The season is beginning to ramp up and the MEC crew were again in fine form.
Ironman is a tough day no matter what age or ability. Hartley Wess decided a little over 12months ago he wanted to celebrate his 70th year in style and for him that meant completing his 5th ironman distance event at Ironman Florida. Much planning went into this between himself, family and his coach to ensure that not only did he finish but that he was able to enjoy the experience and get the most out of it.
Hartley could never be questioned on his commitment completing training to near perfection with his body holding up well. A PB swim showed his fitness was great. Remarkably Hartley did his first ironman in his 60's so to still be improving is a show of the work put in to be his best. Getting through the bike well and to be able to finish with a good run was key and H did this well having the 2nd fastest run split in his age group to come home and finish on the podium in 5th place.
For those younger athletes with plans to wait for everyone to get older, perhaps rethink. There was 11 in the 70-74 age group in Florida.
Well done Hartley on not only finishing your 5th ironman on the podium but doing it so strongly.
Over to Australia and to the famous Noosa Triathlon, the largest triathlon participant wise in the world. Noosa is a place that really displays what triathlon is all about show casing many of the best athletes in the world and at the same time a great event that allows friends, family and people for many backgrounds to come together all on a great backdrop.
After an incredible season Andy White was travelling to QLD looking to improve on his 2nd place finish last year. Over the past 12months Andy has qualified for Kona at Busso 2016 with his first sub 9 performance (8hr.57) and 2nd place, a 2nd at Challenge Melbourne, 1st place and 3rd overall at Cairns 70.3 and a strong debut over in Kona (9hr46) earlier last month. The Captain once again steered the ship well taking the age group win by over 90 seconds and finishing 33rd overall. Some well earned R&R for the rest of the year now.
Peter Smith is coming into fine form ahead his first ironman in Busselton next month. The goal for Pete was to get across the line in Noosa quicker than he did last year and he managed that well. A faster swim, bike and run brining him home 15mins quicker than he did in 2016. We now move closer to the goal race where over the coming weeks he can now put the finishing touches on what has been a great year with the MEC squad.
Triathlon is a family affair and in Al and Kerri's case it is a chance to lay claim to the title of fastest in the family. Both choose to skip competing in their respective age groups and instead entered the 'mates wave' up in Noosa. Quietly confident with how she has been going in training of taking the family title, Kerri set out well having a 3min lead out of the water over Alistair. Try as he might Al wasn't able to reel Kerri back in so bragging rights sit with Kerri for the next 12months.
Kerri in fact had a great race which would have earned her 15th in her age division. A change in focus in training has seen Kerri start to come into her own and now see what she is capable of. We are looking forward to seeing more to come.
Alistair now also continues the road to Busselton next month and we look forward to seeing him across the line after what has been a big year for him.
Well done to all for the weekend. It is a testament to the effort you put in and great to show that whether going short course or long course that we are able to continue to produce improved performances across the board.
Next week we head to Shepp for another great weekend of racing.