Forster - The spiritual home of triathlon - or so we heard about 48 times over the weekend of 13 - 15 Nov... Starting on Fri 13th (an ominous sign at that!) a motley crew of Bilbys commenced the long trek north to Forster-Tuncurry to participate in the Elite Energy Forster Triathlon & Multisport Carnival. All up (unless anyone snuck under the radar) we had 3 competitors in the NSW Long Course Champs and 6 competitors in the Sprint. Some inspirational Bilby supporters also tagged along to provide those much needed boosts and cheers just when you needed them! (Thanks Guys!)

From my perspective the Sprint represented the culmination of around 80 days in preparatory training which I know that many Bilbys have been following in my "post novice" blog. My aims were pretty simple - to finish and preferably to do it in an hour and a half.

After a surprisingly good sleep on the Friday night, my alarm blared at 4.45am and for once instead of rolling over and hitting 'snooze' I leapt out of bed eagerly and commenced my preparations. I wasn't alone, as Dave Stroud and I loaded bicycles, ate a light brekky and donned copious amounts of lycra (who knew that would become such a large part of my wardrobe??) we joked about what the hell we were doing - partly to mask our nervousness but I think also genuinely wondering why we did this to ourselves...

By 5.30 we were lining up at registration along with the other 200 odd competitors. We were quickly joined by Erin, Kim and Laura who were, to greater or lesser extent, also looking a little concerned about what we were about to do. So it was - that the Bilbys Sprint crew was entirely made up of 08/09 Novices looking to step up.

After race briefing - the usual diatribe about drafting etc - we headed on down to the beach - Erin was clearly focussed on the race - as we lined up, the dulcet tones of "Let Me Entertain You" came on over the speakers - Erin exclaimed "OOOOOHHHH Robbie!!!" The laughter that ensued was probably the let off we all needed - to relax and de-stress before we headed into the water.

The water was glassy and very few waves - you couldn't have asked for a better introduction to ocean swimming - right on high tide - no currents to speak of - and away we went. The start was relatively innocuous - no cage fighting in wetsuits to be had here, and very soon I fell into a rhythm. In fact I was feeling so good that I forgot to sight properly - and before I knew it I was headed vaguely off in the direction of Tasmania! A quick course correction and around the first buoy, luckily I was still in the middle of my wave - so I hadn't lost too much time with my little diversion! About half way through the back straight I spotted Dave coming past me with his trademark technique really starting to pay dividends. It was after that point that I really relaxed and started to pay attention to my own technique. Glide, rotate, breathe, glide, rotate, sight, breathe - power through the water. It worked, by the end of the swim, I had somehow passed Dave again (just) and was soon making my way up the beach into transition. At the top of the beach the sound of "Go Bilby" was a real lift and helped me to maintain the jog all the way in. I didn't know it but Dave was just behind me coming into transition.

After some neoprene wrestling and a slight delay getting through transition I was on the bike and heading off on the first of three 6km loops. I was very disappointed to find that my speedo wasn't working - I found out afterwards that the magnet had fallen off - so all I had was cadence to go by. As it turned out maybe that was a good thing, the whole bike leg went in a blur and after three passes of the very vocal Bilby cheer squad - I was soon back in transition and tugging on the runners for the final leg.

Another long transition and I swore to myself that I was going to practise getting my gear on and off before my next race! Finally I was out the chute and headed off on what I thought was the short leg of the run loop. The "short leg"turned out to be the long leg and I was becoming fearful that I was not going to hit my goal time. Round the headland, over the bridge to Tuncurry and at the turnaround I caught up with Erin having a drink at the aid station. A quick G'day and a word of encouragement - and we were headed back towards transition. The return leg was a little easier as I started to find a rhythm, before I knew it I was passing through transition to the cheers of the Bilby cheer squad. I loked ahead and suddenly realised that I was getting near the end - one last hill, a turnaround and then it was all downhill from there!!! Well almost, but by the time you're in the finishing straight - who cares about a slight incline!

As I crossed the line I looked up at the clock to realise tht I had not only achieved my goal - I had smashed it. I turned around and joined Laura who had already finished, Jess, Iain, Carol, Emma and Nat just in time to cheer Kim, Dave and Erin across the line. We had all finished, all achieved our goals, and we were stoked. It was shortly after that Kim (our team nutritionist) suggested beer! 

So the times for the Sprint went as follows:

Paul Barrie: 1:23:11

Laura Frank: 1:24:42

Dave Stroud: 1:25:31 

Kim Crawley: 1:34:21

Erin Barry: 1:36:11

Special mention for Shane Farrant who had travelled with ACTAS squad - He took the event out in a smashing time of 1 Hour 1 Minute 54 Seconds.

The next morning it was time for the Long Course Champs. Its not for me to comment on the race itself but I will say that the three Bilby competitors Iain Cox 4:08:02, Mary Sietsma 4:08:35 & Jess Faulks 4:32:31 were awe inspiring. Mary finished 3rd in her category and I am sure earned some great points towards a possible berth in Berlin!

All in all - it was a fantastic trip - I would recommend it to anyone - The atmosphere, weather and conditions were outstanding and it was a great way to step up from the Novice Program. Thanks to all those who supported us - especially Emma Fielder, Carol Paice and Nat Dawson who made the trip not to compete - but purely to support us. It was uplifting every time we came past and heard the familiar shout of Go Bilby!