Back to Challenge Wanaka

Richard Ussher / 27.01.2014

The build up had been pretty good, I’d ticked all the boxes I thought I could and was feeling ready for the big day out. Training with an eye also on Coast to Coast had been the only compromise but one that I thought I’d managed as well as I possibly could.

I was also swimming much better than when I last did Iron Distance events four years ago. I’ve done a lot of work with Paul Newsome from swim Smooth in Perth in the last three years and in this build up had been lucky enough to get some advice from Kane and Reagan Radford – their sessions certainly had taken me to a whole different level of fatigue in the pool but based on my swims at local events it was also having a positive effect on the speed.

The swim was a chilly 14 degrees (and possibly then only in the warmer spots!), it had been a big concern for me as I typically have struggled even more than normal with the swim in cold water. I’d tried to combat this with a bit of conditioning in Lake Rotoiti near Nelson, which is lucky to reach 10 degrees, and had experimented with different ways to stay warm. One change I’d made was to step down from the Blue Seventy Helix wetsuit to the Reaction which has full neo arms instead of the fabric panel and that seemed to make a huge difference – it probably balanced me out better too as I have possibly some of the sinkiest legs in the world.

The swim start was far less frantic than the local swims due to the pro field getting a head start. With only about 20 of us setting off there were far less fists being directed my way. I felt good and got in to a good draft where I was having to concentrate to stay on the feet but I didn’t feel like I was about to blow up from the effort either.

Around a kilometer into it and the pace started to wane as up in front of me someone lost the feet to the lead pack and by the time I realized it was too late to try and bridge across. The final leg of each lap was quite tricky to navigate as it was directly into the sun and you couldn’t see the markers until you were right on them. I ended up on the front of our group and tried to push it through as much as possible while keeping it relaxed enough to prepare for the rest of the day ahead.

Coming out of the water I was in the bunch I’d targeted with women’s leader Gina Fergusson, Aussie Matty White and a few others. We were under 3 minutes to the group in front and 6.5 down on defending champion Dylan McNiece who had smashed the swim record by a minute. I was really happy with where I was at and was looking forward to the bike.

Onto the bike and the air temp was very chilly and I tried to ease the legs into the ride a bit more than usual as they were feeling the cold a bit more than the rest of the body.

I picked off a few people quite quickly and set about trying to take some time out of Dylan. By the turn-a-round after Glendu Bay I got too see where everyone was and Dylan was maintaining his lead, he had certainly stepped things up since I’d last raced him in November that was for certain.

I had Matty White and a couple of others for company and we were catching the remains of the front swim pack fast.

As we went through Wanaka past the start/finish line there was a huge amount of supporters out cheering everyone on. As we went over some of the speed control bumps though my spares and one drink bottle got jettisoned from my rear holders – not a big worry, a bit less weight to worry about and I still had my front drink so no drama.

Crossing the Clutha river at Albert Town though my bike computer became victim to the very rough bridge crossing and I thought it had ended up in the river (fortunately someone found it and returned it too me after the race – Thank you).

Seeing as I do a lot of my training on feel I also didn’t think this was that big an issue and just tried to focus on keeping a constant effort and trying how hard we would need to push to bring Dylan back.

At the next turn-a-round we still hadn’t taken anything out of Dylan which was fine but I knew if we were going to get on terms with him either he was going to have to slow down or it was going to take a big effort in the last lap.

I also got a first look at how far through the field fellow multisport athlete Dougal Allen had come since the swim and he was now about the same distance behind us as we were behind Dylan – we were certainly going to have to watch our backs with Dougal riding so strongly.

The first half of the next lap we remained somewhat in a holding pattern until about the 120km mark where I decided to try upping the tempo a bit to see if I could at least close down some of Dylan’s advantage. By the next turn-a-round I had made a bit of a break from our group with only Matt Burgess now on my tail and we passed Dylan a minute closer to the turn which was positive.

I took on some food and tried to keep the tempo up but heading up the nasty little pinch on the airport hill for the last time the lights suddenly went out and Matt flew off into the distance.

I’d gone from feeling great to back pedaling in the space of a couple of minutes. I jammed as much food down as I could, emptying my pockets and within 10km had some energy back. With just 10km to go I decided not to push it too much as I knew the energy would be a little fragile for a time yet and with the marathon still to come there was still possibilities for anything to happen.

As I arrived at transition the damage from my little downer was obvious with Matt now 3 minutes up and Dylan over 9 minutes ahead. I put my head down and settled into a firm but comfortable rhythm and was relieved that the running legs felt OK.

I started gaining time quickly on 2^nd place and about 6km in passed Matt for 2^nd. I was also taking time out of Dylan and by the 14km mark had the gap down under 7 minutes. It was positive but I was running out of time and I was pushing a good pace.

I went through the halfway point in just under 1:24, which was right on target. Dylan had looked comfortable when we’d passed so it was going to be tough unless he had a problem to close the remaining 6-½ minutes.

Dougal meanwhile had moved into 3^rd - I was quite glad to see I had about 8-9 minutes on him now so at least I had a small buffer to 3^rd and could afford to focus on putting it all out there in the pursuit of 1^st

My energy was still OK but the body was starting to fatigue, as is always the case in these races.

I had to have a quick pit stop at the last aid station before the outlet track and then shortly after I hit my second major low of the day. It was probably the worst place for it to happen as the next aid station was 3km away and I struggled through with the pace fully gone from my running.

Arriving at the aid station I hit the coke and think I sculled at least 5 or 6 of the cups and grabbed a couple of handfuls of lollies to try and get the blood sugar back up as quick as possible. It did the trick and less than 10 minutes later I was at least feeling like I would make the finish if not be able to smash it out all the way.

I was pretty certain that with 10km to go now, short of Dylan collapsing he was going to take the win and so I set about consolidating 2^nd place. I kept the focus now just on staying comfortable and I made sure to slow down a bit more than usual at the aid stations to make sure I was able to get that little bit more fuel in. At the 5km to go mark I was able to see a few minutes back down the road and there was no sign of 3^rd, which was a relief.

Arriving at the finish is the best feeling in any endurance race – mainly because you can stop! My legs were pretty much toast and I’d definitely left it all out on course. It had been a good day but not one of the days where everything just clicks 100%, I felt like apart from the swim I’d really had to extend myself and although having too real low points wasn’t part of the plan to have managed the exit out of those dark places on each occasion was satisfying in itself.

Dylan raced a great race for a well-deserved victory and Dougal came home in a very impressive 3^rd on debut in the Iron Distance. Given he was 17 minutes behind after the swim it was a huge effort and shows if he can improve the swimming then the long Tri’s might just be where his greatest talent lies.

Elina also had a good hit out in her build up to Coast to Coast taking on the ½ Distance race in a team with another top Nelson athlete Britta Martin. Britta took care of the swim for her and Elina completed the Bike and Run with them taking out the women’s team title despite then only being a 2 person team up against 3 person teams.

For me now I’ve had a few days of recovery and I have to not switch my focus to the Coast to Coast which is creeping up rather fast. It will be a big ask to back up from Challenge I think as the body certainly takes a pounding but I’ll again be putting it on the line with everything I have.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me in the build up and through the race, it makes a massive difference especially when trying to drag myself out of the holes.

Thanks to all out sponsors and supporters and also a special mention to Edgewater resort for the accommodation and to Kane and Reagan for the swim programs and advice. Some times I felt like I was going to have to drag myself out of the pool with my tongue as it was the only muscle in my body with any energy left after the swim sets!

Also a special mention to Challenge Wanaka and – it really is a fantastic event and the whole Challenge organization is amazing to work with – I would highly recommend any of their events if you were looking for a full or half distance race

To check out some photos check us out on Facebook – I’m working on getting some more shots from the day that we can actually use.

https://www.facebook.com/AdventureSportNZRichardandElinaUssher

or follow me at Twitter https://twitter.com/richussher

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