Jimmy Seear's Race Report

November 2011

The Noosa triathlon is one of my favourite weekends in the year. Set on the Sunshine Coast of Australia, it’s a magical place and when the triathlon is on the buzz is electric. A must visit for everyone at least once!


It was a strange build up for me as I am currently coaching myself; guiding myself through a program I feel suits me with help from people that I trust. To prepare for the race I completed a solid five weeks of training with consistent work. I went into Noosa with a goal of using the event as a test to see if my training is heading in the right direction and was looking forward to seeing how I compared against competitors still in race season. 

Start time for the race was 6:30am requiring a 4am wakeup call on a Sunday – always a shock to the system! I felt physically fit and mentally ready to go. The start list had some big names and competition was intense.

The course marshals declared they would be extra strict this year with their non-drafting rules.  It is a deep-water start and the group, as always, was creeping forward. I was with a couple of athletes who stayed on the start line while the others crept forward slowly. I did not think they would start the race with everyone so far forward, so from the gun I was a little behind the group. It was a rough swim and the vibe was more aggressive than international racing. I was able to eventually settle into 4th place in the water and was focusing on exiting the surf quickly and getting on the bike as fast as possible.

I had a great first transition and was 3rd onto the bike. Off we went and the pace was on from the get go. I felt good after the swim and was trying to push the pace along from the start. This effort formed a front group of about six of us. Heading up the hill I was sitting on my aero bars trying to push a bigger gear to keep my heart rate under control. I lead over the top of the hill and the chase group caught us at the top as we turned onto the main road. The front group had swollen to around 10 athletes heading out to the turn before we start to head home.

The wind picked up as we hit the more open roads and small gaps started to form between athletes as fatigue set in.  A few of us riding a bit stronger noticed the fatigue levels and really tried to push the pace. I was behind two top athletes who I never thought would get dropped from the bunch but, to my surprise, gaps started to form in the front three. I accelerated around the slower two and bridged across to the main four athletes pushing the pace. I was really hurting from the pace but before I knew it we had opened up a sizeable time gap. We got back to the top of the hill quickly and were touching speeds of 100kmh on the decent. The pace was incredible and with the heat rising the run was going to be even more of a challenge.

My second transition was smooth. The crowd was incredible and growing in size. I left transition in 3rd place but quickly accelerated into 2nd and tried to get onto the leaders shoulder. My legs felt a little shaky at the start of the run after the fast bike time but I knew I could build into it.  I felt good through the first few kilometres and as I started to approach the turn at the 4km mark my legs began to feel like they wanted to stop. I had another athlete close behind so I knew I couldn’t back off even slightly but was caught on the way home around the 6km mark. I moved behind him and used the draft to try rest and get ready for a quick finish.

I was hurting and surges kept getting thrown at me that I had to go with and follow. Coming down to the final kilometre I knew I had some good speed in my legs and was relying it get me onto the podium. Another surge was thrown at me but I went with it. As the competition started to slow down I kept pace and was able to build a gap through to the finish.

I was over the moon with a 3rd place. It was great to get a top result on a hard race after such a tough year. I finished only a minute behind the winner, who had the fastest time in the last five years. We rode the bike leg two minutes faster than last year, and I won the fastest time up the Noosa Hill! All in all, a great day out giving me some confidence I am on the right path.