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Report from the Wetro team at Busselton -- by Mike Gamble "Moderation is overrated."The Wetronome has been well received in the triathlon community, which encouraged us to sponsor the inaugural Ironman WA event. After the week's festivities, the consensus amongst Peter, Andrew and myself was: "just try to keep us away next year!" What a great sport. A group of 800+ lunatics pushing their bodies beyond reason, and arriving at the finish chute, each with a story, all honoured for enduring and prevailing. Here is a brief perspective from a few Perth swimmers new to triathlons. Like the other exhibitors, we arrived on Wednesday to setup. The weather this spring has been "unseasonable", which means our chronic water restrictions in Perth have had a slight reprieve. But for tourists wondering what the worst winter day looks like in Perth, they only had to peer out at Thursday and Friday. The low numbers at the Expo on those days could certainly be attributed to the horizontal rains, and I'm sure the athletes had some concerns. | |||
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As a result, we in the expo tent had to create our own fun. A highlight was watching Petr Vabrousek's mate, Zdenko, take on all comers at the Computrainer bike training course. One of the lower points of the week was when the Czech bike went missing, but the smile on Zdenko's face when Busselton's Finest recovered it made up for it. It was nice meeting both Petr and Zdenko and we look forward to staying in touch. |
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Mel from Triathlon WA
found us around 3.30 on Friday to announce the planned fun swim for Saturday
morning had been called off, depriving the winners of some free Wetronomes.
The water was still stirred up then and indeed on Race Day, only returning
to the normal summer 'glass' on the following Monday. Of course two minutes
after she told us, the clouds parted and more importantly, the wind swung
around from the North to the West, our familiar seabreeze. WA's West Coast
is a windy place (that's why America's Cup was here), and it will undoubtedly
play a factor in future Ironmans. Friday night was Carbo night, and big ups to Kim, Dallas, and everyone else at IMG for putting on the whole week, with surprisingly good food for that many people. Andrew in particular was chuffed to meet Kieren Perkins, the role model for us all but especially at the Holmes' house, but who could not be inspired by John Maclean and his triumphs at Kona. Race Day for us started at 1.30am Sunday. We stayed at a friend's house in the bush about 10kms south of Dunsborough, and the "schoolies" were having some fun with Daddy's car, until the inevitable consequences of meeting a tree. We dozed until 4am, and then headed for the Jetty for the 6am start. Our mate Paul Newsome, head coach at Stadium Triathlon Club and creator of the Swim Smooth DVD available on our site, was thirteenth out of the water, a great beginning. His first lap on the bike was also going well, when he suddenly started vomiting and noticed his stomach was distended. He ended up on a drip in the medical tent, and of course started to feel better, to which the doctor said, "I know what you are thinking and the answer is NO!". It was quite disappointing, but there were some good results from other members at STC, including Shirley Bell, a great-grandmother who came in just under 14 hours. Paul will be back next time, with something to prove. | |||
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We also followed with interest the progress of the New Zealand contingent, who have been
early adopters of the Wetronome. A big congratulations to Karyn Ballance and Fiona Docherty
for being the 2nd and 3rd women over the line. There were many PBs on the day. The biggest rush for us was setting up at the finish chute and cheering everyone over the line, from 2.16 in the afternoon until 10.58 at night. What other sport involves and truly recognises everyone as a winner? Of course Don Ryder (from my old home Vancouver) and the crew kept it all going, with the top athletes coming to help after the sun went down (the idea of walking, let alone partying and dancing, after the day impressed us!). |
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The result of the weekend was Andrew and me heading to the cycle shop to price
shoes, and having a long look at Paul's video to
improve our swimming (verdict: it is tremendous value). We now have to convince
the rest of our colleagues
to send us to Lake Taupo
in March! "Swim like there is no bike, bike like there is no run, and run like there is no tomorrow." Be sure to visit our Photo Gallery for pictures from the event, and of course of Jerome! | |||
