Weekly Newsletter 10 March 2014

LONG COURSE!!!
Our next club race will be the annual long course. This is intended to prepare our members for the upcoming Club Championships in Forster on 5th April. The format will be 1km/30km/7.5km. So that’s just an extra lap on each of the bike & run legs, plus a tad extra on the swim.

The long range forecast at this stage is for a hot day on Sunday, so please be prepared, hydrate well and look at ways to keep your core temperature down. The tide will be on the high side, so plenty of water for the swim.

As always, registrations will close at 6:20am and the race briefing will be shortly afterwards. We absolutely need to start on time to account for the extra time spent on the course due to the extra distance. The race will start at 6:30am. Please be ready to go by 6:20am. 

RULE OF THE WEEK

Back to the business of bike rules. This week we look at the setup of the bike itself.

Rule 3 – Cycling Conduct

3.12        Bicycles must have all of the following characteristics:

 

a.                   No more than 2 metres long and 75 centimetres wide;

b.                  Measure at least 24 centimetres from the ground to the chain wheel axle;

c.                   A vertical line touching the front most point of the saddle will be no more than 5 centimetres in front of and no more than 15 centimetres behind a vertical line passing through the centre of the chain wheel axle (Diagram 6), and a competitor must not have the capability of adjusting the saddle beyond these lines during competition.

JUNIORS

By Club Coach Andrew Rowlings

Coffs Harbour Triathlon Club will again be represented at the National All Schools Championships in 2014. To be staged at Bendigo from April 8-11, we will have two junior members in the New South Wales team.

Tenielle Stubbs and Sam Burke both qualified at the state titles at Penrith last week, continuing a long tradition of North Coast athletes reaching the pinnacle of their age group.

Tenielle collected fifth place in the Senior division last Thursday, courtesy of a strong bike and a vastly improved run split. Coming into T2 with some of the top runners in this event, Tenielle showed her fighting characteristics and notched a personal best 19min32sec 5km run off the bike.

With her strength coming to the fore, she turned the tables on several of her rivals who have finished in front of her earlier in the season. Tenielle has been a regular in the NSW squad, with only the occasional hiccup since she started competing at these titles five years ago.

Tenielle also collected a team gold on the Friday, teaming up with Amanda Zerbe and Carlie Swanson. In this Tenielle was the second fastest female bike rider on the course.

In the junior division, Sam Burke had an impressive debut, taking sixth place and cementing his position in the State team at his first attempt. Fast in the water and strong on the run, Sam is a star of the future and will continue to blossom as he develops his cycling. Expect Sam to be further improved by the time he hits the start line in Bendigo next month.

Emily Malouf also raced in the senior event, taking 15th position in a field of 140. There is little doubt that Emily has shown dramatic improvement since Christmas, and should be pleased with her result in top-class company.

Well done to all three, reaping the benefits of the hard work and diligent training habits that set the platform for these sort of performances.

BOB WALLIS BIKE MAINTENANCE CLASS
Club member and sponsor Barry Rix from Bob Wallis Cycles will be running two Women’s Bike Maintenance Classes on Friday 14 March and Friday 28 March.

The classes will start at 6:00pm and will be held at their store at Park Beach Homebase. There will be no charge to attend. You are welcome to bring along a plate of nibblies and a drink if you like. 

At this stage numbers will be limited to 15 for each class.  Please contact Barry on 6652 5102 to book your place.

Also please have a think about any areas you would like covered – no matter how simple they may sound - so we can ensure we are covering your areas of concern.  It should be a fun night and a chance to learn how to better look after your bike and enjoy your riding more.

For the guys out there, if you would like us to make a class available for you then let us know and if there is enough interest we will get one organised.

END OF SEASON PRESENTATION AND GALA DINNER   
Hard to believe, but the end of the season is approaching (I know!!). Our Presentation and Gala Dinner will be held on Friday 16th May 16th at the C.ex Coffs Harbour. So lock that date in!

We are currently finalising our guest speaker, an icon in the sport of Triathlon. The night will be a chance to recognise this season’s top performers, both juniors and seniors, club person of year, iron person of the year as well as the induction John Daffy, Cath Porter and Andrew Rowlings as life members.

And remember…if you don’t win a prize at the presentation, you can always strut your stuff on the dance floor.

More details will follow in the forthcoming weeks, but mark your calendar for this date.

TOUR DE CURE RAFFLE
Hadley Black, Sarah Rose & Sione George (aka Tour de Femme) will be racing Ironman Melbourne on 23rd March to raise money for Tour de Cure.  Their goal is to raise $6,000 for Tour de Cure to help in the fight against cancer and they have almost reached their target with only $700 to go before Ironman Melbourne on 23rd March.

The Femmes will be selling raffle tickets at Sunday's club race. Among the fantastic prizes are an entry to the Forster Challenge as well as a massage from Leeann Lloyd, bike services from Ventoux & a voucher from Kaboodle Hair. Tickets are $2 each, so bring along your loose change. 

The Raffle will be drawn during the presentation immediately after the race.

To donate to Tour de Femme’s fundraiser, go to https://www.tourdecure.com.au/pages/donate/27319b.

AGE IS NO BOUNDARY
Sr Madonna Buder is one of my personal tri-heroes. At 83 years of age the Catholic nun from Missouri, USA  is still an Ironman competitor and has completed around 45 Iron distance triathlons.  She completed Kona in 2011 in an amazing 16:32:00.  For more on Sr Buder, check out this article from the Ironman website.

And while he’s not quite in Sr Buder’s age group, 70 year old Geoff Thorsen from Sydney is about to have his 23rd go at Kona. The Sydney Morning Herald published an article about him on 6th March 2014. You can read the article here.

NEXT NEWSLETTER…
Will be a few days late as your humble scribe will be out of the area. On triathlon-related business, of course. So don’t fret, the newsletter should hit your inbox on Wednesday 19th March. 

CHTC CLASSIFIEDS

• Barry Rix is selling his Specialized Transition Expert 2010 model TT/Triathlon bike, size L – 56cm.  Barry says it is in excellent condition, with carbon frame, Shimano Dura Ace shifters and rear derailleur, Ultegra crankset, Zipp tri bars and Mavic Ksyrium Equipe wheels (see attached photos).  The bike has been professionally serviced for the sale and Barry will include another free service at Bob Wallis Cycles when the need arises.  Barry says it is a very fast bike which has seen very little to no use in the past couple of years due to his involvement in adventure racing and mountain biking. New the bike cost more than $6,000 and he is selling it for $2,000. Anyone interested can call Barry on 0407 918 227.
  
• FOUND: a large bike tool black bottle. ContentS: 2 tubes, pump, 2 CO2 cartridges. It was found on Saturday 8th March on the bike path on Hogbin Drive on the bridge over Boambee Creek. The owner can collect it from Norman at Morisson’s Electrical. 
  

ONES FOR THE CALENDAR

• Ironman Melbourne
  

23rd March 2014. Great location, great atmosphere, dodgy weather – maybe. It’s Melbourne after all! http://ap.ironman.com/triathlon/events/asiapac/ironman/melbourne.aspx#axzz2rZaNRNRk

• Beachside Radiology Coffs Ocean Swims
  

Sunday 30th March. The 16th annual Coffs Ocean Swims are on again with a 600m Jetty swim; 2000m harbour swim and races for kids. Register at www.villagesports.com.au.

• Kingscliff Triathlon
  

Always popular, always a good race. Great course, fun atmosphere. 29 & 30 March 2014. All the details are at http://www.kingsclifftri.com.au/.

• Club Championships
  

5th April 2014 in Forster, the original home of Ironman Australia. A truly beautiful course, followed by a great night out with teammates and triathletes from all over NSW. Definitely not to be missed. Registrations open in January. Contact Mick Dougherty at [email protected] to register your interest and take advantage of the club-subsidised discount.

• Ironman South Africa
  

6th April in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa. A couple of members will be competing so cheer them on and track their progress at http://ap.ironman.com/triathlon/events/emea/ironman/south-africa.aspx#axzz2sFYYsxm3.

WISE WORDS
“We’re all slower than somebody. There’s nothing to be gained from belittling yourself over how fast you can run; banish all thoughts of ‘Oh, I’m so slow, what’s the point?’

People get lapped even in world-class 10Ks on the track. There will always be lots of people faster than you. That fact detracts not a whit from your efforts to get faster and the meaning you can find in that pursuit. Any thoughtful runner who has set performance goals and worked hard to reach them will respect any other runner’s quest to do the same.

Your effort, not your pace at that effort, is what really matters”.
- Scott Douglas