WINTER IN LEEDS A WINNER AS ABRAM BACK ON PODIUM

By

April 7, 2013

It’s not everyone’s cup of tea but a winter training block in the north of England has paid dividends for Australia’s rejuvenated triathlete Felicity Abram in Auckland today.

Abram, 26, posted her first major podium finish in five years with a bronze medal behind 2012 ITU World Championship grand final winner Anne Haug (GER) and the fast finishing Maaike Caelers (NED) in the ITU Triathlon World Series opener in Auckland.

Brisbane’s former world number one from 2005 spent the winter in Leeds with boyfriend, British Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee and his brother Olympic bronze medallist and ITU World Champion Jonathan Brownlee and it has set her up for what has already been a successful start to her season.

Abram followed up her victory in the ITU Oceania Championships in Wellington a fortnight ago with a performance today which certainly turned back the clock for the 2003 ITU World Junior Champion who has battled injury and illness in recent years.

“I put it down to a consistent winter training program in England and I’ve got to tell you it’s good to be back in the game,” said Abram, who said 12 months ago she had her sights on the Rio de Janeiro Olympics after missing the London team.

“I left here last year after the World Championship grand final and I said to myself I want to come back this year and podium and I’m really quite happy.

“Anne Haug is a really strong runner and I knew at some stage she would go and I just had to be ready for that. I felt really comfortable in the run and when Anne and Maaike took off it left Kate McIlroy (NZL) to fight it out for the bronze.

“I didn’t want to finish fourth. I wanted to be on that podium.”

Abram gave it everything she had and collapsed after crossing the line, with her two younger Australian team mates, Wollongong-based training partners Charlotte McShane and Natalie Van Coevorden fighting on bravely to finish 9th and 10th respectively.

It capped an outstanding day for the young Australian group with Aaron Royle (sixth), Ryan Bailie (eighth) and Cameron Good (10th) also giving the men three in the top 10 – the best overall performance of any nation in Auckland for the two WTS races.

And it presented Australia’s newly appointed High Performance Director Bernard Savage with some very encouraging signs.

“I couldn’t be happier; Felicity was outstanding and our younger athletes dug deep to proud some fantastic results in the first ITU World Championship race of the year,” said Savage.

“Felicity spent the winter training with a very, very good group in Leeds and she showed in Wellington and again today she has her confidence back, actually leading for a couple laps on the run and up against some good runners like Haug.

“And I was pleased with the efforts of McShane and Van Coevorden who also hung in well and did a very good job to finish in the top ten.

“It is another stepping stone for them and further progress in their development in a small but high quality field.”

Savage said he was equally impressed with boys race, in particular Royle, who mixed it with the some of the best in the world.

“Aaron was outstanding and Ryan and Cameron also showed their own brand of toughness, with Cameron coming off his bike after working so hard to get himself up the road but he jumped back on and caught the lead group and despite working hard still managed to grab 10th place.

“He certainly showed some qualities to come back from a mishap and hang in there – so overall it was a very encouraging start for our guys, especially the young ones.”

Abram was happy to sit back in the pack on the bike which saw McShane and Van Coevorden always well placed but the leaders were hardly out of transition when Abram showed she had her old mojo back on the run.

She carried herself well and took it to the lead pack including Haug, who at one stage was some 45 seconds behind on the bike and rode brilliantly to catch the pack, New Zealand pair Nicky Samuels and McIlroy, Caelers, Yuka Sato from Japan and Jessica Harrison from France.

But by the five kilometre mark it was down to four with Abram leading the way from Caelers, Haug and McIlroy but it was only a matter of when Haug was going to make her move and with nine kilometres run the Canberra-based German who trains under Darren Smith took off.

Caelers, who refers to herself as 49 percent New Zealand, wasn’t going to let her off the hook completely and came with a finishing burst – albeit all too late.

The Haug had bolted with Caelers an impressive second and Abram an equally impressive third as was the McShane-Van Coevorden pairing who rubbed shoulders with some of the world’s best and will be better for the experience.

They will also leave Auckland knowing their time spent climbing the hills around Dapto will be time well ridden.

Top Ten WTS Women’s Race, Auckland April 6:

1. Anne Haug (GER)
2. Maaike Caelers (NED)
3. Felicity Abram (AUS)
4. Kate McIlroy (NZL)
5. Nicky Samuels (NZL)
6. Yuka Sato (JPN)
7. Jessica Harrison (FRA)
8. Juri Ide (JPN)
9. Charlotte McShane (AUS)
10. Natalie Van Coevorden (AUS)

ROYLE LEADS NEXT GENERATION MEN INTO TOP 10

Australian youngsters Aaron Royle, Ryan Bailie and Cameron Good showed why the next generation of male triathletes is very much on the move after earning top ten finishes in the opening round of the ITU World Triathlon Series in Auckland today.

Royle, the reigning under 23 world champion, was the best placed of the Aussies, finishing a creditable sixth in a race dominated by the Europeans with Olympic silver medallist Javier Gomez winning the gold medal from fellow countryman Mario Mola with Portugal’s Joao Silva third.

West Australian Bailie, who has trained alongside Royle in Wollongong since 2009 was a creditable eighth and Canberra-based Cameron Good from Sydney’s Northern Beaches 10th – just behind 2008 Olympic champion Jan Frodeno of Germany.

In the absence of London Olympians Courtney Atkinson, Brad Kahlefeldt and Brendan Sexton, the rising stars of triathlon are off and running with their sights set on the 2014 Commonwealth Games and in Glasgow and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

It was a brave performance from Good whose race could have been as good as over on the sixth of eight gruelling bike laps, when he crashed alongside Ireland’s Bryan Keane but he dusted himself off and set out after the lead group.

A last minute entry, Good, who has been consistently placed in the top 10 in this summer’s domestic races, showed grit determination to ride his way back into the race.

Royle was always the best placed of the Australian trio, coming out in the lead group on the swim with Bailie fighting his way from the chase group on the bike to lead the field coming into transition after the challenging eight-lap, 40km bike course.

But all eyes were on the imposing figure of Spain’s “Wild Wolf” and t only took Gomez, (unbeaten in New Zealand now after four wins) three kilometres to shake off Mola, who had raced so well off the bike.

Like most elite triathletes (apart from Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee) Mola didn’t have any answers to the power and determination of Gomez, who conquered the same course to win last year’s Auckland Grand Final.

Royle, who had spent 21 days in assimilated altitude training in Wollongong and at the NSWIS, showed why he will be a young man to watch with his “never say die” 10km run in a class field of athletes and any victory over an Olympic champion is not to be sneezed at.

Training partner Bailie also showed the benefits of training in the hills around Dapto under coach Jamie Turner to put himself into the top ten in eighth place after a brilliant ride and a dogged 10km run.

TOP TEN, WTS Men’s race Auckland, April 6:

1. Javier Gomez (ESP)
2. Mario Mola (ESP)
3. Joao Silva (Portugal)
4. Laurent Vidal (France)
5. Matt Sharp (GBR)
6. Aaron Royle (AUS)
7. Tony Dodds (NZL)
8. Ryan Bailie (AUS)
9. Jan Frodeno (GER)
10. Cameron Good (AUS)