Rottnest Triathlon

On Sat 28th April I embarked on the Rottnest Sprint Triathlon. This was a bit further than the corporate tri I did back in March and was definately going to be more of a challenge, but needed to give myself a bit of a test and see how I would get on. Rottnest is a small island about 20km from the coast, it used to be a bit of a prison island and old army garrison and apart from the small village with accommodation and shops, it's a barren and windswept island of small bays and beaches. Fortunately the break in the weather gave us perfect conditions to race in, so thankfully the 750m sea swim, although fresh enough to take your breath away was calm and I managed to escape the stingers, which caught a few people.....

The 20km bike ride took in the undulating and hilly roads around the island into the strong SW wind, which burned the leg muscles. This wasn't helped by riding a moutain bike with road wheels, as there was no time to stop peddling....oh and the fact that the lady who was supposed to marshal the turn-around didn't make it, and the return leg wasn't marked, so everyone did an extra 7km in the bike ride!! just what I needed!

After all that the 5km run was on the painful side, which was eased by the hill leg around the cemetry.....Thankfully the supporters below gave us a real kick.....

The finish line couldn't have been in a better place...at the pub and straight up to the bar for the first beer. All in, and with the extra 7km, it was done in 1:34.35 and perhaps a sub 1:20 without the extra, but who knows - the important thing was that I had done it, all the training had been worthwhile and could hit the beer in style.