It was a beautiful day in beautiful Jervis Bay. The weekend full of different triathlons, swims and runs made for a fun weekend for the whole family. I feel Elite Energy still has some issues to touch on in their organisation of some of their events; However, they still give it a go and overall, produce a solid time for all.

Due to the food poisoning holocaust that forced the Cannibal out of last week’s Australian National Championships in Falls creek, Clint Arizmendi was contemplating racing on this day. However, he smartly chose to do battle another day as his system was severely weakened by the bug that set up camp in his intestines. Never the less, he and I decided to have a weekend of it and make the drive down to Jervis Bay. Clint kindly volunteered part of his day to marshal some of the race and I just hung back and watched and Pete Jacobs and Mitch Robins went 1 – 2 in the Pro men’s field.

However, the highlight of the weekend was catching up with a few of my old mates from Leeton. It was special seeing some of the people who I first met when I moved to Australia permanently over 2 years ago and who I have not seen in about a year.The whole Tri crew made it over for the long course race. One athlete who I still work with in Leeton, Nathan Wood, had a smash day despite his claims his bike could have been faster. For such a big person (a very lean 100kg and 195cm. or so) he can really move. If he would have chosen to race the Clydesdale category, he would have won. However, he chose the “gentlemanly” way and raced his age group. He had a great day finishing 25 out of 219 for the day. The almighty "Woodsy" post race

System Jake athletes Ken “Dirty Diesel” Enright and Clint “Cannibal” Arizmendi made it down to Falls Creek, Victoria for some high altitude, cold water lovin’. These two have had this race in their sights to make selection for the Australian National Long course team and race this July in Spain for the ITU Long Course World Championships.

The weather all week leading up to the race was looking dismal at best. Race organisation was not sure how to handle the turn of weather and ultimately decided on race day to go on with the full race.

Unfortunately for Clint, a hi-fever and food poisoning struck him down just a few days out from the race, preventing him from maintaining any nutritional input into his body. Being the hard charger he is, he still decided to have a go of it. The morning temp was 14c water and 8c air which would make for an interesting T1 and first 30 minutes on the bike. As Clint came out of the water looking for scalps, he started the bike. However, the combination of the cold water and his stomach flu prevented him from keeping anything down in terms of nutrition. He pulled the plug about 40k into the bike after giving it a go and I immensely admire him for the effort.

On to Ken. Ironically, Ken also came down with a bug just about 10 days out from race day. Although not food related, it was more of a “catching someone else’s” germ type of sickness that just saps your energy and adds misery to good health. However, Ken was able to manage a really well executed race despite missing some training days and not fully stocked in terms of energy levels. Being from the warm climes up in Queensland, he managed the cold well and had a great day to finish and a lot to be proud of!!  (That's Clint on the left and Ken on the right)

Well, the American Cycling road racing season got underway with Dalford England travelling down to Gainesville, Florida and competing in a series of three (2  Collegiate “A” races and a Pro1/2 ) race. Despite not doing any specific bike training, he had a great weekend of good results which left him questioning whether to get in to cycling on a more full time basis or continue in his quest for National Triathlon stardom.

He has some big goals in Triathlon this year, so he is going to stay concentrating on that. However, the bike racing only adds to his strengths. It works on his reflexes when he is in the pack, strategy when making race moves and works on his overall ability to suffer. Cause when you are up the road in a small break and the group is bearing down hard, staying off the front can be very painful. He also has gained respect in the bike racing community who sometimes have a negative thing or two to say about triathletes.