Race Report: Balmoral Tri Club Race

Club Race 


So after Chicago I ate a lot of lollies, did a bit of training and caught up on study.

But the lure of racing and the fact I have a couple of triathlons coming up in November meant that I was back out there most mornings, still enjoying the training.

It was decided that I would go and have a crack at the Balmoral Club Race, which I have never done before.

It is down on Middle Head Road, with a swim out of Obelisk Beach (it's a nudist beach.....hehe) and a run around Middle Head.

At the start there were about five of us eyeing each other off.

Derek, who had recently qualified for the 70.3 Ironman Worlds.

Jack, who is a bit of a lone wolf (i.e. he doesn't listen to anyone).

French bloke, who has a french sounding name but I didn't bother learning it because we were too busy staring him down.

Cam Dinnie, who we knew would demolish the bike course.

And me, god knows what the others thought of me.

The start of the swim was at a new level of intensity. There were 7 of us off at the front powering away, and the first buoy was approaching.

If you can picture a group of 7 thrashing bodies in the water, trying to squeeze into a gap to take the quickest line to the buoy, it doesn't work.

Paul Bethell, who wisely decided not to join in our childish games at the start, took the lead.

I decided to use my considerable bulk and act as a barge. I surged next to the buoy, stopped, pivoted like a slow moving submarine and swam on. This not only forced the people behind me into my legs, but it slowed them down......LOL!

But someone had snuck through my barge tactics and it was none other than Bruce Thomas, one of the oldest men in the field (kidding, but what a hero) and his left arm hit me in the head a couple of times on the way past. Justice, I suppose.

Jack had decided in his infinite wisdom that he would follow me and tap, tap, tap away at my feet. I felt like a mother duck leading her baby duckling through the water. 

We jumped out of the water in 5th and 6th place respectively and tried to run up the very steep, very distressing stairs to the transition.

The bike course is hair-raising because it is six laps of what could be described as a roller coaster. Speed humps, pot holes and nearly 60 athletes.

We bunched up at the front, with all five of us jostling for a good position on the first lap.

As we headed downhill I stood up to stamp my pedals to try and pass Cam but at that moment several things seemed to happen.

My wheel hit something, my tyre blew up, my chain slipped off and all that momentum flipped me up and over the handlebars and into the road.

Richard, also doing his first Balmoral triathlon, would text me later and say "I was just starting my first bike lap and you flipped right in front of me across to the other side of the road. I was about to stop but you got up and threw your waterbottle into the ground, so I knew you were OK".


A crash is a weird thing because you don't really know what has happened. One second you are riding, the next you are flying and then your body is screaming in pain and blood is everywhere.

My first impulse was anger, because I had positioned myself perfectly for the race and I knew I was done and dusted.

My second impulse was to see if my beautiful bike was OK. The front tyre was absolutely shot, the inner tube had literally exploded.

My last impulse was to to check to see if I had busted anything (I am still checking).

I did the walk of shame back to the start line, with help from a couple of volunteers (thanks Chrissie Thomas!) and made sure I got some good photos of my bloodied back to go on my new instagram account.

Derek finished off a smart race by running to victory, with Cam in second and Jack in third.

Well done to all the Balmoral tri club racers, it was a beautiful morning to race!

Hopefully my bad luck at my recent triathlons stops, and I can get back in time for the Triple Tri in Canberra (Team HMAS Friendship) and Huski Sprint.