the sport, no riding background he has a big future. He acknowledged that he didn’t feel as good as he did in the Auckland 70.3 recently but still managed 10th overall.

Good to see Aaron Richardson having a crack. Next year train for the race and let’s see you knock 15mins off. Richardson was down from Sydney fighting bush fires in our region recently and was glad to be back again for something that was a lot more fun.

Balmoral’s Owain Matthews ran a 1:12:05 and looked like he was out for a casual canter. He is still learning to swim and ride after taking up triathlons when he moved to Australia a couple of years ago. Danger man!

18th overall was Emir Mujcinovic. A former Croatian slalom canoer who 15th overall in the C1 event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Showing what massive engines these canoers, kayakers and rowers have he has turned this to his new sport. We have seen former Australian rower Todd Skipworth from Victoria recently carving up the age group triathlon events and stepping up to open at Geelong. These guys have the ability to turn themselves inside out when competing. Something we could all possibly do with a pinch of.

16th placed Campbell Hansen shows that it is never too late to slip the goggles, bike shoes and runners back on. In 1996 Hansen was running around as an ITU junior in New Zealand with a couple of guys called Gemell and Docherty before giving it up to study Physiotherapy and start his own successful practice in Mosman. He got the bug again a couple of years ago and hasn’t lost anything.

Rounding out the top 20 was Matt Palmer who stepped up for a hit out in the open wave. He is doing Ironman Melbourne in March. After doing his first iron distance at Port IM last year and exploding on the run he is going to Melbourne to have another crack at getting the recipe right. After adjusting his nutrition he comfortably got through the long course feeling like he could keep running another 20. Good signs.