“I’d never been Pemberton-way before. We got in late the night before the race, so waking up the next morning was the first time I’d seen that beautiful place – it was magical," Matt Burton, winner 2015 Karri Valley Triathlon.
The seventh race in our WA State Series served up some excitement, with many athletes – including the Pros – finding themselves in sprint finishes. With valuable TWA Triathlete of the Year (TOTY) points up for grabs, it was a race worth fighting for.
As anticipated, Guy Crawford was first to emerge from the fresh waters of Lake Beedelup, but hot on his toes was UWA Tri Club’s, Samuel Lade, who continued to accelerate down the 400m-stretch to T1, clocking the official race-best of 21:10.
Last year’s winner, Matt White, joined Courtney Ogden in pursuit of the race leaders, quickly catching them to work as a quartet on the bike.
Swiss Pro Emma Bilham surfaced next, one of few athletes to opt for a sans wetsuit swim. Surprisingly, our next female athlete was only fifteen seconds behind the lightening fast swimmer.
“I had a really miserable swim, getting sandwiched between two men and bashed around a lot,” said Bilham, who also mentioned the reason for no wetsuit was due to baggage allowance restrictions.
“By the first buoy, three quarters of the field were ahead of me and I didn't get nearly as much time over the other girls as I wanted.”
Western Australia’s Matt Burton and Kate Bevilaqua came out together, with women’s race favourite, Katey Gibb on their heels.
Renee Baker lead age-groupers, Aaron Williams and Matt Jennings out of the water, with Lindsay Bennett, Allister Caird and Lisa Luckin all having swim deficits of almost three minutes to their race leaders.
With a two-minute gap to bridge, Burton made his move on the bike and by the end of the first lap (of two), he had a 45 second lead.
The chase group still included Ogden, White, Lade and Crawford, with Aaron Williams 3m30s back from them. More than five minutes back was gun age-grouper, Allister Caird, who was suffering back pain and eventually pulled out of the race.
Gibb had made up time in the women’s race and going into the second lap of the bike found herself 30 seconds in front of Bilham, with Baker and Bevilaqua three and four minutes back after both being victim to mechanicals.
Having the benefit of training in the Swiss hills, Bilham started making inroads on Gibb and after 45km of rolling hills, caught WA’s homegrown talent.
“I was motivated by the fact that I still had Katey in my sights, and realised some way into the second lap that I was even catching her.
“I felt strong and am no good at playing games, so I went straight past and just tried to keep the pace, and decided to worry about the run later.
“I didn't have any tactics beyond giving it my all,” said the gutsy athlete.
Heading into T2, Burton had extended his lead to three minutes over the chase pack, after riding 1:30:26 – 4m30s faster than his nearest rival.
"I sort of knew what time I needed but when you’ve got four guys working together, I just had to keep going with it," said Burton.
“For me, ninety seconds would have been enough but I thought, let’s push it to three minutes.
“I know what big power is in terms of what other guys can do, so when I was climbing on my own I made sure I was over 400 watts,” explained Burton, whose reputation on the bike precedes him.
“I literally had to rip my legs off on the bike – I don’t think I’ve ridden so hard in a triathlon before."
In the women’s race, Bilham extended her lead on the bike, entering T2 one minute ahead of Gibb – but there was no room for slowing down, with Gibb being notorious for her running speed.
“Once I got out of T2 I focused mainly on myself – I knew she was a very strong runner but all I could do was run my best and try and make it hard for her.
“The only thing that did go through my head was that if she'd faded a little on the bike, she may do the same on the run, which was why I really tried to keep going on the second lap,” said Bilham.
The chase was on in the men’s race. UWA’s Sam Lade lead the charge out of T2, but couldn’t stay with the likes of Ogden, White and Crawford, who were expected to put time into Burton.
However Burton’s experience running trails through his backyard of Helena Valley came into play.
“Those first hills are hard, especially as you run out of transition, but over that first bit of trail that they take you through – those false flats will break you if you don’t mentally stay switched on,” said Burton.
The satisfaction of taking the win for both Burton and Bilham was undeniable, with both athletes out to out to prove a point after their respective preceding performances at Challenge Wanaka and Philippines 70.3.
“I‘m in the middle of training and probably didn’t expect the race to be as hard as it was. It’s by far one of the hardest races you can do, especially in WA,” said Burton.
After taking home the full 50 points for TOTY (Bilham not eligible due to not being a TWA member), Gibb has all but secured a third consecutive year as Triathlon WA’s Female Open Triathlete of the Year and is set to be awarded the coveted prize at the Annual Awards in June.
The Age Group categories are tight and with two WA State Series races to go, TOTY points will still be highly sort after by most athletes.
Click here to see the TOTY points as they stand after Karri Valley Triathlon.
WA State Series Race 8: Hillarys 2 - Sunday 12 April 2015
WA State Series Race 9: Busselton IRONMAN 70.3 - Saturday 2 May 2015
Top 5 Open Men Karri Valley Triathlon |
||
1st |
Matt Burton: |
2:45:59.90 |
2nd |
Guy Crawford: |
2:48:18.60 |
3rd |
Courtney Ogden: |
2:48:23.50 |
4th |
Matt White: |
2:48:48.70 |
5th |
Sam Lade |
2:52:35.80 |
Top 5 Open Women Karri Valley Triathlon |
||
1st |
Emma Bilham: |
2:59:15.40 |
2nd |
Katey Gibb: |
3:01:00.30 |
3rd |
Renee Baker: |
3:08:19.70 |
4th |
Kate Bevilaqua: |
3:08:19.90 |
5th |
Lisa Luckin: |
3:14:28.30 |
KVT FAST FACTS |
|
|
Fastest Male AG overall: |
Luke Cameron (35-39AG) |
2:57:18.70 |
Fastest Female AG overall: |
Claire Badenhorst (25-29AG) |
3:18:12.20 |
Fastest Male AG swim: |
Luke Neuwert (30-34AG) |
23:28.50 |
Fastest Male AG bike: |
Neil Mendum (40-44AG) |
1:35:20.70 |
Fastest Male AG run: |
Ryan Blesing (25-29AG) |
51:34.40 |
Fastest Female AG swim: |
Kate Shyrock (25-29AG) |
23:04.60 (and fastest female swim overall) |
Fastest Female AG bike: |
Sarah Cairns (30-34AG) |
1:48:30.10 |
Fastest Female AG run: |
Katherine Ryan (45-49AG) |
58:46.10 |
Follow us on:
![you tube icon](/Assets/Triathlon+Australia+Digital+Assets/Logos/you+tube+icon.jpg)