Race report - 2012 Nissan corporate triathlon, Elwood
photos (mostly for atmosphere)
The four Bureau teams
My team
The Bureau ladies of action
The corporate triathlon in Melbourne is a team event where each member completes the entire tri in a relay fashion. Due to rain on Saturday the swim was cancelled and thus we completed:
Run - 800m-1km (about 400m on sand) - 07:04
Bike - 10km - 25:11
Run - 4km - 24:30
Total - 56:46
Team total - 2:35:13 (teammates Ross and Cameron were 45:20 and 53:06)
Annoyingly transition times were not recorded separately, so I guess my bike and run were actually slightly better than those numbers suggest.
Based on my last race I was hoping to complete this in under an hour, and if we had had the swim it's possible, although unlikely, I would have been able to.
Anyway, first things first. This tri is freaking huge. Over 5000 partakers mean you have to put your bike in the compound the day before, and on the morning you are only allowed to go in to set up your transition area. 50 racks... you wouldn't want to forget where your bike is.
We had four teams - which I thought was pretty impressive until I heard companies like Kraft have 27 teams. ! I'm guessing they have proper sponsorship, whereas our entry was sponsored by the informal sale of Coke cans for $1 in our communal fridge. I'm so not joking about that. Hence we did not have fancy matching lycra onesies, but I think we were OK about that. As far as team bonding exercises go it was great - I'm now much better acquaintances with a dozen people across the Bureau. We did some sporadic training together, and it's always nice to have a crew to cheer you on and congratulate you.
I was second in my team, so after about 35 minutes after my first guy set off, I went to wait in the "team transition" area. Finishing team mates run in one side, and the waiting team mates wait on the other side, not unlike a holding pen. When you see your teammate come in you push to the front and grab the timing chip off them, strap it on your ankle and head off for your run on the beach. In one way it's better because the wave starts have fully disintegrated, so you have no choice but to race against yourself only. It did mean I had an extra 200m or so to run, which given running is not my best leg was not the best, but no matter.
The bike was ok, pretty uneventful. Not as many people overtook me as my Elwood race, but there was only one lap on this one.
Run was also ok. From a course perspective this was actually a kind of boring race. I felt I was running a bit better than my Elwood race, and I'm happy to see that in the times - around 6:00min/km, unlike 6:30min/km. I overtook a good five walkers. :P
Yeah, boring actually!
I did a replacement swim event tonight - 400m at Elwood beach. Finished in 8:56 - so maybe I could've done the whole thing in an hour? Just!
Previous races
Feb 2012 - Sprint triathlon, Elwood
Dec 2011 - 5K Sussan run
Nov 2011 - Mini triathlon(duathlon), St Kilda
Jan 2011 - Mini triathlon, Sandringham
The four Bureau teams
My team
The Bureau ladies of action
The corporate triathlon in Melbourne is a team event where each member completes the entire tri in a relay fashion. Due to rain on Saturday the swim was cancelled and thus we completed:
Run - 800m-1km (about 400m on sand) - 07:04
Bike - 10km - 25:11
Run - 4km - 24:30
Total - 56:46
Team total - 2:35:13 (teammates Ross and Cameron were 45:20 and 53:06)
Annoyingly transition times were not recorded separately, so I guess my bike and run were actually slightly better than those numbers suggest.
Based on my last race I was hoping to complete this in under an hour, and if we had had the swim it's possible, although unlikely, I would have been able to.
Anyway, first things first. This tri is freaking huge. Over 5000 partakers mean you have to put your bike in the compound the day before, and on the morning you are only allowed to go in to set up your transition area. 50 racks... you wouldn't want to forget where your bike is.
We had four teams - which I thought was pretty impressive until I heard companies like Kraft have 27 teams. ! I'm guessing they have proper sponsorship, whereas our entry was sponsored by the informal sale of Coke cans for $1 in our communal fridge. I'm so not joking about that. Hence we did not have fancy matching lycra onesies, but I think we were OK about that. As far as team bonding exercises go it was great - I'm now much better acquaintances with a dozen people across the Bureau. We did some sporadic training together, and it's always nice to have a crew to cheer you on and congratulate you.
I was second in my team, so after about 35 minutes after my first guy set off, I went to wait in the "team transition" area. Finishing team mates run in one side, and the waiting team mates wait on the other side, not unlike a holding pen. When you see your teammate come in you push to the front and grab the timing chip off them, strap it on your ankle and head off for your run on the beach. In one way it's better because the wave starts have fully disintegrated, so you have no choice but to race against yourself only. It did mean I had an extra 200m or so to run, which given running is not my best leg was not the best, but no matter.
The bike was ok, pretty uneventful. Not as many people overtook me as my Elwood race, but there was only one lap on this one.
Run was also ok. From a course perspective this was actually a kind of boring race. I felt I was running a bit better than my Elwood race, and I'm happy to see that in the times - around 6:00min/km, unlike 6:30min/km. I overtook a good five walkers. :P
Yeah, boring actually!
I did a replacement swim event tonight - 400m at Elwood beach. Finished in 8:56 - so maybe I could've done the whole thing in an hour? Just!
Previous races
Feb 2012 - Sprint triathlon, Elwood
Dec 2011 - 5K Sussan run
Nov 2011 - Mini triathlon(duathlon), St Kilda
Jan 2011 - Mini triathlon, Sandringham