Quote of the week

"This is the good life"-TL

My new Home

I was only home in London for one week before it was time to return to Guelph. I moved into my new home on Monday, which is a relatively nice house when compared to most student housing, so I can't complain. Only problem is it is a little far from the university, and although the bus stop to the university is just a few metres away, I have no bus pass during the summer months so I resort to biking to swimming in the morning, which isn't very pleasant. During the summer months my roommates chose to live at home, so i will be all alone for the next few months, I'm not complaining, but if you talk to me in a few months I am sure my life will be like the plot from The Shinning. So we will see how this plays out.

I competed in a bike race last weekend in the pouring rain. Nothing big, just a 45 km road race/crit that I used to do when I was younger. I wanted to race cat 3, but you aren't allowed to compete in that division if you are racing on a one day permit, so I raced cat 4. My goal was to go in and just keep attacking in the hopes of forming a successful breakaway. I must have attacked 10 times, most of which were solo, but the pack just would not let anything go. It ended up coming down to a sprint. With 1 km to go I found myself in about 8th position. I just stayed there and let the lead out men keep the pace high. With 200m to go people stated sprinting, and I was forced to squeeze through 2 people to get to the front before I could unleash my sprint. As soon as I started sprinting I knew that the W was mine, as no one could match me. I have never won a bike race, and although it wasn't very competitive I am still pleased with the effort that I put in.

Training in Guelph has gone alright. With most people gearing up for racing down south in the next few weeks, I find myself doing most of my longer bike workouts alone. Just me and my ipod. It really sucks seeing everyone starting their race season already while I am sidelined due to a bad winter/spring. Oh well, you got to make the best of every situation, so while my season is delayed, I have taken the opportunity to become a stronger biker. Nothing like ridiculous hours in the saddle with terrible weather to keep you sane.

Springbank Road Race Podium

And as I write this it is snowing outside. Gotta love this weather, 25 degrees one week, snow another.

So until later,

CH

What up.

Well I have neglected this long enough, and now that I have nothing to do I might as well return to writing useless information on a site that nobody reads. A couple weeks ago, between countless hours in the library, I remembered that I had a blog. In an effort to rejuvenate my motivation to update this thing, I decided to give this site a complete overhaul. Sadly it didn't work.

The last few weeks have been really hectic with exams, training, and other miscellaneous things. I finished up exams on Friday, so I have officially made it through first year. It was tough to get motivated for exams, as countless hours were spent in the library when it was so nice outside, and all I wanted to do was train. So hopefully all that time spent at a desk paid off.

Since finishing my last exam I have returned to London. Wow is it ever nice to get out of res, sleep in your own bed, and not worry about running out of money on your meal plan. The bonus thing is that I am forced to eat healthier, and since the caf isn't a 5 min walk away, it means no more vending machine meals because I am to lazy to walk that far.

Training has been going really well, I am biking like crazy, and swimming and running are coming along. I decided to skip the first two ITU races, Monterrey and Ixtapa because I felt that I could not meet my own standards, one because Monterrey was right during exams, and two because I hurt my ankle a month ago and that put me off running for a while. My first race will be in Milton on June 6. Milton is my favourite race. Although the frigid waters are usually a deterrent to most in early June, I just can't pass up the opportunity to race on one of the hardest courses in Ontario. 5 km into the bike you climb the escarpment, then 25 km of rolling hills. As soon as you begin the run your have to climb an incredibly steep hill, and the next 7km is never flat. During my early years it was always my first tri of the season, but the last few years I have been forced to skip it as more important races were on the agenda. So it will be nice to get back to my roots.

Now some bad news. Since October, a group of people have been striving to be the best, and last week their dreams were crushed by a little boy with a whisper stache. Yes, I am talking about the Ottawa Senators. Another year, another crushing defeat. One day it will be our time, just not this year,

So thats it for now, hopefully the next time I update it won't be months from now. Here is a commercial for the Canadian Athletes Now Fund that does a good job of summing up everything an athlete has to go through in order to support them selves financially. Enjoy;

So until later,

CH

Stress relief

6 weeks down, 6 to go. If I can make it through the next week with out having a nervous breakdown and ripping the hair out of my head, then I should be fine. School isn't all that hard really, just do the work and you will be fine. Only problem is work just piles up and before you know it you are swamped. I don't know how some of the other students deal with the stress, but as I sit in class I can see the students on their laptops playing farmville on facebook (man I miss farmville, but this is exactly why I got rid of it), or watching videos. One of my towermates likes to play Supermario. He is going for all 120 stars.

I guess that some students have farmville, others Supermario. It got me thinking, what can I do to relieve the stress of school, then it hit me as I was right about to go for a run. I train. It might not be as productive as harvesting your crops or raking leaves from your neighbour's farm (get farmville on facebook to know what I am talking about), but it gets the job done.

Since my last post I have moved on from Scrubs to another medical show, House. Although I haven't had much time to watch it because I have been so busy with school.

So until later, probably after midterms

CH

Back to School

I have been back at school for 3 weeks now. I only missed a few days of school from being in Australia, but those few days add up. It took me over a week before I had all of my textbooks and other reading material, and another few days before I was caught up on my readings. Having not been at school for over half a year, I had developed a rather slack work ethic, but I am back on track now. I am majoring in Human Kinetics, so I am taking lots of science and math courses, which will make for a hard semester, but I am only taking 4 courses instead of 5, so that lightens the workload quite a bit.

I am still on my down time right now. The rest of the gang started up last week, but I am taking until after Thanksgiving off. Since I have a lot of free time, I have been watching Scrubs. Here is one of their better clips.

So until later,

CH

World's Race Report

Well it is 4am, and I can`t sleep. I am talking to Yorke on msn right now, he is in the same boat. The 14 hour time difference is really killing me, now back to the race.

Leading up to the race I was pretty nervous. Because we raced on the last day, there was a lot of time between the u23`s and our race for the nerves to gather. Usually there aren`t any signs of nerves until the pre race meeting, but watching the u23`s seemed to bring them out, and the pre race meeting later that night only brought them out more. The one thing that seemed to make them go away was the elite mens race. Just watching it seemed to ease the tension.

We raced at 1:15 on Sunday, which is unusual for the juniors. The only race that I have ever done that late was Lubbock back in April, and that didnt go so well (puking on the run due to poor nutritional). Race morning I got up and went for a run, took a shower and shaved down, then I had a modest breakfast. There wasn`t a lot of talking going on with me, which usually happens before a race. To kill time I downloaded some new music, which really helped.

We left the hotel at 11:15ish to ride over to the race site. Yorke watched our bags while we rode along the spit. Got to the race site, checked in, did a short run, and a nice long warmup in the pool. I felt great the whole warm up, and absolutely amazing during the swim. After I finished my warmup I headed down to the beach to get in a few starts, but by the time I got down there they had already started marshalling everyone, so I had to can that. Usually I am a nervous wreck in the final 30 minutes before the race, but I was more excited than nervous this time. Some thanks has to go out to Tyler Bredshneider for that. Remember earlier when I said that I downloaded some music that morning, well I remembered Tyler talking about the movie Any Given Sumday, and Al Pacino`s pre game speech played a small part in what allowed me to cross the line between partial nervous breakdown, and excited to kick some ass.

I was number 7 going in, so I was pretty close to the end, but that meant that I had a long time after being called to visualize about my race. Sharon, and Craig have this saying, just think about the first 10 strokes, dont think about anything else, and that really helped. The horn blasted, and I just killed the first 10 strokes. By that time I had put everyone at my hip, and over the next few hundred metres I just kept distancing myself from them. I was tied for 1st to the first bouy, and myself and the other guy swam the next few hundred metres side by side. Rounding the final bouy I started to pick the pace up and moved into the lead for good. In the final hundred metres I pushed it a little more so that I could lead out, which i did. So the part of the race that terrified me the most was now over, and couldn`t have gone any better.

I had a smooth transition and headed out onto the bike. I rode solo for probably the first 500m before the pack caught me. Brownlee really wanted to stay away, and of the eight of us, only about 5 of us were doing work in the first few km, so i decided to let everyone else wrk while i sat in . It was not that I didnt have the strenght to pull through, I atually felt great on the bike. It is more that I was just content with saving my legs and not wanting help someone I knew was a really fast runner distance himself from everyone else on the bike. I took a few pulls a lap, but I wasnt going to be working my tail off with 4 other people just sitting at the back, so I decided to be one of those people. Sure, if I had worked really hard, we could have stayed away, and maybe that 20 second lead we started the bike with may have grown, or may not have. I am still confident that I made the right decision. We stayed away for 2.5 laps before a pack of 15-20 caught us, and after that I didnt go to the front. I just stayed in the top 10 to keep safe. On the final straight away everyone was crushing it to make it to the front, including me. Making the final corner into transition I was sitting in about 5th, which was perfect.

I had a clean dismount, but my bike pedals kept spinning, so my shoe kept hitting the ground causing my bike to skip, so I had to carry it for a few steps so the pedals would stop turning. I had a smooth T2 and headed onto the run in third. My race plan is always to build the run, so start controlled and pick guys off during the second half. I felt really good the first km. A few guys had run through me, but I felt that I had gone out steady and had enough left to crank the second half. I finished the first loop and was in about 8th. A few hundred metres into the second lap a group of guys caught me, and I didnt have that extra gear to go with them. I tried, but after 500m I dropped off. At the turnaround I tried again to pick it up, but it still wasn`t there. With about 500m to go there is a hill, and I gave it everything I had to catch the group in front of me, but by the time the hill was finished I was still off the back and was totally spent. There wasnt much left in the tank for a sprint finish, so I stayed in the same place, 12th.

Overall this was the best race I have ever had. I felt great the entire race, and although I didnt have that extra gear that I know is there, it was still my best race. All of the Canadian Juniors had great races. Some may tell you other wise, but few people come to world`s their first year and rock it. It is all one big learning experience, and they all did better than i did my first trip here. Alison Hooper, in her first year of triathlon was 6th, 6th!!!!!!!!, Kyla Caotes was 8th!!!!!!, and Rachel Edwards was 31. Matt Sharpe was 26, and Ian Donald was 42 despite having a stellar run. I wish they would schedule the Jr. women on a different day because I have never actually seen it. I only see about a minute of it because I am always focused on my race.

So Australia was a blast, I had a great time hanging out with everyone, now if only I could get back to my regular sleeping pattern.

So until later,

CH

Australia Update

We left Victoria Thursday night, and after the 12 minute flight to Vancouver, we boarded our 15hr Air Canada flight to the land down under. When we arrived we had to pass quarentine, which was a hassle. They have sniffing dogs everywhere to smell out food. One found me because I had had a turkey sandwich in there at the Vancouver airport. The lady searched my entire bag top to bottom, and when she found nothing, she still insisted that I had something in there, so she searched it again. The whole time I am telling here that I had fruit and a turkey sandwich in there 15 hours ago. Finally she let me go stating that it must have been the remanents of that turkey sandwich.

After quarantine is when the real fun began. We were supposed to fly from Sydney to Brisbane at 10am, but we didnt make that flight, so the group was booked over three flights. Lucky me, I ended up on the last one at 4pm, so I was stuck with a handfull of others in the Sydney airport for 6 hours after a day of travelling. The only good thing that came out of that was some very fierce games involving a tennis ball. This included hurling it as hard a we could trying score between the oposing team, target practice, volleyball, and cricket. The airport people finally pulled the plug on us at cricket when we were hitting the ball a ways through the terminal. That killed a few hours, although it did leave everyone who played with very sore shoulders for the next few days. We finally made it to our hotel at 7:30pm, where upon i went to bed and was k'od for the next 12 hours.

Training has steadily been getting better. It takes a while to recover after a day and a half of travelling, but the legs/arms are starting to come around. I have had some effortless sessions in the pool, and my legs are starting to get that spring back in them.

Yesturday we went to a protected park for a run. We saw a few kangaroos and wallabies, but we didn't see any koala bears, and we were looking. A couple people almost took a spill because they were running while looking up at he trees.

Today is the U23 race, which officially marks the beginning of the World Championships.

So until later,
CH

Londoner off to Oz

Connor Hammond heads to Australia for junior worlds after winning two silver medals in P.E.I.

For full article click here

Victoria

So I have been out in Victoria since last Wednesday for a Pre Worlds training camp. It is nice to be back, although I was only here for a month last year, I missed it. I don't know if I could see myself living here all year, being in Vancouver last year turned me off the whole living in a place where they get no snow, but get a whole lot of rain. I am homestaying with Matt Sharpe, his mom Barb, and fellow PTC'er Ian D. They live about a mintue walk from Commonwealth pool, which is nice in the morning.

I have done a little tour around town, refreshing my memory of Victoria. I had breakfast at Lady Marmilade'sthis morning with ian, yorkey, and Jairus. Lady Marmilade's is this little restaurant below my apartment last year that has the best french toast, which everyone got, and it is still as good as I remember. Craig took us on part of the waterfront loop, and I have done a lot of riding around the observatory, which was still quite fresh in my memory.

Training has been alright. My hamstring has steadily been getting better, and I have more power on the bike and run due to that. My body was a little shelled from a track workout that we did last week. It is not that it was a tough workout, more the fact that I did it 2 hours after landing in Victoria after a 5hr flight. I have been doing most of my workouts with Pat Kelly's group, with the National Team guys joining in on a few of the workouts. Today was one of those days where they joined in. We did 3X(2X Broadmead loop[a hilly 4.5km loop]) round one was tempo, and rounds 2,3 were building to race pace. That pace is all relative becasue it was geared towards the National Team guys. Rd 1 I was pulling my share, even though some of the hills were done as all out sprints. Rd 2 I pulled twice, once in the first 30 seconds, and once in the last 30 seconds. Rd 3 I just hung on the back for dear life. The problem was that they would climb the hills so hard that I would need time to recover, on the flats I was fine, but if I pulled on the flats I would have been fatigued going into the hills, which would have resutled in me being dropped. So I decided to play it safe and hang on for dear life on the hills. After the bike we had a 3ish km hard run on trails. My legs were pretty fried, but I still managed to post a good time.

I am only in Victoria until Thursday, I wish there was more time, but with Australia creeping ever so close, its almost time to hop on a 15 hour flight to down under.

So until later,

CH

Greatest Blog Ever

Click here for your viewing pleasure.

So until later,

CH

Canada Games, Day 6/7

the last two days haven't very exciting. Yesturday we went for an early swim, then we watched the Ontario womens beach volleyball team face New Brunswick. It was a close match that came down to the last set where the won by a few points. the rest of the days training was just a nice light hour bike.

I went an watched Ontario wrestle Quebec yesturday. Although I didnt get to see everyone wrestle, from what I saw Ontario had no problem beating them. We won 47-7, which is quite substancial. I dont know if Quebec is a powerhouse, but based on their population, they cant be too far behind us.

Last night the entire team went to Dorelles parent`s cottage for a little get together. We played some ultimate frisbie, in which my team dominated. they we played croquet, where Alexander killed everyone. He was done the course before we were even halfway, hidden talent discovered. They had tons of seafood, and fresh PEI potatoes for dinner, which was all excellent, and a nice change to the pasta, rice, and steamed vegetables that we get here everyday.

Today we went down to the race site to get in an openwater swim, and to practice our relay takeovers and dives. Tommorow is the team relay. Eight or nine teams will tow the line with a 300m swim, 6.6km bike and a 2km run. B.C. has to be the favourite with their dominate performance in the individual race. That doesnt bother us, we like being the underdog, no pressure.

My body is starting to come around. I wasnt that sore after Tuesdays race, but I can feel the power that has been lacking the last week start to come back. `

So until later,
CH

Canada Games, Day 5

I didn't have time to right a post last night, so you are just going to have to deal with it 12 hours late. Yesturday was the individual race for the triathlon. Race morning went off without any problems, got up, ate, made sure I had everything packed, and then we took the shuttle down to the race site.

I set up my trainer in the athletes tent facing the race course so that i could watch the girls go by as i warmed up. Dorelle had a good race, coming 5th, Joanna was 6th, with the fastest run, and Domi was 11th. Aparently the water was really choppy, so we lucked out with that, but it was so much hotter for us.

I did a nice long run and swim warm up, and then it was go time. We were lined up by province, with me in between Tristan and Ian. I had a fairly good dive, gaining about half a body length, but then everyone just kept clawing at my feet for about 25 metres before I could get clear. The B.C. guys and two N.S. guys were all side by side for the first 300m to the bouy. Then it strung out a little, with me getting forced back in the pack. I just swam on feet the rest of the way in having no trouble doing so. Into T1, a ran past my bike to antoher cervelo, then realized it wasn't mine, so i had to go back a few bike to mine. This almost caused me to miss lead pack.

On the bike i just had nothing. I have never had any trouble pushing the bike in a tri before, but it took everything that i had just to stay in the pack. My legs just felt awful, and i know that if i had felt well i would have had no problem pulling through. We put about 1 minute on the chasers on the bike, so we started the run about 1:40 up. In the last km, JP broke away, putting about 10 seconds on us, and i knew that the other B.C. guys werent going to chase him, so i decided to let him go, and maybe that little surge would take something out of his legs.

I started the run with the mindset that i would build throughout it. I guess it worked. I felt awful from the start. My hamstrings were killing me, and I just had no pep. After the first loop I had dropped about 10 seconds behind a group of 3 guys. I started to feel a little better, and I emphasize a little, so I picked it up. In one lap I brought back that 10 second gap, and gapped them by about 10 seconds. The third lap really hurt, and the heat was starting to get to me (35 degrees). My hamstrings were giving out, and it was all I could do to stay ahead of Cole for second. I crossed the line in second, 50 seconds behind JP and 10 seconds ahead of Cole. Congrats to both of them, they both had amazing races.triastan and Ian posted the 1st and second fastest runs, I know they are a little disapointed, but you have to take the positives aways from this race.

Here is a photo from our newsletter of me at the finish, found here.


So until later,
CH

Canada Games, Day 4

The heat wave continues to roar across PEI. The last few days we have seen temperatures reaching 35, which reminds me of last years summer back in Ontario. The only way to escape it is to workout either very early, or very late. Which means that I was up again at 6:15 so that I could eat and then go for an hour ride, all before 8:30.

We went down to the race site today for a quick open water swim, nothing special, just some 50m starts. I have been feeling really good in the water the last few days, and with B.C. and us starting close together, I am sure that that feeling will come in handy. My running and biking legs are steadily coming around. I dont know if it was the short flight, or just some overall fatigue, but when I got here my legs just felt awful.

Tommorow is the individual event for triathlon. We race at noon, with the girls going 2 hours before us. I am excited to finally race, the games experience is quite something, and I am happy to be one of the first athletes to compete in triathlons debut at the Canada Games.

Thanks to everyone else who has sent me an email, and thanks to everyone who has helped me out this year. Here is one of my bigger fans, although she can't talk yet, and I will tear it up.



So until later,
CH

Canada Games, Day 3

Not much happened today. A few of us woke up early to get in an hour bike. We rode along the waterfront, it was a nice ride. Well paved roads, with almost no cars, although it was 7:30 in the morning. After the ride it was time for a quick little snack and then off to the pool. Most people did a little over 3km, but I have found that I swim better on a little taper, so i did the main set twice, and a longer warmdown, totalling 4500m. Once the swim was over I had a nice nap, more of a short sleep actually.

We had our pre race meeting today, nothing I haven't seen before. The course is the same, except for the run which they lengthened the loop to limit the amount of laps (5 last year, 3 this year). I was interested to find out the starting order, which was selected randomly. Each province is designated a sport by their starting number, which they cant change once they get on the pontoon. Sask. is first, and B.C last. Ontario is ranked second last, with N.S. in between us. That is great because most of the good swimmers are on the left side, which will create a good train.

Here is a picture from the Opening ceremonies that the team Ontario photographer took of me. It also made it into the days newsletter, here.

So until later,

CH

Canada Games, Day 2

Today we had the opening Ceremonies, I have to admit, I was a little skeptical at first, but after seeing the setup of the athlete village, my skepticism subsided. Our day started with getting up at 6:30 so that we could do a short swim/bike before we had our pep rally. We decided to swim at the beach instead of the harbour, big mistaked. The water was so shallow that we could get our swim in because no matter how far we swam out, we could still touch the bottom with our hands while swimming.

We made it back for our pep rally, which was kind our cool. They showed some videos of various sports, and the day before, one of which yours truly managed to sneak into, lol. After getting "pumped up" we had lunch, then hopped on a bus to the opening ceremonies. We were given a bunch of Ontario pins to trade, which is very popular around here. I managed to get a few before i got bored and stopped. I will steadily build up my collection over the coming week.

Once everyone was tired of the heat outside, we moved inside to the staging area, which was even hotter. After some cheering and music, and what felt like 5 hours (was actually around 2) we finally got to march into the arena. My doubts were imediately dismissed. It was quite the setup, with lots of cheering fans. We did a loop around the stadium, which included meeting the Prime Minister, and then we took our seats. After that there were some speeches, a few bands, and they raised the flag. this took another 2.5-3 hours. It would have been a lot better if they had shortened it just a little. The benches, coupled with the amount of people in there made it a little uncomfortable for that amount of time.

I will upload some pictures ffrom the opening ceremonies tommorow.

So until later,
CH

Canada Games, Day 1

I will take lots of photos, and try to post everyday while I am here, its a long shot, but it can be done.

I arrived in Summerside PEI this morning to a hearty welcome. We left Toronto on a chartered flight (its nice to just get off the bus and walk on the plane without haveing to deal with checkin and security). After a two hour flight, we arrived in Summerside. The 150 or so athletes got off the plane to be welcomed by banners, and a quick usher into a conference building for a briefing.

The athlete village used to be an old army barracks/converted hotel, in which they took everything out of the rooms and put bunk beds in instead. We are rooming with the sailing team, which makes 6 people in a normal hotel room. That isn't even bad, our girls team is rooming with 11 rowers, which makes 14 of them to a suite, which is 2 rooms, and one bathroom, ouch.

There is a cafateria, in which they serve three meals a day, and unlimited snacks for 6-11pm, which is nice. There is also a games hall, in which there are video games, comptuers, a pool/ping pong table, and a couple tv's. A few of us played some wierd bean planting card game that Craig had. Thanks to some crafty tactics I won.

As far as the training goes. We went for a short ride down to the beach along part of the bike course. The roads look fairly well maintained, there are a few bumpy sections, but nothing I havent experienced before. Last year the swim was barely wetsuit legal, not an issue this year. Stepping in the water reminded me of Des Moines (30ish degrees), but as we got farther out, and the water got deeper, it cooled off. The temperature will definately make in a non wetsuit swim :).

So until later,
CH

Misc.

A little recap of the last month or so since I went off the grid. Des Moines was a good learning experience. A good wake up call for when I move up to the u23 category next year. Our team (Kyla, Myself, Sarah, Jeff) had no expectations going in, and we were thrilled to have such a great final result. i think we were 13thish of 19ish teams. I came home, had a week or so to recover for nationals in Gatineau. I needed all that time to do so. Nationals finally rolled around, I hadnt tapered for it, just a few days of rest. Had a great swim/bike with 3 of us staying away. Started to cramp on the run, fell back to 5 or so by the end of the first lap, rallied on the second lap by just pushing through it, and magically started to feel really good, so i just kept building the second lap, and kept reeling guys in. I finished first, so my second National Junior Title, which is nice to get back.

I now have Canada Games on the adgenda. I leave tommorow morning. Wow did it ever creep up fast. I remember after Coteau, when I still hadn't made up my mind to whether I wanted to go or not. I only get one shot at this team because of my age, so I am glad I made the decision to compete. I will be competing in both the individual (Aug 18), and team competitions (Aug 21). I must admit, I am more excited for the team competition that the individual. It is definately a more exciting race to watch, and to race, althoughit is also much harder to race.

so until later,
CH

Des Moines Team World Championships

Live coverage here

So until later,
CH

28.8 Degrees

Well it is very warm here 28.8 degrees celcuis. Some people may say that 28.8 isn't very hot, but let me finish. It is not the air that is 28.8, it is the WATER. At the athlete breifing last night they said that 28.8 degrees was the lowest that they got. When the sun is out in full force, as soon as you step outside you start to sweat.

Tommorow is the world cup with $750,000 total prize money up for grabs, and with my race on Sunday, I am excited to watch. The set up here is absolutely top notch. The race venue is second to none with a little merchandise village and tones of seating around the finish line, now if they could fill the seating with fans, then that would be impressive.

The course for the Team relay is relatively easy, loop swim, a 3 loop 7km flat bike with tons of corners, and a 2km flat run.

so until later,

CH

Coteau Race Report

Ok, so i am finally getting around to writing a race report. So here is how it went from what I remember. Race morning I had a small breakfast then Tyler and I headed to the race site.

I was a little worried leading up to this race because I had just finished my biggest training week of the year so I was unsure how my body would react to the stresses of racing. I did a short warm up on the bike and run, then got my wetsuit on and did one loop of the course, and I felt awful the entire time.

I was ranked second coming in behind Matt V .so I took a spot beside him at one end of the pontoon. It was a wierd start, all of us on the left couldnt hear the starter, so all we heard was the horn. By the time we reacted, everyone was already in the air, which caused the pontoon to shift out from under us, so everyone on the left basically belly flopped into the water. I swam the first 50m with my head down, then looked up and everyone on the left had about 15 metres on me. I took me the better part of 500m to finally work my way past everyone to get up to lead pack. I exited the water in 10, in what was definately my slowest/worst swim in a few years. I had a quick transition, and headed onto the bike.

I had to hammer the first km of the bike because i was in no mans land, but I finally cuaght on. A group of 7 or 8 of us formed and some of us worked well together. Sharpe flatted after the first lap, so that left us a little short, but there were enought people pulling in the pack that i didnt have t really worry about getting tired. Overall the bike wasnt too stressful, and we entered t2 with about a minute lead.

On the run, the leaders took off like they were running a km repeat. I just stayed back and let them die off. About 1km into the run I moved into the lead annd just kept building. At the turn around I noticed that the chase pack had some strong runners, so i really pushed the third stretch, then at the turnaround I knew that there was a big enough gap that Iwasnt going to be caught.

So I was first overall, and a relative newcomer to junior racing, Tristan Woodfine, a first year junior was second. Watch out for this kid in the future because he can run.

So until later,

CH