RACE RESULT: Tooheys Blue Triathlon round 1
Matthew Deshon
The first round of the inagural Tooheys Blue triathlon series was held last Saturday,
the 22nd of January, at Sanctuary Cove, Queensland, Australia. It was a select event,
with only 25 participants, drawn from seedings and qualifying events. The format
was the interesting part: a "triple sprint". I'm not sure if this has ever been done
before, but I'm glad I wasn't competing. The Races went as follows:
RACE 1
Race 1 began with a 200m swim in one of the canals at Sanctuary Cove. Jason Skillicorn
led from start to finish, and jumped onto the pontoon first for the 150m run to the
transition area. He continued to lead out on the 7km bike leg, which was a criterium
layout through the streets of Sanctuary Village. This was a very technical course,
and included the "Tooheys Blue Bike Bowl", which was basically a heavily cambered
180 degree turning track, about 10 metres wide. (Think of the ends of an indy car
racetrack and you'll get the idea). Brad Bevan caught Skillicorn early in the first lap but was overtaken later by Eamon Nunn, the winner of last year's Noosa Tri.
Nunn led for the rest of the bike, and continued his dominance through the second
swim leg of 200m and onto the 2km run. Bevan caught him early on the run, and swept away with the first race, with no-one even looking close to catching him.
Placings: 1. Brad Bevan
2. Greg Welch
3. Eamon Nunn
4. Wayne Slater
5. Troy Fidler
The athletes then got a 10 minute recovery, before...
RACE 2
Race 2 began with a LeMons start onto the bikes, then out for a 9km crit. Bruce
Thomas (7th in last years Hawaii Ironman) led early, but was passed by Brett
Ricchini. Wayne Slater took over the lead about 3/4 of the way through, and
continued to hold the lead through the next leg, the 200m swim. Brad Bevan was
closing fast though, and beat Slater out of the transition to be first onto the 2km
run course. He looked to be uncatchable on the run, but Grag Welch gradually reeled
him in, and won in a thrilling sprint finish.
Placings: 1. Greg Welch
2. Brad Bevan
3. Andrew Noble
Another 10 minute recovery (the lads were looking pretty stuffed at this point,
but most people would be dead by now)...
RACE 3
Race 3 began with a 1km run, and Damon Wood flew the American flag, leading throughout
the leg with Bevan and Bennett hot on his heels. Wood led through the transition
and out onto the 5km bike leg. Slater took over the lead early in this leg, followed
by Bevan and Welch. Slater continued his lead through the transition and out onto the
200m swim, but Bevan caught him about 3/4 of the way through. Bevan held his lead
through the final leg, another 1km run. He was hotly pursued by Slater, Welch and
Simon Knowles, but no-one even came close to catching him.
Placings : 1. Brad Bevan
2. Greg Welch
3. Simon Knowles
4. Tim Bentley
5. Wayne Slater
Overall placings and points:
1. Brad Bevan 2995 points
2. Greg Welch 2977
3. Wayne Slater 2902
4. Simon Knowles 2898
5. Tim Bentley 2848
Fastest swim: Jason Skillicorn
bike: Wayne Slater
run : Brad Bevan
NOTES
Drafting was legal on the bike legs
There was prize money of $10k for the winner of each race, and $500 for the fastest
time in each discipline.
The points worked as follows: the winner received 1000 points. Each person then
received 1000 points, LESS the number of seconds they finished behind the leader.
This was a very hard event, with all competitors interviewed claiming it was one of
the hardest things they've ever done. The distances were so short on each leg that
it was effectively a sprint, with anaerobic capacities being pushed to the limit
repeatedly (I think that makes sense :-)
Channel 10's reporting of the event needs work, but everyone is learning as they go.
There was a camera mounted on Marc Dragan's bike, and the output from his heart-rate
monitor was transmitted for the TV too. The interviews with the expert physiologist
could do with some organisation too. But, aside from that, the coverage was very
good. No really annoying ad breaks, but I reckon they could last the 20 minutes
each race took without cutting to ads halfway through.
The event was sponsored by Borland, with Paradox for Windows being used for all the
on-screen information (fact sheets, results, etc). They got their name plastered
all over everything, and got TWO ads PER ad break! Pretty major promotion for them.
Next event is on Saturday 5th Feb, in Adelaide, at 3.30pm local time.
All in all, I was very happy that someone has finally taken the plunge and worked out
a way of showing an entire event on TV from start to finish, in a format which is
exciting enough to attract a general viewing audience. I hope they keep it up.
matt
---
Matt Deshon
Computer Systems Officer, "And all my instincts they return,
School of Information Systems The grand facade so soon will burn
Queensland University of Technology Without a noise, without my pride
email : ma...@fitmail.fit.qut.edu.au I reach out from the inside."
Phone : +61 7 8641620 - Peter Gabriel
Paul Big-Ears Menon
>RACE 1
>Race 1 began with a 200m swim in one of the canals at Sanctuary Cove.
>Jason Skillicorn led from start to finish, and jumped onto the pontoon first for
^^^^^
I thought it was Simon
>the 150m run to the swim leg of 200m and onto the 2km run. Bevan caught him
>early on the run, and swept away with the first race, with no-one even looking
>close to catching him.
>Placings: 1. Brad Bevan
> 2. Greg Welch
> 3. Eamon Nunn
> 4. Wayne Slater
> 5. Troy Fidler
Welch was 12 seconds behind Bev{e|a}n.
>RACE 2
>Race 2 began with a LeMons start onto the bikes, then out for a 9km crit. Bruce
>Thomas (7th in last years Hawaii Ironman) led early, but was passed by Brett
>Ricchini. Wayne Slater took over the lead about 3/4 of the way through, and
>continued to hold the lead through the next leg, the 200m swim. Brad Bevan was
>closing fast though, and beat Slater out of the transition to be first onto the 2km
>run course. He looked to be uncatchable on the run, but Grag Welch gradually
>reeled him in, and won in a thrilling sprint finish.
>Placings: 1. Greg Welch
> 2. Brad Bevan
> 3. Andrew Noble
Brad was about a step or two behind Greg. He later said he was saving himself for
race 3 (which he won), but I think Welchy was biding his time behind him till the final
dash in race 2.
>RACE 3
>Race 3 began with a 1km run, and Damon Wood flew the American flag, leading
>throughout the leg with Bevan and Bennett hot on his heels. Wood led through
>the transition and out onto the 5km bike leg. Slater took over the lead early
>in this leg, followed by Bevan and Welch. Slater continued his lead through the
>transition and out onto the 200m swim, but Bevan caught him about 3/4 of the way
>through. Bevan held his lead through the final leg, another 1km run. He was
>hotly pursued by Slater, Welch and Simon Knowles, but no-one even came close to
>catching him.
>Placings : 1. Brad Bevan
> 2. Greg Welch
> 3. Simon Knowles
> 4. Tim Bentley
> 5. Wayne Slater
A similar gap between Brad & Greg as in the first race. No cruising - Welch looked
strained.
>Overall placings and points:
>1. Brad Bevan 2995 points
>2. Greg Welch 2977
>3. Wayne Slater 2902
>4. Simon Knowles 2898
>5. Tim Bentley 2848
>Fastest swim: Jason Skillicorn
> bike: Wayne Slater
> run : Brad Bevan
The points system was as follows:
The winner of each race accrued 1000 points. 1 point (from 1000) was deducted
for each second behind the winner that subsequent competitors finished. The
total points were an "average" ??? This doesn't make sense to me, since Brad
was only 1 second behind Greg in race 2 and should have received 2000 points for
races 1 & 3, and 999 for race 2.
>Drafting was legal on the bike legs
I can't see how a crit course can avoid drafting, but there was blatant usurping of
Andrew Noble's bike skills in race 2. Apart from 2 (or 3) in the front pack, a mob
leeched behind him for the whole cycle leg without offering one iota of assistance
(ie - sharing the lead). For the sprint style of triathlon, he was expending energy
"unfairly". Sure, one can say he should have slowed down to force others to lead, but
when every second counts (and it _is_ a short course sprint event), it was probably
the last thing on his mind. Don't compare this to road racing, there are no team
tactics here, no one to sacrifice, no sprinters etc.
If this is what triathlon ends up being like, in my opinion, we've lost the plot
(yet again) to commercial interests and greed (ie, APTA - Autralian Professional
Triathlon Association). There has been a lot written about APTA recently - good
and bad. For example, what's Mark Dragan doing in the "elite/preselected/invited"
group? Has him being Pres of APTA got something to do with it? When was the last
time he won a class field event? He was a no show at Noosa (selection race for the
"others"), was he injured?
It was good to see Slater (a "pleb" who went through selection) up there.
>There was prize money of $10k for the winner of each race,
Not quite - $1500 for the winner of each race. I think $10k was the total (either for
each race or total prize pool).
>This was a very hard event, with all competitors interviewed claiming it was
>one of the hardest things they've ever done. The distances were so short on
>each leg that it was effectively a sprint, with anaerobic capacities being
>pushed to the limit repeatedly (I think that makes sense :-)
Yup, Welchy basically said it all after winning race two. Some blood lactate
measurements were taken during the recovery. I think one (Bruce Thomas') was up at
8.8 after race 1. I hope he recovered in time :-)
>Channel 10's reporting of the event needs work, but everyone is learning as
>they go.
I'll say - I was cringing at all the hype being thrown around. I was embarrassed
at even being remotely associated with the sport. I wonder what the competitors
_really_ think about the coverage, in particular the instant seasoned triathlon
commentators. Daryll Eastlake - all is forgiven! I wonder whether the run of the
mill lifesaver really enjoys watching the Uncle Toby's series (the original Ironman
sport, for those who don't know).
>There was a camera mounted on Marc Dragan's bike, and the output from
>his heart-rate monitor was transmitted for the TV too.
Interesting - he was in the 160's for race 1 and then shot up above 190 in race 2.
It's either a reflection of the extraordinary stress this type of event places on
competitors, or a bad contact (electrical). I wear an HRM, and I get (suddenly)
above 200 for no explicable reason. I know I'm not going to die though. It's usually
a result of the contacts drying up around the chest (it usually occurs early, while
still dry - no sweat). I now use a contact gel to ensure proper readings. This would
make sense since, if he hadn't (re)applied any contact gel during recovery, the
reading wouldn't have been reliable. I don't dismiss the readings, I know the leaders
would've been up in the 180 and 190's during the second run. I use 3M Diaphoretic
Red Dot disposable electrodes in favour to the chest band supplied by Polar - they
never (repeat - never) come off. Ladies - they'll solve any chest hair problems you
might have :-)
>The interviews with the expert physiologist could do with some organisation too.
Err .. I don't think Dr Dick is a natural. He appears better suited to Playschool.
It was very much a Gee Whiz thing. This may not be his doing, as perhaps not many
(including the commentators) would know what he was on about.
>But, aside from that, the coverage was very good.
Hmm ... see above. They could have done better with less yak. It was amusing to
listen to them disqualifying everyone after the bike leg in race because they were
barefoot. And then - hey! Someone's in the water! Uh ... hang on, that's right!
They go swim/bike/swim/run for race one. Yeah, we knew that! We were just "seasoned"
to the normal triathlon sequence... That's when they _could_ have done with a
commercial break!
>No really annoying ad breaks, but I reckon they
>could last the 20 minutes each race took without cutting to ads halfway through.
The only time they did break was during the cycle legs. They prepared to do so during
one of the run legs, but they aborted that attempt - probably orders from above.
>All in all, I was very happy that someone has finally taken the plunge and
>worked out a way of showing an entire event on TV from start to finish, in a
>format which is exciting enough to attract a general viewing audience. I hope
>they keep it up.
I still have my reservations on drafting. I see this as the potential thin end of
the wedge. But yes, it was exciting after turning the volume down. Perhaps some day
we can watch it on ABC radio, as we used to watch the cricket until the jerks put
a delay in :-)
I also noted that competitors avoided as many of the timing mats as they could, they
were all over the place like the plague (some about 20 metres apart). I don't blame
them, it was like a mini slalom course on the bike though. I imagine they were placed
to provide a more up to date and accurate picture of their positions, with perhaps a
dynamic graphic of the course popping up on screen from time to time. We just need to
train the mice a bit better, eh? Or perhaps someone spat the dummy and referred to
something called traction, uneven surfaces and injury. How dare they! This is
a TV event, after all!
The Adelaide course will be _inside_ the Superdrome (a spanking new Velodrome).
They're going to have a 25 lane 30 metre above ground pool on the inside of the
track!!! You do the sums, they rate this as the biggest AGP around, and portable
to boot. The running on the inner part of the track, I guess, the flat bit
I hope :-). Drafting cannot be avoided again. There goes the neighborhood.
I'm also glad it was them and not me that took part. Sanctuary Cove was effectively
3 * 20 minutes of sprinting!
Too bad there were no females. Michellie had her say about "the big picture",
not on TV though. Yet another comment about APTA.
On the good side - it should make people in general aware of how to spell triathlon
at least.
Paul Menon,
Dept of Computer Science,
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,
124 Latrobe Street,
Melbourne 3001,
Victoria, Australia.
email: p...@goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au
ph: +61 3 660 3209/2348
fax: +61 3 662 1617