The girls were out in force again last week taking on short and long races and showing they have it covered no matter what the distance.
Up at the Gold Coast Sam Janssen raced the ITU Sprint distance World Championships on Thursday morning and had a heap of fun racing the draft legal format. From the beginning of the year with Sam relocating to Melbourne with her young family and making a late decision to qualify for this years event to Thursday when she raced, Sam showed it's all about good time management and setting a great example to others to get things done.
During the race a minor error in the water cost some time and feet however her new found love of group riding meant she rallied a group of international athletes to work together to minimise the gap ahead. They did and Sam finished with a strong run to come home 14th place in her age group. A wonderful result for the committed training to get there.
Sunday saw Sarah Hardy taking to the start line for the Standard distance at the Gold Coast. The last 2 years for Sarah have been and long road with illness and injury testing her will and patience. A new outlook in 2018 and the body slowly responding better as the year went on both Sarah and coach were happy to see that she was coming into form at the right time in late August.
Her race was a 'Welcome back' and showed the old Sarah we knew of 2 seasons ago with her trademark strong swim and held her own on the bike with the strong cyclists in her age group. The run was the icing on the cake grinding away to a 14th place with 7th place less than 50 seconds up the road.
We still have plenty more to see from Sarah yet and this time round she will be all the wiser to get where she wants and with her health and body in tact.
Stacey De Bono got the call up 2 weeks ago to make her way down to the Surf Coast in Victoria for her first 100km run. This was to serve as a qualifier event for the Epic 5 she is aiming for in 2020. It was to be a huge day out on her feet but something that certainly wasn't beyond her. The weather seemed to wish to add to the drama with plenty of rain and wind to test her resolve but as all in the squad will tell you she is far tougher than what she looks. She crossed the line a little over 15hrs after starting and left no doubts that with 20 months until her goal race she is going to be one of the strongest to complete the event that year.
True to form after only a day off post her 100k she was back at working her day job as a nurse. Well and truly getting things done and not making any excuses along the way.
Well done girls and we look forward to seeing Tim, Marie and David taking on the picturesque Ironman Italy this weekend.
