With so many of the world’s top long-course triathletes lined up for the first Challenge Bahrain, we’ll be right there course-side to cover all the action.
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Join us right here from 7.30am local time (4.30am UK time) on Saturday 6 December for live and in-depth coverage of all the action. A live video feed can be found here.
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Two-time 70.3 Ironman world champion, Michael Raelert set the pace on the 1.9km swim, leading out Kiwi Dylan McNeice and former IM world champ Pete Jacobs into and out of T1. British hopes were firmly pinned on Tim Don, who had a solid swim to exit the first transition in the top 10.
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Reigning world champ Sebastian Kienle, meanwhile, had a day to forget, with a less than stellar swim before a mechanical early on in the bike put pay to a big win in Bahrain.
Another big name to DNF was Dirk Bockel, who pulled to the side 40km into the bike due to increasing pain in his hip.
In Kienle’s absence, fellow German Andreas Dreitz destroyed the 90k bike leg to enter T2 with a several minute cushion over Raelert and Australia’s Tim ‘two-‘piece’ Reed.
Don meanwhile continued to make his way through the field, as Jacobs quickly fell off the pace.
Two thirds of the way through the 21.1km run, Raelert passed a flagging Dreitz for the lead, which he would retain to the line, crossing the tape in 3:36hrs.
Dreitz followed in for second, just over 2mins later, Reed third a further 1:30 back.
Quotes, pics and Brit round-up to follow shortly…
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Two-time 70.3 Ironman world champion, Michael Raelert set the pace on the 1.9km swim, leading out Kiwi Dylan McNeice and former IM world champ Pete Jacobs into and out of T1. British hopes were firmly pinned on Tim Don, who had a solid swim to exit the first transition in the top 10.
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Reigning world champ Sebastian Kienle, meanwhile, had a day to forget, with a less than stellar swim before a mechanical early on in the bike put pay to a big win in Bahrain.
Another big name to DNF was Dirk Bockel, who pulled to the side 40km into the bike due to increasing pain in his hip.
In Kienle’s absence, fellow German Andreas Dreitz destroyed the 90k bike leg to enter T2 with a several minute cushion over Raelert and Australia’s Tim ‘two-‘piece’ Reed.
Don meanwhile continued to make his way through the field, as Jacobs quickly fell off the pace.
Two thirds of the way through the 21.1km run, Raelert passed a flagging Dreitz for the lead, which he would retain to the line, crossing the tape in 3:36hrs.
Dreitz followed in for second, just over 2mins later, Reed third a further 1:30 back.
Quotes, pics and Brit round-up to follow shortly…
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Fourth-place finisher at this year’s Ironman Worlds, GB’s Jodie Swallow came to the desert with victory on her mind. Flying under the radar in the event lead-up, Swallow was always going to be a threat on the middle-distance course. Predictably she rocketed out of the swim in 22:39mins, taking the lead throughout the majority of the 90km bike, until the last few kms when ITU athlete Annable Luxford (AUS) pipped her into T2.
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Joining the leading duo was Denmark’s Helle Frederiksen in third and GB’s Rachel Joyce in fourth. The same quartet would exit T2 together, but it was Frederiksen who shot to the front, as Swallow retained her second place and Luxford and Joyce faded.
Halfway through and Joyce had managed to retain third place, some 3mins off Frederiksen, as Melissa Hauschildt (AUS) took up fourth place a further minute behind.
But it was to be Frederiksen’s days as the young Dane pulled out a 2min advantage over the chasing Brits to win in 4:49hrs.
Within the closing kilometres, Joyce took second from Swallow, positions the Brit duo would retain to the line.
Pics and quotes from the Brits to follow…
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Fourth-place finisher at this year’s Ironman Worlds, GB’s Jodie Swallow came to the desert with victory on her mind. Flying under the radar in the event lead-up, Swallow was always going to be a threat on the middle-distance course. Predictably she rocketed out of the swim in 22:39mins, taking the lead throughout the majority of the 90km bike, until the last few kms when ITU athlete Annable Luxford (AUS) pipped her into T2.
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Joining the leading duo was Denmark’s Helle Frederiksen in third and GB’s Rachel Joyce in fourth. The same quartet would exit T2 together, but it was Frederiksen who shot to the front, as Swallow retained her second place and Luxford and Joyce faded.
Halfway through and Joyce had managed to retain third place, some 3mins off Frederiksen, as Melissa Hauschildt (AUS) took up fourth place a further minute behind.
But it was to be Frederiksen’s days as the young Dane pulled out a 2min advantage over the chasing Brits to win in 4:49hrs.
Within the closing kilometres, Joyce took second from Swallow, positions the Brit duo would retain to the line.
Pics and quotes from the Brits to follow…
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The Brits once again cluttered the top-10, with Rachel Joyce finishing second, Jodie Swallow third, Tim Don fourth and Jodie Stimpson eighth in her first half-distance race.
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At time of writing, 220 is waiting to speak to the podium sextet, but we managed to grab Don and Stimpson before the recovery tent came a calling’…
With his luggage only turning up at 10.30pm the night before the race, Don had spent his ‘taper’ buying new kit. Further still, he was recovering from a calf injury, which had seen him reduce his run training to just 30km a week.
Nonetheless, the now-seasoned middle-distance podium botherer and 220 columnist would have a strong day in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
“It was a tough race. The swim wasn’t too fast, got in a good position, and then the first 30k of the bike I was like ‘where’s this tailwind that everyone’s talking about?!’ And then Sebastian [Kienle] went past us, he was just crazy fast.
“But on a course like that we were spread out so early, so I just rode my own race. I ended up with Nils Frommhold and Luke Bell.
“I wasn’t sure how my run was going to go, I’ve had a pulled calf. So I’m really happy with fourth.”
Athletes were treated to a safari on the half-marathon run course as it weaved its way through the Al Areen Wildife Park.
“I saw camels, gazelle and two ostrich ran in front of me! Ha ha!” exclaimed a delighted Don. “This kind of event is so unique and is done so well, so to be a part of it is fantastic. I hope this kind of event stays, cause they’re great for the sport, great for Bahrain and great for the athletes.”
Bahrain was Don’s last race of the year, rounding off a successful season for the former ITU world champ.
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“I’ve podiumed in every race I’ve done this year except for this one, so I can’t complain. With that kind of field, those kind of high stakes, everyone was coming here to win.”
NEW KID ON THE HALF-DISTANCE BLOCK
Stimpson, meanwhile, was trying on the half-iron distance for size, a challenge set her by her coach Darren Smith as a pre-Christmas hit-out and before knuckling down for what will hopefully be her Rio Olympics qualifying year.
“It was quite nice not to have to fight so much in the swim, like you do in the ITU field,” enthused Stimpson at the finish line. “It started really fast so it took me a bit to get on feet. I think I was with Rachel Joyce, which I was happy with. But I was quite happy to just come out as I know how fast the other girls are.
“On the bike, all I had in my head was [coach] Darren [Smith] saying ‘pace, pace, pace’. So I just had to concentrate. I think knowing the field was a bit of an error, as I was sat behind Mary Beth Ellis and that’s when the front four got away. But I was feeling fine, I just couldn’t do anything about it at that point. They’d gone. And then as the bike went on, obviously the leg’s started to hurt. I got to 60k and I was like, ‘okay, now I’m hurting a bit. I just can’t cope, just hold on now.’
“I got onto the run and I felt okay, and I pulled in Caroline [Steffen] and ran with her. I couldn’t have done any faster anyway. The pace was as fast as I could go. And then I got to just before 20k, and me and Caroline shook hands and said ‘good job’. We’d pushed each other through. At 20k, though, she had more legs than me and I started to get a stitch, and cramp up. Oh I was in all sorts of trouble that last k!
“When Darren first set this challenge I just wanted to finish the bloody thing! Maybe get top 10. But these girls, they’ve done numerous ones of these, they now how to pace, they know the field. To come into this field, I’m lining up next to my idols really. They’re people who I watch Kona in awe of.
“But I won’t be leaving the ITU circuit anytime soon. This was a challenge, this was something new. I’ve got Rio to focus on. It was a good hit out before Christmas. And now I’m so excited to go home!”
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The Brits once again cluttered the top-10, with Rachel Joyce finishing second, Jodie Swallow third, Tim Don fourth and Jodie Stimpson eighth in her first half-distance race.
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At time of writing, 220 is waiting to speak to the podium sextet, but we managed to grab Don and Stimpson before the recovery tent came a calling’…
With his luggage only turning up at 10.30pm the night before the race, Don had spent his ‘taper’ buying new kit. Further still, he was recovering from a calf injury, which had seen him reduce his run training to just 30km a week.
Nonetheless, the now-seasoned middle-distance podium botherer and 220 columnist would have a strong day in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
“It was a tough race. The swim wasn’t too fast, got in a good position, and then the first 30k of the bike I was like ‘where’s this tailwind that everyone’s talking about?!’ And then Sebastian [Kienle] went past us, he was just crazy fast.
“But on a course like that we were spread out so early, so I just rode my own race. I ended up with Nils Frommhold and Luke Bell.
“I wasn’t sure how my run was going to go, I’ve had a pulled calf. So I’m really happy with fourth.”
Athletes were treated to a safari on the half-marathon run course as it weaved its way through the Al Areen Wildife Park.
“I saw camels, gazelle and two ostrich ran in front of me! Ha ha!” exclaimed a delighted Don. “This kind of event is so unique and is done so well, so to be a part of it is fantastic. I hope this kind of event stays, cause they’re great for the sport, great for Bahrain and great for the athletes.”
Bahrain was Don’s last race of the year, rounding off a successful season for the former ITU world champ.
“I’ve podiumed in every race I’ve done this year except for this one, so I can’t complain. With that kind of field, those kind of high stakes, everyone was coming here to win.”
NEW KID ON THE HALF-DISTANCE BLOCK
Stimpson, meanwhile, was trying on the half-iron distance for size, a challenge set her by her coach Darren Smith as a pre-Christmas hit-out and before knuckling down for what will hopefully be her Rio Olympics qualifying year.
“It was quite nice not to have to fight so much in the swim, like you do in the ITU field,” enthused Stimpson at the finish line. “It started really fast so it took me a bit to get on feet. I think I was with Rachel Joyce, which I was happy with. But I was quite happy to just come out as I know how fast the other girls are.
“On the bike, all I had in my head was [coach] Darren [Smith] saying ‘pace, pace, pace’. So I just had to concentrate. I think knowing the field was a bit of an error, as I was sat behind Mary Beth Ellis and that’s when the front four got away. But I was feeling fine, I just couldn’t do anything about it at that point. They’d gone. And then as the bike went on, obviously the leg’s started to hurt. I got to 60k and I was like, ‘okay, now I’m hurting a bit. I just can’t cope, just hold on now.’
“I got onto the run and I felt okay, and I pulled in Caroline [Steffen] and ran with her. I couldn’t have done any faster anyway. The pace was as fast as I could go. And then I got to just before 20k, and me and Caroline shook hands and said ‘good job’. We’d pushed each other through. At 20k, though, she had more legs than me and I started to get a stitch, and cramp up. Oh I was in all sorts of trouble that last k!
“When Darren first set this challenge I just wanted to finish the bloody thing! Maybe get top 10. But these girls, they’ve done numerous ones of these, they now how to pace, they know the field. To come into this field, I’m lining up next to my idols really. They’re people who I watch Kona in awe of.
“But I won’t be leaving the ITU circuit anytime soon. This was a challenge, this was something new. I’ve got Rio to focus on. It was a good hit out before Christmas. And now I’m so excited to go home!”
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1st, Helle Frederiksen, DEN
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“I’ve been training very hard. I didn’t have the race that I wanted at the 70.3 worlds. I wanted to make Bahrain my Worlds. To win over girls like this makes it all the more sweet.
“In October I was like, I don’t know if I can do this [race]. But I turned it around and I couldn’t be happier now!
2nd, Rachel Joyce, GB
“It was really hard work on the bike. I had two objectives; try and catch Jodie and try and drop Helle. I got one but not the other!
“I had my plan but it didn’t really work out because everyone was so strong. I need to practise my cornering a bit cause I kind of fell back a little bit at that point on the bike!
“But to get to the front on the bike was a little bit of a surge. I wanted to catch Jodie [who at the start of the bike was in front], but I knew that if I went at a steady rate everyone would just stay with me, so I anticipated this tactic of surging on the bike. I’ve been practising holding a certain amount of power before backing off. So I did it once and I looked back, and Helle was still there. Then I regrouped… but she was quite persistent. I think at that point we joined up to Jodie. But I’d burnt a few matches. So I just had to sit in a bit. I tried to go ahead of Jodie and then I needed a drink so she was straight back past me.
“The way these two went out of T2, I was like ‘oh my word. It is 21k right?!’ They were like bullets, it was quite something to see.
“I haven’t raced that many 70.3s so I’m delighted to come second and I got a lot of information from this race.”
“Going into 2015, having all these podiums but no top spot is a real motivator for me. Even though I would’ve loved a big win this year, the sport gives me so much more that I can kind of live with it, and is the big thing that motivates me in training.”
3rd, Jodie Swallow, GB
“It [the race] was almost like a computer game, it was a surreal. It was like I was let out into the safari park. It was just absolutely amazing. This beats ITU racing: just the attitude of the organisers, having the royal family involved and absolutely loving it. In 10 years of racing I’ve never had that, it was an absolutely amazing experience. And the women’s race definitely felt as special as the men’s race. And that’s a big progression in the sport.
“I always feel more comfortable with others beside me so this race was ideal [Jodie ran with Frederikson for the first half of the run]. But yeah, it was a pleasure to run with Helle for 10k and then get spat out the back…!
“I’m in the process of buying a house, so it’s good to know we’ve got a deposit!”
1st, Michael Raelert, GER
“I’m just really happy to be back racing [Michael has been plagued with injury for the past two years]. I was just happy to be in the middle of the pack and next to all these guys. I felt like I’d already won the race!
“It was pretty hard to get motivated for the race having had such an amazing experience in the lead-up. We’ve been treated like kings and queens! What Challenge did today was professional but familiar. It’s so unique.
[Michael ran a 1:10hr half marathon.] “Honestly, I hope I can go even faster. Right now I feel good, but not great. I hope I can still improve.”
2nd, Andreas Dreitz, GER
[On hearing that he clocked a 1:57:22 90km bike split] “That’s incredible! It was a fast course and I was pushing really hard. I had a new bike set-up, we made some adjustments, but sub-2hrs is just amazing.
“Knowing there was a live feed, also gives you the energy to push harder!
“Coming into T2 I knew it was close [to Michael in second]. I had good pace at the beginning of the run. At kilometre 6, I j heard it was still the same distance to him and I thought maybe I can go for it. But I’m glad the guys behind couldn’t see the live stream cause it was a struggle at 20k.”
3rd, Tim Reed, AUS
“As soon as the 20m draft ruling came in I thought the Germans are going to be happy with that. They always bike really hard and I’ve always respected the way that they’ve raced. I missed the first swim group, but I knew we had the 20m rule so I knew it was going to be fair. So I just ran my own race, which these guys did too. And the best athlete won, and that’s always a good feeling.
“It also means that the stronger bikers can change the race. I mean we saw that with Andreas, to get out 1:30min back [on the swim] and then to kill it on the bike, that’s what we want in this sport. To even be in the mix with these guys is a real honour.
“People were giving me splits to second place. But I was like , ‘I don’t care about second place, where’s Tim [Don]?! It was stressful. I think it was good on the run because there were so many turns so I couldn’t see him. But when you’ve got a guy like that behind you, you can never let up.
“To come here and be valued as a professional, I hope this is a game changer across the sport. It’s tremendous.”
For full Challenge Bahrain results from head to: http://raceresults.sportstats.ca/display-results.xhtml?raceid=20744
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1st, Helle Frederiksen, DEN
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“I’ve been training very hard. I didn’t have the race that I wanted at the 70.3 worlds. I wanted to make Bahrain my Worlds. To win over girls like this makes it all the more sweet.
“In October I was like, I don’t know if I can do this [race]. But I turned it around and I couldn’t be happier now!
2nd, Rachel Joyce, GB
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“It was really hard work on the bike. I had two objectives; try and catch Jodie and try and drop Helle. I got one but not the other!
“I had my plan but it didn’t really work out because everyone was so strong. I need to practise my cornering a bit cause I kind of fell back a little bit at that point on the bike!
“But to get to the front on the bike was a little bit of a surge. I wanted to catch Jodie [who at the start of the bike was in front], but I knew that if I went at a steady rate everyone would just stay with me, so I anticipated this tactic of surging on the bike. I’ve been practising holding a certain amount of power before backing off. So I did it once and I looked back, and Helle was still there. Then I regrouped… but she was quite persistent. I think at that point we joined up to Jodie. But I’d burnt a few matches. So I just had to sit in a bit. I tried to go ahead of Jodie and then I needed a drink so she was straight back past me.
“The way these two went out of T2, I was like ‘oh my word. It is 21k right?!’ They were like bullets, it was quite something to see.
“I haven’t raced that many 70.3s so I’m delighted to come second and I got a lot of information from this race.”
“Going into 2015, having all these podiums but no top spot is a real motivator for me. Even though I would’ve loved a big win this year, the sport gives me so much more that I can kind of live with it, and is the big thing that motivates me in training.”
3rd, Jodie Swallow, GB
“It [the race] was almost like a computer game, it was a surreal. It was like I was let out into the safari park. It was just absolutely amazing. This beats ITU racing: just the attitude of the organisers, having the royal family involved and absolutely loving it. In 10 years of racing I’ve never had that, it was an absolutely amazing experience. And the women’s race definitely felt as special as the men’s race. And that’s a big progression in the sport.
“I always feel more comfortable with others beside me so this race was ideal [Jodie ran with Frederikson for the first half of the run]. But yeah, it was a pleasure to run with Helle for 10k and then get spat out the back…!
“I’m in the process of buying a house, so it’s good to know we’ve got a deposit!”
1st, Michael Raelert, GER
“I’m just really happy to be back racing [Michael has been plagued with injury for the past two years]. I was just happy to be in the middle of the pack and next to all these guys. I felt like I’d already won the race!
“It was pretty hard to get motivated for the race having had such an amazing experience in the lead-up. We’ve been treated like kings and queens! What Challenge did today was professional but familiar. It’s so unique.
[Michael ran a 1:10hr half marathon.] “Honestly, I hope I can go even faster. Right now I feel good, but not great. I hope I can still improve.”
2nd, Andreas Dreitz, GER
[On hearing that he clocked a 1:57:22 90km bike split] “That’s incredible! It was a fast course and I was pushing really hard. I had a new bike set-up, we made some adjustments, but sub-2hrs is just amazing.
“Knowing there was a live feed, also gives you the energy to push harder!
“Coming into T2 I knew it was close [to Michael in second]. I had good pace at the beginning of the run. At kilometre 6, I j heard it was still the same distance to him and I thought maybe I can go for it. But I’m glad the guys behind couldn’t see the live stream cause it was a struggle at 20k.”
3rd, Tim Reed, AUS
“As soon as the 20m draft ruling came in I thought the Germans are going to be happy with that. They always bike really hard and I’ve always respected the way that they’ve raced. I missed the first swim group, but I knew we had the 20m rule so I knew it was going to be fair. So I just ran my own race, which these guys did too. And the best athlete won, and that’s always a good feeling.
“It also means that the stronger bikers can change the race. I mean we saw that with Andreas, to get out 1:30min back [on the swim] and then to kill it on the bike, that’s what we want in this sport. To even be in the mix with these guys is a real honour.
“People were giving me splits to second place. But I was like , ‘I don’t care about second place, where’s Tim [Don]?! It was stressful. I think it was good on the run because there were so many turns so I couldn’t see him. But when you’ve got a guy like that behind you, you can never let up.
“To come here and be valued as a professional, I hope this is a game changer across the sport. It’s tremendous.”
For full Challenge Bahrain results from head to: http://raceresults.sportstats.ca/display-results.xhtml?raceid=20744
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Scotland’s David McNamee finished seventh in last year’s Commonwealth Games and looked a genuine contender to make the British team for next year’s Olympic Games.
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Yet the 26 year old has taken the decision to abandon the Rio goal and the lottery funding that accompanies it to turn his attention to Ironman racing and qualifying for the 2015 World Championships.
What makes the switch more surprising is McNamee’s 2014 results suggest he has not yet peaked. His 14th place in the ITU Grand Final was set against a bike crash at the start of the year that meant he missed critical months of training and left him with a permanently damaged wrist.
In his first in depth interview since the decision, 220 columnist Tim Heming caught up with him to find out why….
220: Hi David, good to catch up. How’s the training going?
I’m currently in Spain avoiding the cold weather. Scottish Triathlon come out here every year and I’ve tagged along with them for a couple of weeks. I fly to Mallorca on Sunday and join Joel [Filliol’s] squad. I also won the 10k Boxing Day Ayrodynamic Turkey Trot in Ayr in 31:39, which is ok.
If we rewind to winter training last year, describe what happened with the crash in February and the rehabilitation that followed?
There was a touch of wheels and it was just unfortunate the way I landed. I managed to snap and dislocate both my radius and ulna and also damaged the joints. I had a follow-up operation in September and all the bones have healed now.
I’ll never have proper range of motion in my wrist again but it’s something I’ve adapted to. I don’t have the same strength and range of motion for the catch when swimming, and for biking the saving grace is electronic gears. I can use mechanical shifters a little but after a while it hurts too much, so now I just use Di2.
Despite the setback, your 2014 results were not a disaster. Talk us through the racing…
The European Championships in Kitzbühel was my first proper race back and I came sixth, the best result I’ve had at the Europeans and that was off just two months of training. I came seventh in the Commonwealth Games, which wasn’t the result I wanted back in January, but [given the crash] I was happy with it.
Regarding that race in Glasgow, when you reached T2, the Brownlees were away and clear but did you feel you had a chance in the race for bronze [South African Richard Murray who came third is a training partner of David’s]?
I suppose, knowing the run course and how good Richard is when it comes to running up short hard climbs – which isn’t my strength whatsoever – I realised that I’d always struggle. I also knew the shape Richard was in. It was still a tremendous experience, even if the result wasn’t what I dreamt about.
From there you finished 44th in Stockholm and 14th in the ITU World Series Grand Final in Edmonton…
After Glasgow, my aim was Edmonton. Stockholm was the week before and sprint distance races have never been my strength. I went into that race mentally defeated.
The result in the Grand Final, in the highest quality race of the year, wasn’t bad having missed key months when I should have been ramping up the training.
Then came the bombshell to abandon your Olympic dream. At 26, is that not a premature decision?
I’ve been racking my brains over why and there are 100 different little reasons combined. I waited until the Olympic selection policy came out, read through it and asked people I trust to look at it objectively.
From my viewpoint it was going to be extremely difficult to make the Games in my own right. I would never want to go as… I think it’s called a ‘pilot’ now, not a domestique to the Olympic Games, but the underlying issue is I no longer have the excitement and drive to go to to Olympics that I used to. I realised I needed to look elsewhere and see what drives me.
Spain’s Mario Mola and South Africa’s Richard Murray are in your training group under Joel Filliol. As two of the quickest runners in the sport, did you find it hard to match up, and did this influence your decision?
At times it is hard to train with some of the best athletes in the world, but in training I do pretty damn well. It’s not as if I’m going to track sessions and getting my arse kicked by them. It’s maybe not translated as much – especially during this last year – to racing, but when I see the excitement they had for the new ITU calendar, it was an infectious enthusiasm that was missing for me.
Training was still going well, but if you don’t have the same drive, something is going to be missing. Ultimately, when you get to 7km on the run and everything aches and everybody around you aches, nobody is enjoying themselves. But that’s where races are won and lost.
I could easily blag it for another season or two, get my UK Sport lottery funding, still go and get respectable results, still get some top 10s in the World Series, but I know I’m capable of doing better. No-one else would though, and that would haunt me.
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Our interview with Scottish triathlete David McNamee (part one here) continues…
So if you have lost the spark for draft-legal racing, why do you have more passion for Ironman?
Going long, I could look back in two or three years and say “that was a disaster,” but at least I’ll have tried whilst I’ve got passion. Change is always good. I was a swimmer as a youngster and I knew what Ironman was before I knew what triathlon was.
I remember being 12 years old watching crazy men on TV in the early hours on Transworld Sport before I went to do my early morning swim training. I’ve always said I wanted to do long course at some point. It’s something that intrigues me.
But rather than take a gradual step with a year or two of middle distance racing, you’ve jumped straight in to try and qualify for Hawaii this year?
I sat down with Joel in Portugal after I decided I didn’t have the motivation for another year of ITU. I said I’d probably do 70.3s and try Hawaii in a couple of years. It seemed the sensible option. Joel asked me what I wanted to achieve and felt if my dream was to get on to the podium in Hawaii, that’s the dream I had to chase.
Most people advise becoming used to 70.3 racing and then go up again, but having the faith of Joel made me think: ‘Why not try it?’ And if I want to go to Hawaii and perform I need to get there this year to find out what it’s all about.
So starting from scratch to qualify, how do you propose to do it?
I’m going to get my WTC licence and do Ironman South Africa [African Championships] on March 29. I need points and that’s the best place to get them early on. I chose it because I know it will be a good field and I want to know how I stack up, can move on and improve.
I’m not going to be the best prepared on the start-line, but I have been training full time for six years so won’t be unfit. I’m not going to be used to a time-trial bike, or know whether my nutrition strategy or pacing will work, but if I blow up and have to walk for 20km on the run, next time I can produce better.
I’ll hopefully make Hawaii this year and aim to be at competitive by the end of next year. I’ve always been someone who does well off a lot of high volume training. The 180km doesn’t faze me, but 180km in a TT position holding a fixed pace is completely different and I have no idea how my legs will cope over the marathon.
Have you been running long in preparation?
I ran 32km last week, that wasn’t too bad, but doing it fresh on a Sunday morning is one thing, it’s quite another after racing for five hours. That’s what excites me about South Africa. Anything can happen.
Have you built in any warm-up races?
I’ll probably do Challenge Dubai next month. The organisers said they’d give me a start. Then I’ll fly straight to South Africa for four weeks, so there is some sort of progression there.
Dubai will give me the chance to see whether I’ve thought of all I need for non-drafting racing and a taste of running off the bike after 90km in a time trial position. I’m assuming my swim will be fine; 3.8km is absolutely fine for me.
Another of Joel’s athletes is Uplace-BMC team member Helle Frederiksen, a former ITU racer who won the big money races of Hy-Vee and Challenge Bahrain last year. Has her success given you a boost?
A little. It’s good to see you can leave the draft-legal racing and transfer, but Helle has her own training set-up.
Most of Filliol’s group are short course racers, will this alter your training structure?
It’s quite a nomadic existence. I go to Mallorca then come home for a few days before I’m off to Dubai then South Africa for a month. I’ll swim with the guys in Joel’s group and do some running and riding.
When I’m back in Stirling, Fraser Cartmell has a spare room he rents to me. I think he’s racing Dubai and South Africa and it’s good to have someone to race and train with.
Do you think you’ll finally be able to help British men challenge for honours in Hawaii?
We seem to do embarrassingly badly at Kona every year, but looking at Tim [Don] and Will [Clarke] doing it [in 2015] it has to change. The girls have done so well and there is no reason that the guys cannot step up and deliver. We’ll soon find out. If we have three or four high quality athletes competing, somebody is going to crack it.
How well do you handle the heat?
I’ll find out in Dubai. I’ve never had a problem with heat or humidity, but then I’ve never been out and raced for eight-and-a-half hours in it either.
This decision means you will no longer be a funded triathlete. Is that liberating or frightening?
Before I made anything public, I contacted the federation and let them know I no longer wished to be considered for the programme. It is scary but if you back yourself and have confidence, you should be fine.
It’s nice having some guaranteed money in the bank every month because you do not have to worry if you are injured or sick, but hell, I’m 26, and it’s time to fend for myself.
Finally, would you ever rule out a return to ITU short course racing?
Maybe after two or three years of Ironman, ITU will seem exciting again. The Gold Coast Commonwealth Games are in 2018 and we’ve seen Chris McCormack come back and try for an Olympics. I know he ultimately failed to make the Australian team but he gave it a good effort and enjoyed the process.
It’s not unimaginable for me to step back down again. A lot of people say it’s a one-way street but I think it just takes someone to come along to challenge that thinking and we’ll see that maybe it was a load of b******* all these years.
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(Images: Delly Carr / Janos Schmidt)
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