Retirement. Like a short-sighted clock-maker straining to see if his new masterpiece has been hoisted to the top of the town hall, it can be hard to tell when your time is up. Not so for me, I’m unequivocal with my mindset, and the choice is easy – my clock is at the top of the town hall. More on that later, I’m going to leave that dangling for another post. I won a race on the weekend, my last race, let me spin you a yarn about that first. Pic: Korupt Vision Ah Western Sydney. Home of the Penrith Panthers World of Entertainment and Krispy Krème donuts. Does one need any more alluring carrots ..read more

I’ll admit it, it’s been a while between blogs. Like an inexperienced fence builder, I’ve been inconsistent with my posts. So allow me to bring you up to speed on the activities of the last few months. First, the elephant in the room, I’m retiring. This weekend in fact, at approximately 10:00am on Sunday morning (actually, make that 9:55, in case any of the lads racing on the weekend are reading – psych psych pscyh), when I finish Western Sydney 70.3. That’s a discussion for another time though, I’ll elucidate on that decision more comprehensively after next weekend. For now, let’s get you up ..read more

Victoria, you’re beginning to age me. Sure, I get it, you’ve got great culture, food, sporting events and propensity for telling everyone about how much great culture, food and sporting events you have, but my god - sort out your weather! I ventured down to Challenge Melbourne on the weekend, my third race in Victoria over the last few months, following Challenge Shepparton (wind, rain, cold) and Geelong 70.3 (wind, rain, cold). To both my surprise and chagrin, St Kilda delivered wind, rain and cold. And a storm, featuring copious lightning, which if nothing else was a refreshingly dramatic ad ..read more

It’d been over a decade since the last time I’d been to Geelong. My last visit was in 2007, also for lycra related activities (triathlon, I should stress, just in case anyone gets the wrong idea…).  Those were back in the ITU days, and whilst things would be a bit different racing a 70.3 race around Geelong, I’d always liked the place and was keen for another race in G-town. I was wondering if they’d found a different bike course from the 2km hot-dog loop up and down the hill we used to race on, otherwise the race could be very interesting indeed…   Flying down to the race, to be hon ..read more

Welcome back friends, it’s been a while between blogs, and things have indeed been busy. Busier than a wall-builder on the Mexico/USA border it could be said. This entry will be a bit of a longy, so if your not a fan of long form prose, read the headlines, maybe check out my Instagram, you’ll get the general idea. Otherwise, I’m going to be dropping words like they are Indian rupee. So what’s been going on since I last checked in, still cooling down from a very sweaty Cozumel? Lets start with the biggie. The Rock  I’m engaged. It happened a few weeks after I got back, the culmination of s ..read more

It was all the way back in 2004 when I pulled on a green and gold race suit for the first time. It was ill-fitting, I had to get the parent of a another athlete on the team to run some stiches underneath the arms to it would fit me properly. It was in Maderia, Portugal, my first Australian team on the junior squad. I was a bit disappointed with my 10th, as I’d wanted to challenge for the podium. I swapped the suit with a competitor from another country after the race. Kind of wish I didn’t now. I’ve probably had at least 50 race suits over the years, but that one would have been nice to keep ..read more

I’ve always held the firm belief that if the ambient temperature is suitable for storing most types of dairy, it’s not the kind of weather you should race in. Edmonton had me going against my ingrained beliefs like a One Nation voter enjoying some Vietnamese cuisine. It was cold. Bloody cold. Having exited France for the last time in the final, drawn-out throes of a broiling summer, it was a rude shock. Alberta dealt us gloomy skies and a cruel wind that ripped through you like a dagger, chewed up every ounce of warmth deep inside, and then spat it out in your face and made you eat the icy rem ..read more

With a solid 6 weeks between Hamburg and Edmonton WTS, I had been keeping a beady eye out for some racing to kill some time, keep me sharp, and hopefully earn a few sheckles along the way. Cue three races in three (and a bit) weeks, the uber-cool Alpe d’Huez tri, the uber-big London tri, and the uber-fun Liverpool tri.   Alpe d’Huez   First, to Alpe d’Huez. Nought but a short van trip from Aix, the Alpe d’Huez is undoubtedly a bucket list race for anyone that can get themselves to it. Highly recommended. The swim starts out with 1.1km in the frigid waters of the Lac du Verney, follow ..read more

For the 9th time, I trod the road to the North to ostensibly everyone’s favourite stop on the ITU circus – Hamburg. Home of fanatical fans, frenetic racing and pretzels. Mmmm, pretzels. The trip from Aix was relatively straightforward, save for the elderly Swiss lady inexplicably gifting me a banana whilst I was minding my own business in wait at Geneva airport. It came adorned with a bouquet of napkins and a torrent of uninterpretable French, presented reverently with two hands and a smile. I figured she was either a benevolent Swiss with a full stomach, or an organ thief with a well practice ..read more

As alluded to in the previous post, it’s been a long time coming, but the time has finally come where I’m healthy enough stage to don a race suit in anger. Kicking things off with a French GP in Valence with a solid 36 hrs of recovery time from the long haul flight from Brisbane isn’t something you’ll find in any triathlon textbook (should such things exist), but surprisingly enough, jet lag didn’t seem to hit me too badly. Presumably my body knew how raw my running form was, and figured I had enough problems to deal without adding jet-lag to what looked like was going to be an already foul-ta ..read more