Waitangi weekend brought another racing roadtrip, this time to Kinloch for the National Sprint Distance Triathlon Champs. As expected, it was another hot weekend of racing, literally and figuratively. The goal was just to have a decent speed session in the build up to the Wells New Plymouth Half Ironman the following weekend. Kinloch is a spectacular locale for triathlon with nice rolling hills to ride and run, and of course the allure of a sheltered corner of Lake Taupo. I’ve traditionally raced pretty well here (winning my age group every year, and second overall last year) so I hoped to keep up that momentum. SWIM  The swim has traditionally been a battle for me at Sprint Nationals. Over just 750m there is simply no room for error – if you misjudge the starters gun and end up behind the shoulder of the guy next to you on the dive entry, you’re out the back door from the get go. This year the field seemed absolutely massive and everyone was shouldering for position on the start line. Predictably I got caught up in the melee and ended up fighting to find space to put some strokes down. By the time I found some rhythm I was boxed in the middle of the pack and losing ground, so after the first buoy I cut wide in an attempt to find some clear water. I eventually found a rhythm round the second buoy and with some accurate sighting (the main pack was headed way left for some reason) I managed to claw back a few seconds before we hit the beach again. T1 was furious, but I managed to make a good exit and quickly get into my Mavic shoes and start laying down the power. BIKE The 20km bike course at Kinloch is rolling all the way, with a steady climb up to the main road before some sharper climbs out to the turn. The beauty of the course, and something that is tactically important, is to really put oneself in the hurt box in the first 10km and get as close to the front as possible. I managed this pretty well, blowing past the traffic on the bike course like many were standing still. I had exited the water in 24th, but by the time I got to the turn point I was in about 5th, and could see my main competition (Rob Creasy and Stephen Sheldrake, two of Tri NZ’s elite team mentors) just up the road. On the way home I was caught up by a few young 16 and 17 year old guys who were flying up the short sharp hills on road bikes while I was hanging out for the long flat step down to the lake where I knew I’d put the sword to them on my TT rig. I kept pushing hard all the way back to town, eventually coming into T2 and executing a solid flying dismount (something I’ve got down to an art on this course). RUN Rack and run like you stole something is the order of the day at Sprint Nationals, and that’s what I did. There was decent gap to the front two leaders, both of whom had a decent turn of speed. I kept the pace high through the rolling driveways amongst the baches and cleared out some of the younger guys who were panting on my shoulder out of T1. At the far turn at the reserve I could see I had about a minute or so to catch Stephen Sheldrake. I knew he was still under a bit of an injury could after his surgery which put his racing on hold in 2010 and 2011, so I kept pushing to catch him. With 500 or so to go, I put the hammer down around a corner coming off the grass and surprised him with a big surge. After taking the left hander into the final straight I looked back to make sure he wasn’t coming back. I crossed the line second, about 30 seconds off the winner Rob Creasy. I realised after this that Sheldrake had started 2 minutes back (him being 35 and so starting in the second wave start), so he had actually beaten me by about 1.30. This was a surprise but I was still stoked to get on the podium and take out the men’s 25-29 age group by a considerable margin. Myself and other athletes spent the rest of the day soaking up the atmosphere and watching the elite men and women duke it out in the Oceania Sprint Distance Champs. Every time I watch these elite races, I do get pangs of regret that I haven’t been able to push my training to a point where I can compete at that level. I raced the elite race at Kinloch in 2008 but couldn’t keep up in the swim, and struggled on the bike, having to ride solo after not making the pack. I still have dreams about getting back to that level and focussing on the draft legal racing, but at the same time, the sacrifice of spending months and months getting my swim up to the required standard, combined with the necessary changes in bike training to focus on 30 second and 5 minute power, makes the prestige of this racing seem less appealing. It’s glamorous, for sure, and I love the idea of it, but the range of events is fewer, and racing with the top dogs leaves no room for error.  While I don’t think I can mentally try and jump back to that racing anytime soon, as they say, “never say never”. Thanks to my sponsors, Ricoh NZ and Armstrong Sport.