2013 National Marathon Championships

This year’s Australian Marathon Championships were to be held in the small town of Atherton in far 

north Queensland. This was going to be my first marathon since the Otway Odyssey and it was a course that suited the climbers like myself. A 33km lap consisted of 1100m of vertical climbing, meaning it was going be a tough and painful day in the saddle. We arrived three days before the race, using the time to adjust to the sweltering conditions and ride the unfamiliar course. Our first practice lap took two and a half hours at an easy pace, looking at different lines and the spectacular scenery around us. Temperatures soared from the low to high 30s and areas of the course were in direct sunlight, taking us two days to simply adjust to the temperatures. Saturday morning I rode the first half of the lap with the main climb and the last descent into the finish. In preparation for the big race it was a large dinner and an early night for me. The under 23 field consisted of 6 riders, with my former teammate Kyle Ward being one of them. All the male categories started at the same time, making this a hectic start to a long race. With the back half of the elite males holding the under 23 riders up, it was a case of pushing through to the top half of the elite field, leaving the top three under 23 riders sitting fifth wheel coming into the first piece of
single track. The pace was high from the start, leading the field to slowly dissolve over the first lap.
With Brendan Johnston having a rear flat in the back half of the loop, this gave myself and Kyle a good lead over the rest of the under 23 field. With such a prolonged race in the heat it was paramount to keep hydrated, so I took as many bottles as I could filled with GU Electrolyte Brew. Up the main climb on the second lap I broke away from Kyle, putting three minutes into him at the start of the third and final lap. Sitting fifth overall in the male category, with three minutes to the third and fourth placed riders, I eventually caught Adrian Jackson, taking fourth position and maintaining it until the finish. I crossed the line first in the under 23 category and fourth overall, a great result for such a challenging and exhausting course. I’d like to thank Total Rush and Specialized for my S-Works Epic 29er, a flawless bike that never lets me down. Looking forward to the next two weeks at home training before racing the Convict 100 in St Albans, NSW. Good luck to the Total Rush team this weekend at the Tour of the South West!