Yes, I'm still celebrating but now in the safety of my own home

I wasn't last but almost. Having said that I had the best day and am still on a high.

Report later.

wt

Wow, what a day.

I am absolutely exhausted. I really do need to train more for these things.

The swim went reasonably well (for me) in 21 min, the cycle was fun in 57 minutes but the run was a slog. Thanks to the CoolRunning supporters: I really did try to smile, but the face wasn't working; similarly I did try to run faster but the legs weren't working either. All up 58 min for the run.

It was my first Nepean, but I am sure I'll be back. It's a great event.

Well done to all the other CR's, especially spiderman!!!
regards

Larry

RL, you must have been running near Auntie K then, because that's who I said it to. Pity you had to rush off afterwards; I met so many new (to me) CRs today, it would have been good to meet you too.

I had a top day. Far exceeded all expectations. Waiting on the results, but I think that I finished under 2:15, I didn't drown, and gee, it's fun being a runner in a Tri. All those people to motor past. Mind you, they were there because they motored past me on the ride! How does anyone make a bike go that fast!

One speical note. I was only there today because my beautiful tiger angel had the patience to teach me to swim at the beginning of this year. You can teach an old dog new tricks. Thank you sweetheart.

Results are up

A selection of photos of the day, courtesy of tiger angel...

Well how much fun was that!

I had a thoroughly enjoyable day, it was great to catch up with everyone and I was really happy with the result:

Swim: 21:53
Ride: 57:59
Run: 43:31
Total: 2:03:24

And yes Gnome it is fun to be a runner in a tri. Great Photos Tiger Angel - thanks!

Full report on the blog



Where were the goggles Plu?

Thanks for the CR support out there today.

Cool photos too, Tiger Angel.

Probably didn't chat to as many as I would have liked, as I missed out on valuable gossiping time as I headed off fairly early to join the Northern Suburbs Tri Club ride home.

It was a fantastic day out there yesterday with a good turn out of CRs and Striders! Started the day setting up in transition with the Wildthings and Will the Frenchman. Turned out to be a non wetsuit swim which didn't worry me too much. Less to deal with in T1. The swim went smooth and I felt great getting out. The bike was good also - at first I thought it was a bit crazy - all those corners as I have to go v. slow around corners - but I soon enjoyed it when I realised that it broke up the course and you were finished before you knew it. The run was hot and kind of boring. I just kept an even pace on the run and finished feeling good.

It was great to catch up with many CRs and Striders - a special thanks to Tiger Angel for taking the great photos and to the EverReady Bunny for turning up to do cheering duties!

The highlight of the day - doing this with Wildthing and seeing her do this so well! No more enticer tri's for her! Mr Wildthing - his first triathlon and he did an excellent job out there! Big congrats to you both!!

Well, my first Nepean but certainly not my last! I had a great time and was quite pleased with the way I went yesterday despite the heat and plague of flies!

Total time of 2:17:01 (official) although I notice both transitions are added to the bike time which makes my sub-60 look a bit sad, because we old farts like to dither around in transition and talk to each other before - "Oh yeah - gotta race!". Never mind - 22:58 swim (bit slow with no wetsuit), 1:25:00 bike, 53:37 run. Two minutes over my goal time, but I'm not complaining.

How great to meet so many CoolRunners - some I met before,others were new to me. Mango and Jen_Runs (of course) and Mini Mango, sfGnome and Tiger Angel, Plu, Will, B+, RaceMikeRace, Wild Thing, Hamburglar, and anyone else I met but have forgotten (sorry) may there be many more occasions.

Congratulations to all on their results, but especially Wild Thing, who did just brilliantly.

What a great venue (especially the bike leg) and how nice to race in a place where the wind is not always screaming from every direction. Congrats to the Panthers Tri Club for such a great event.

Special thanks to Tiger Angel for the photos - one of the few of me competing in anything where I am smiling!

Hope everyone's recovery is on track.

M

I just did the bike leg and loved the course. I thought the tight turns would be a pain, but they were a lot of fun in good dry conditions. Really wished I could have done the whole thing, but I promised a mate at work I'd help out, maybe next year though. The flies were a bit annoying eh?

Hi All,

I think I will have to make the Nepean Tri my must do event every year. It is well organised, the course is fast and it has the history of being the oldest triathlon in Australia.

Apart from the heat and flies, I couldn't really fault anything else and had a thoroughly enjoyable day. I didn't achieve my A goal of sub 2 hours but was still very pleased a very big PB My time and splits were:

Swim: 21.06
Bike: 58.26 (I think I spent almost 5mins in transitions! )
Run: 42.56
Total: 2.02.28

Mini-Mango made her tri debut on Saturday in the Enticer race and is now hooked. Like all good triathletes with a running background she needs to work on her swim ! She was last out of the water but managed to chase down 20 kids over the bike and run legs to finish 57 out of 76 (including overtaking some boys that had a 2 min head start).

It was great to catch up with a lot of familiar CR's and good to meet a lot of new ones as well. It was also very encouraging to see such a large contingent of CR competitors this year.

As always the CR cheersquad was in full flight and as usual my two most favouritist cheerers were there giving me a real boost every time I passed them. Thank you

Thanks Tigerangel for those great photos and thanks to all the volunteers and Panthers Tri club for putting on such a great event. Needless to say I will be back again next year.

Hey Muzman,

Congratulations on your first Nepean and good luck for the BIG one in two weeks time.

BTW, Happy Birthday

Mango

And did Aunty K tell you that the run is all mental? In that case I was running just behind you Aunty K!!

Aunty K - sorry to hear about the panic attack in the water - I was stressing out about having to tread water while waiting for the start - I can't tread water very well at all, but didn't want to have to run in over the slippery rocks. And even with your time on the sideline you still beat me in the swim (along with the majority of the field!)

Hopefully will get to meet some of you face to face in two weeks time! Busso here we come!

Muzman is it your birthday?? HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Brief report on my race.

Placed 602

Overall time 3:13:01

Splits
Swim 0:34:35
Cycle 1:17:26
Run 1:20:59

Hello and thank you to all the coolrunners I met for your encougagement.

I did the best I could do on the day.

thomo

Hi all,
Had a great race considering the heat and flies, and I matched my predicted time, so was very happy

Wasn't it a great bike course? fast with just enough technical bits to make it interesting, lets hope they can keep it as the course for the future.

Saw plenty of coolrunners out on the course and the cheersquad, and met
Mango and Jenruns at the end



Stephen LENNOX time 2:10:13 M50-54 swim 20:00 bike 59:29 run 50:42 50-54 Male

RL - pity I didn't realise I was running near you as I would have said hi!

Yep, I was not feeling the greatest with the attack, but overcoming it has given me a huge boost for future open water swims.

Yep - BRING ON BUSSO!!

See you there & let's meet properly this time!

Cheers,
K

WT - where is that report?!?!?!

K

Dobber!

Thanks, man.

Thanks also, Runitloveit. Not yet up in another age group, though!.

Hey what can I add? I can only echo all the sentiments already written here!

First Nepean I've done but definitely not the last, I will be back next year for sure and telling everyone I know to give it a go. Straight swim in clean glassy water, flat ride with ultra smooth roads and a few funky corners to play with, followed by a completely flat run around the waterfront - it doesn't get any better than that!

It also seemed like a great course for spectators being able to walk alongside the whole swim and see the competitiors twice on both the bike and the run. And how good were the lucky draw prizes? The sponsors gave away so much expensive stuff - thousand dollar wetsuits, a bike, tons of goggles, shoe vouchers, HR monitors, tyres etc. Of course I didn't win anything, but was very impressed.

Oh yeah I must remember the aeroguard as an essential park of my packing next year...

And the coolest bit was getting to meet for the first time and chat to (only briefly, unfortunately) a bunch of Coolrunners! Jen Runs, Mango & Mini-Mango, Will, EnergizerBunny, Muzman, Gnome. Thanks for the cheersquad guys, makes me so glad I wore the CR cap!

As for my race, well I was totally stoked to get under 2 hours which is what I was going for - 1:52:49. I was especially happy with the run, it's the first time I've managed to do sub 40 minutes in a 10km run in a triathlon which blew me away. Feeling happy today!

Oh and thanks to Will for all the Half Ironman tips from your Port experience. I've got the Canberra HIM in less than 4 weeks - my first, eek!

RaceMikeRace - I will be there volunteering on a drinks station so wear your CR cap and I will give you a cheer!



Well done Aunty K - that is a huge achievement to get in the water and race the way you did. Congratulations. See you in Busso!

Muzman - I had to race up an age group at Penrith because my birthday is new year's eve, and they took your age as of 31 December 2007! Made me feel old!

Well done to all of you, It was great to seeso mnay acheive their goals given that the heat was pretty testing especially for the last few wave starts once they got to the bike.
CR gear appeared to be eveywhere and this was a good thing as it made it a lot easier to cheer eveybody on.

Thanks to all who bought raffle tickets, we managed to raise about $1000 for the Oncology unit at Nepean.

To all of my little crew well done
WT, you now know that whatever you put your mind too you can acheive. I am proud of you, and happy for you.
More swimming Mango!
Dazza, bad luck on the flat tyres mate, you'll need to come back next year to see how well you can go, but for the next 12 months the bragging rights lie else where. Hopefully no shuch dramas for Busso.
Aunty K, I am super confident you will have a great day in Busso, you have done all the work and the results are showing through now. But if you want to go fast stop talking to all and sundry out on the course and just bloody run
To a little CR lurker (you know who you are) well done on age win and 1st local.

Hopefully I'm out there next year with you all.

PS. Check on Canberra half, word around is that due to effluent inthe water the race may be off.

Not too sure about this B+ the lake was closed all of last week because of a sewage spill but reopened Friday (16 November). The triple tri swim went ahead in the lake on the weekend (my work colleague swam and survived), plus Triathlon ACT races in the lake this weekend are going ahead.

Lake quality and any closures are posted here

http://www.nationalcapital.gov.au/enhancin.../weekly_update/

Oh, and congrats to Aaron Farlow on his great win - a fellow Queanbeyanite!! Go Aaron!!

AK

No report today. I'm busy saving lives

I'm onto it first thing tomorrow.....promise.

And what I said about not be last.......not true There's plenty to work on for me so look out for some massive improvements.

wt

That's my girl!!
K

B+ - you know i'm a very social person chatting on course helps me pass the time LOL!

K

Wow this is a great read! Well done Wildthing! Impressive stuff! To all the other CR's out there who took part, whether you achieved your goals or not, congratulations - you are all a total inspiration!

Aunty... run faster...finish sooner....talk for longer after that!!


I hope the lake is good and you all get to race in Canberra, runitloveit, As for Aaron Farlow, great race, but he was lucky as our local boy got sick the day before the race and had to pull out...so we shall wait until next year

Where they always are so I won't forget them...in the car without the roof rack which I did not take.



I hope everyone has pulled up well.

cheers Plu

Congrats to everyone that raced so well down there. Sounds like you all had a ball. Catch up with you somewhere when the planets re-align

Mango 2:02:28 0:21:06 0:58:26 0:42:56
Hamburglar 2:03:24 0:21:53 0:57:59 0:43:31
Will 2:04:08 0:20:27 0:57:54 0:45:45


How about a rematch? Canberra HIM?

More detailed race report.

On sunday I did the Nepean Triathon. I strained (tore) a left calf muscle in the swim leg in the last 70 metres. I couldn't put much power through the left leg in the cycle leg as it would scream to stop.

On the bike leg I was the second last on the course.

Then improved to last on the run (walk) leg. Ran about 1km and walked the rest with some half hearted running for 100mtrs or so down the back straight. Then I realised I couldn't run and walked to ensure I could finish.

Had to ask on the second run/walk lap people walking on the course and taking their bikes to their cars and home to kindly move and let me through. They, to a person moved and some offered kind thoughts.

To make matters worse on the second lap of the run leg. The first of only two drink stations had packed up. 32c temp wise not happy. The second one ended up waiting for me. I thanked and thanked them for waiting. I could hardly talk with emotion and a parched throat.

Up ahead was a small fire truck following the supposed last runner (walker out on the course). It got about 2 km from finish where you can see back to the other side. They saw me and doubled back. Then asked me if I was in this race. After saying yes, they then followed me to the finish with lights flashing.

Announcer ensured that the waiting (for presentation) finishers knew who I was and where I was from. And that I got a round of applause.

I finished the race as I hadn't come to the race not to complete it.

thomo

Well done to everyone on Sunday. This was my first tri in about 4-5 years and my first nepean. What a great course. Loved the swim and bike, especially the cables in the water to follow (who needs a black line) and the lovely smooth hot mix on the road. My goal was to finish between 2.30 - 2.40 and when it was announced a non wetsuit swim I thought my hopes were dashed. Turned out my swim was probably the strongest leg according to my age group splits. Saw a group of cool runners at the end but was too shy and too busy trying to rehydrate to stop and chat. Kick myself now for not stopping to say G'day. Anyway had a great time and was really happy with the result. 2.19.19.

Swim 20.11
Bike 1.00.57 (Actual bike time 56.XX)
Run 58.11

If only I could run off the bike. After doing this race I will definitely be back for the trip next year. I am now officially hooked on triathlons again. Even visited a bike shop in Parramatta today before driving home to check out the hardware - now gotta convince the minister of finance to see if I can upgrade!

Cheers smiddo

Make a cuppa and get comfortable.

Here is my report

wildthing

Oh my god thommo and wildthing you guys ROCK!!

I loved reading your race reports - massive inspiration. Huge congrats on getting to the finish line - you almost have me in tears here at work.

Well done.

WT - that is a brilliant report & I also have a tear in my eye I should add that this lady has been determined from the start. I new that getting her organised with a structured program, a brilliant coach along with a big stick in my hand that she would be able to get through any event she wants to. I'm very proud of YOU!!Kx


Congrats to you also thomo! One day we may actually meet each other.

Cheers,K

I got to meet Thomo. He looked like a star to me. Excellent work out there Thomo

Now all I need to do is lose that fat girl who's holding me back

wt

I don't know how you did your calf in the swim mate, but you havethe right attitude and lots of ticker.

Guys, I think you both truly represent what endurance sport is all about - and that is pushing our OWN boundaries - no-one else's - until we break through.

WT you had a breakthrough for sure on the weekend and it was great to watch you finish and meet up with you in person. Congrats.

Thomo - we all get knocked down sometime but only the mentally strong tough it out and keep going regardless - keep it up!

Remember that unless you're an elite at our sport (and there aren't many of them in the scheme of things) you're competing agianst yourself most of the time. never stop aiming high.

Cheers.

M

I've been running around like a chook with its head cut off so thought I would take my lunch break opportunity to do my post on this day. Before I start, big congrats to WT. You looked strong every time I saw you.

My day started off with a bit of a downer - I really wanted to have a wet suit swim so I could try a last run-through for Busso. It wasn't to be, but I feel comfortable anyway. Started off the swim conservatively at the back of the pack ensuring that if I did have any issues, it wouldn't affect anyone else. I needn't have bothered. I got exactly what I wanted with a 19:44 swim time. Then things went south. As I was standing in T1, I heard the unmistakable pop, ssshhhhh as my rear tyre decided it wasn't going to play today. Oh well, out with the spare tube and I hoped I didn't get another flat. Got the tube changed and inflated a bit then headed out. It obviously wasn't enough as the arse of the bike was swinging around everywhere so off I hopped to give it some more air. Note to self - buy gas inflater system. After all of this fun and frivolity early on, the bike leg was great and I felt like I was going really well overtaking quite a few people. Then it was on to the run - I felt really strong and was passing people the whole time.

It was interesting to see the number of people who could obviously ride very well, but had limited their run training. Anyway, I know that I passed Muzman, Plu, Thomo, physiolarry to name a few but it was all good fun.

SO my times:
Swim 19:44
Ride 1:02:26
Run 46:35
Total 2:08:46

Happy to get that under the belt now for my biggest challenge ever - survive IMWA with a smile.

Cheers!

Nah, if we're going to have a rematch let's do it on the biggest triathlon stage in Australia - Port Mac 2008. Whaddayareckon?

Besides, I decided against doing Canberra HIM because I'm planning on having the pleasure of watching a certain person make their triathlon debut on the same day

Here here, well said runitloveit.

Thomo and Wildthing, both of you have such determination and heart that it's truly inspiring. Thanks for sharing your stories with us. Congratulations.

Sorry Burglar, can't make it to Canberra, my parents are landing from France on that day...



You're on!

but before that one, there is also Cronulla in January I think

Sadly we didn't make it on Sunday - I was home with a raging toothache (which turns out to be a cyst in my jaw - off for day surgery later this week) and BB was looking after me

So not only have I sent the last week in agony, but I missed out an event I have been looking forward to for ages

I'm off to have a read of all the race reports now...

See, if you were a crappy swimmer, then you could have the pleasure of passing people all the time, all the time...

Your went out of your way to miss this triathlon.

We had organised a late entry for you

Hope you get better soon and do a triathlon.

http://www.hillstriclub.com/ have one (several) on 2nd December at Regatta Centre, Penrith. Just click on race series.

BTW Mouse and NTR will be back from O/s for this. NTR making his triathlon debut.

If my leg has healed and I am not working (shiftworker) I will be there.

thomo

So is the Burglar in or out?

Yes Will, Cronulla is on Jan 20 and would be a good hitout. Otherwise we could return to the Regatta centre for one of the Panthers summer sprint series (750/20/5) or do any one of the Kurnell races.

Or you could come up for the most beautiful triathlon in the world on 17th February at Trial Bay, South West Rocks.

500m bay swim - 26km fast bike - and a 6km cross country run which includes road, grass, gravel, sand track, and a 1.5km run along the beach in soft sand to finish. Best race on the Coast



With any luck, I won't have the car trouble that kept me away from Nepean last Sunday I'm with you beki - I'm still gutted about missing this race that O Runner & Plu have been pushing me to do for the last 4 years

Yep, that's exactly what I did Thomo

Some fantastic reports there - congratulations to everyone that had a great result and to those that didn't go according to plan either. Sounds like a few bods had a real tough day at the office but you all gutsed it out and reading your reports were a total inspiration

Thomo, I hope you recover soon - you succeeded where many, many others would have failed - well done mate, what a legend

I have posted this photo beacuse the race was supposed to be a no websuit race