First big dance of the year, racing in paradise couldn't get much better then this.
Hosted by AMA Events, Xterra Thailand was located at Layan Beach, Phuket Thailand about a 30min drive from Phuket International Airport.
www.asiatri.com
The official hotel was the Dream Hotel Phuket which was pretty snazzy. With the rooms situated around a pool and poolside bar which I would reccomened to anyone looking for a modern quiet hotel located a bit closer to the airport then heading another 30min south towards Patong. The hotel was only a short ride from the start line too, which made it super easy come race morning.
The race for me was my first race under my new coach Drew Box, and with some serious work being put in over the past 6weeks we were both excited to see what I could do over the race.
The swim was a 1500m distance split in 2x750m loops, with 100m beach run to start. The pace was on early with a mad dash into the water. After the first 250m out to the first bouy the swim was already being broken up. Aussie Ben Allen was setting some serious pace up front with Kieran, Brodie and Myself in a group of 3 in pursuit then another gap back to the rest of the field.
I exited the swim in 4th position and was quick to shut down some small time gaps being Brodie and I. Kieran had put a good surge in a the end of the swim to gap Brodie and I out of the water and headed off 15sec in front of us. Brodie and I headed out on the bike together with Kieran in sight up the first climb. We settled in to a good rhythm but were not putting any time into Kieran and Ben in front. On the major climb of the day Brodie and a little mishap and I was able to get a good gap on him about half way through the 30km ride.
On the fast decent after the major climb I missed a turn arrow and over shot a corner, by the time I was able to get back on course Brodie had closed down the gap and we rode together again for another 5km. Peter Pouly a former multiple French MTB Champion had also ridden across the gap to Brodie and I and was on a flyer.
With another couple of errors on the bike I lost the wheel of Brodie with about 8km to go and was ridding by my self for a little bit before I was caught by a couple of other riders in the final couple of km's coming into transition.
The run was ugly I ran the first 4km with Marcus from Austria and we weren't holding back over the flat sections early on in the run. I struggled in the back end with 2 big climbs taking there toll on my legs. I ended up 7th on the day but was happy with the result for my first big race of the year. The swim was good I put my self into a position where I was active in the race and was in the hunt for podium result. The ride was good for about 22km, with maybe some fatigue playing part in some errors in the last few km's. I think without the extra efforts on the bike to close gaps the run would of been a bit sharper but thats racing and I was pretty stoked with the first half of the race.
I want thank the guys at AMA events for a great event. Zoe at Flight Centre for helping me with my flights, Giant Brisbane (work) for getting my bike dialled in and also for letting me go. My Girlfriend and Family for supporting me and helping fund this crazy passion of mine.
Next race with be Xterra Philippines and Xterra Malaysia.
