As a triathlete I spend a lot of time focussed and working towards my goals. I am paying closer attention to my diet and am spending a lot of time on various race courses. Each time I'm out there, or whenever I hit a tough patch, there has always been someone there to provide support or advice.
If you'd have asked me mid last year about racing the Corporate Triathlon again you would have received a resounding No. Even as late as August I was still holding firm that I was done with the race. Don't get me wrong, it's a great event and the team aspect adds a whole new, cool dimension to triathlon. It's just that I was not feeling up to the challenge of finding staff members to fill the team spots and again, trying to secure a budget for company branded race kit. The year before, delays in the approval process were compounded by Chinese public holidays and mailing address errors, and that was before the parcel got held up in customs! We actually took delivery of the kit on the Friday before the race weekend.
No, I had a rematch with the Shepparton 70.3 and a little thing called Ironman to focus on, I did not need the added stress of recruiting and negotiation to add to my plate. Therefore, it come as a little surprise that last week we not only fielded and completed the Nissan Corporate triathlon with more teams than ever before (5 in the main event, plus one in the Sprint) but also brought our largest contingent of first-timers to the sport.
In the lead up I worried that I hadn't provided enough info to the rookies, every time I spoke to one I would remember about ten new details I hadn't discussed before. Many an email was sent with snippets of tips, discussions of the rules and links to articles on what to bring and what to expect. Having been doing this for a few years now, though, I'm sure there are things I take for granted as common knowledge but aren't obvious to everyone.
Race day eve arrived and I still had the headcount to fill all the team spots (although I had become the cyclist for the sprint team due to an injury to the original owner of this position). I was still making phone calls to set meeting points and timings for people the arrive and get set up.
Race day was met with a bit of nervous excitement and I was impressed that, not only did all my guys manage to complete their race, they also said they'd enjoyed the experience! So much so that a number of them already have their sights set on suiting up again for race 6 in St Kilda.
I'm glad they enjoyed the race and stoked we were able to achieve the results together. Though this race was firmly in the "too hard basket", I'm glad I pulled my head out of my own little siloed world long enough to support these guys.
Early on race day, we drove up to the Geelong foreshore in our supporter tees and arrived in time to catch up with the crew. The wife and I dropped off the bags in the tent, deposited the kids with the other teens and tweens in attendance and settled in to a day of playing spot the speeding triathlete and work out who it is in time to call out their name. I must admit, I got better at this game as soon as a I gave up going for bonus points by trying to capture their photo as well. The added difficulty of spotting them, then finding them in my phone's view finder and then following their movement to get a clear pic was a little above my ability. I settled instead for calling out the names I knew and clapping for as many of the athletes as I could, whether I knew them or not. As I watched and cheered there were moments that I wished I was out there with them (actually, mostly whilst watching the bike leg) but mainly, after an hour of cheering, I wished we'd remembered to bring the cowbell. Note - constant clapping is hard work; rewarding, but hard.
It was a great day out, the sun shone brightly, we were repeatedly thanked by participants who received our support and I even gave out a few high-fives. My friends were rewarded for their efforts with another achievement, some knew lessons learned, or at least the fortune of knowing, it was better to break spokes here rather than 45km down the Eastlink freeway. It's good to give back sometimes; and my mate that we went to support?
Let's just say, a picture tells a thousand words...
Being part of a team has really helped me achieve the level of success I have to date.
Now, it's payback time.
If you'd have asked me mid last year about racing the Corporate Triathlon again you would have received a resounding No. Even as late as August I was still holding firm that I was done with the race. Don't get me wrong, it's a great event and the team aspect adds a whole new, cool dimension to triathlon. It's just that I was not feeling up to the challenge of finding staff members to fill the team spots and again, trying to secure a budget for company branded race kit. The year before, delays in the approval process were compounded by Chinese public holidays and mailing address errors, and that was before the parcel got held up in customs! We actually took delivery of the kit on the Friday before the race weekend.
No, I had a rematch with the Shepparton 70.3 and a little thing called Ironman to focus on, I did not need the added stress of recruiting and negotiation to add to my plate. Therefore, it come as a little surprise that last week we not only fielded and completed the Nissan Corporate triathlon with more teams than ever before (5 in the main event, plus one in the Sprint) but also brought our largest contingent of first-timers to the sport.
In the lead up I worried that I hadn't provided enough info to the rookies, every time I spoke to one I would remember about ten new details I hadn't discussed before. Many an email was sent with snippets of tips, discussions of the rules and links to articles on what to bring and what to expect. Having been doing this for a few years now, though, I'm sure there are things I take for granted as common knowledge but aren't obvious to everyone.
Race day eve arrived and I still had the headcount to fill all the team spots (although I had become the cyclist for the sprint team due to an injury to the original owner of this position). I was still making phone calls to set meeting points and timings for people the arrive and get set up.
Race day was met with a bit of nervous excitement and I was impressed that, not only did all my guys manage to complete their race, they also said they'd enjoyed the experience! So much so that a number of them already have their sights set on suiting up again for race 6 in St Kilda.
I'm glad they enjoyed the race and stoked we were able to achieve the results together. Though this race was firmly in the "too hard basket", I'm glad I pulled my head out of my own little siloed world long enough to support these guys.
A weeke earlier still was the Geelong Triathlon Festival. The vast majority of the group I'm training with for Ironman Melbourne were using this long course race as their lead up to the big race. I was not going to be suiting up for this event, almost a year ago I had made a different commitment. One of the girls from the club had confided in me that she was going to debut her long course in Geelong so, the family and I were going to be there to support her.
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| Pam-Tastic T-Shirt! |
It was a great day out, the sun shone brightly, we were repeatedly thanked by participants who received our support and I even gave out a few high-fives. My friends were rewarded for their efforts with another achievement, some knew lessons learned, or at least the fortune of knowing, it was better to break spokes here rather than 45km down the Eastlink freeway. It's good to give back sometimes; and my mate that we went to support?
Let's just say, a picture tells a thousand words...
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