Corporate Games - Iain Gauld
“4.30am crawl out of bed with heavily pregnant wife – ah the joys of racing triathlon! No need to bother packing a wetsuit – 400m swim and the lake is always 22C (or so they say). Drive to Penrith in pitch black with all the late night clubbers heading home. Walk to start – dawn at the at the lakes in Penrith is awesome. That in itself was worth the trip (see attached pic). Dump bike in transition with shoes and helmet – free racking so I align it with gap in trees for easy retrieval. Registration is quick – no numbers, no timing chips, no pins, no racebelts - they just write on your left arm in black ink. Cool! – retro triathlon, I feel at home already.
As I warm up I try and suss out my competition.My wave is off 5th so time to check out the current/surf (yeah right!) and the competition. I’m racing with the 40-49 age groupers so how hard can that be? I do my trusty warm up – a few stretches on dry land (sorry coach) then dive (step) in and splash over to the start. Surprisingly there’s about 40-50 in the wave and they don’t look 40-49!!!! Thinking positively I seed myself at the front, but just off the racing line – I’m not that good! The hooter goes and we’re off. After a few strokes can see some guys getting away. I go hard for the first hundred and get some sighting – it seems longer than 400m. At about half way I’m just off the lead pack ( about 10 or so) but keeping them in sight. Unknown to me the eventual overall winner was way out in front and exited in not much over 5 mins!!!!! I continue hard trying to keep good technique (“Keep your head down!” I hear Mark say, “Watch the left arm!” says Chris) and can see the first swimmers starting to exit. I hit the ramp maybe a minute back from the medal places but still outside top ten. I’m going to have my work cut out to get anything. Being a sprint race there is no time for cruising. I push on into transition, helmet on and I’m out – left one dude standing in transition 1 down about 10 to go. As I look for my pedals I hear some disc wheels rumble past just in front – bugger! – there goes the 30-39 wave, they are on to their second lap so no drafting them.
As I get on to my first lap (3 loops of the big lake – 15km) another 30-39 age grouper rockets past. I’m up to speed quickly and get up to his pace but some metres back. I debate overtaking him but its my first lap and he is going fast – if I pass him he’ll just draft me so I stay back. Speed is good, in fact he is pulling away from me and we are ripping through the field. I’ve no idea who’s in what age group so I just focus on keeping the pace up. Second lap I start to push on a shift up a gear. The track is narrow and cyclists inexperienced so have to shout several times to warn riders I’m coming through – safety first. 3rd lap it starts to hurt but have to keep the pace high – the bike is my best chance to make up time so I have to give it everything. Still no idea where I’m placed. Unclip as approach second transition – transitions are everything in these short races, as every second counts. Enter transition with a few others and quickly rack bike. As I put on my second shoe with my left hand I unclip my helmet with the right hand. Tighten lace locks, tilt head and helmet drops and I’m off – passed another 2 in transition. Legs are burning with lactic but pick up pace quickly (again no time to rest). I start to get in rhythm and start picking people off. With each person I pass I focus on the next. Legs start feeling better so pace picks up. As I approach the turn (2km out & back) I check out those already running back – seeing several blokes without much hair I reckon I’m still out of the medals with more work to do. I pick my targets and at the turn notch it up again – pulse is approaching 180’s. They’re not coming back to me quickly but I sense a medal chance and keep pushing. With about a 1km to go I pass my first target – I suppress my breathing and speed up as I pass him and see my second target several hundred metres in front.
Feeling distinctly uncomfortable now (pulse has hit 182) – yee ha! we’re going anaerobic! I can see I’m running faster than my target so just got to hold it together. 200m from the line I nip past him and ‘sprint’ for the line... there’s no-one chasing me. Its all over and I stagger through. Keeping with the high tech timing I’m giving my race time written on a piece of paper to hand into the results keeper. I walk on to the next official who is handing out tickets to place getters. I look up hopefully and she smiles and passes me a small laminated green card. I look at the card and my face lights up when I read “40-49 Age group Triathlon, 3rd Place!”. I find out later I was a couple mins of the first two who had a sprint finish.
Sometimes it’s worth getting out of your bed at 4.30am in the morning...Sometimes it pays to be old...I walk on and give Sandra a big kiss. I’ve done Ironman, I’ve raced age group but nothing beats a podium finish - I LOVE THIS SPORT!!!!!”
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