Awesome race over the weekend as Nic pushed the legend that is Elina Ussher to dig incredibly deep to defend her title at the Australasian Multisport Champs (the awesome "Expand-a-sign 3D Rotorua" event). 2nd place for Nic in what was fiercely contested battle.
The mixture of relief/pleasure/exhaustion showing on Nic's face as she crossed the line kind of says it all. She'd taken the race to Elina, dug very deep, and forced her to break her own race record by 8min to secure a narrow win. Nic's race stragety was developed around a solid kayak, smashing the MTB, and trying to hold strong on the run. She executed well, overcoming a 5min deficeit out of the boat to lead onto the run. Her MTB leg wasn't without incident, but she still managed to build a 1min lead onto the run.
The only nagging doubt was how the run endurance would be. Struggling to overcome her torn calf from XTERRA there was only a handful of short easy runs in "training"in the last 6 weeks. Pushing hard, she still held 40sec 1/2 way through what is a brutal trail run. However Elina's class and endurance showed through, sneaking the win with a strong finish. Supurb efforts from both (and Austalalian Deanna Blegg in 3rd) to put on such an exciting race.
I was on the startline too, but my severe lack of paddling experience/skill/strength meant I was never a contender. Huge thanks to Bevan Spratt for the lend of his boat, goiving me confidence I could at least stay upright. Pre-race my goal was at least top 10, and if I had a stellar Bike/Run day top 5. Out of the boat I had given up 13min to the front, but between 10-12 to those that were top 5 contenders. I was having a great MTB leg, but had to back off a touch in the last 20min as I was very close to cracking myself (think the paddling has a much more serious effect on bike/run than swimming does!). Onto the run I was 8th and 7min out of the top 5. I dug deep, and slashed lots of time, but couldn't get there. 4th fastest run, good enough for 8th overall, 2min off the podium. Pretty happy with that.
Huge thanks to everyone supporting us out there on the course and throughout the forest. Great to have our parents there (and my sister) and heaps of local support. Really appreciated so thank you to all. Fun evening afterwards, then yesterday spent at the motorcross track to finish the weekend. Not sure that counts as physical recovery (feeling very 2nd hand today), but certainly great fun!
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