Me acknowledging TQ acknowledging me...

This past weekend I was awarded the "Volunteer of the Year - Technical Official" by Triathlon Queensland. Of course, I was extremely flattered that the Technical Committee would nominate me, let alone endorse me as the most outstanding.

When I was introduced as the Technical Official of the year, I found it interesting that most of the achievements the MC talked about related to my competing - finishing Ironman, and also that I was shortly to jet off for my next conquest in France. Maybe it just sounded that way to me, because I was surprised that they would mention my life as a competitor at all.

Perhaps its acknowledgment that you don't have to be one or the other, that being both is more valued by the organisation. If so, I couldn't agree more. Triathlon needs more unity...

Interestingly, TQ took a brave step that night in not only acknowledging an athlete as a TO, but also acknowledging Ironman and 70.3 competitors as world representatives.

To me, the stand TQ took in doing this is more deserving of an award, than my modest contribution to the sport.

A different perspective

This last weekend I drove out to support KKB at Insomnia.

It was out at Kurwongbah, off Petrie-Dayboro Road. I regularly ride this road - I even have a pet name for it... referring to it affectionately as the "nine hills of death".

Somehow, it all looked different on Saturday. I don't know whether it was the fact I was a motorist rather than a cyclist; or whether it was that it was a different time of day. I looked around at the countryside almost wistfully, sometimes smugly thinking to myself,

"It's taken me almost an hour to drive here, and I usually ride!".

It was kind of weird, but satisfying, to get a different perspective on an old favourite.

Going for Gold

I had a disappointing weekend off the bike, I felt unwell and not up to three hours on the wind trainer with my training buddies. But today I was back into it with my usual Tuesday session of a strength mag trainer session and short run off the bike.

After an hour and a half or so on the mag trainer, I don't quite know what comes over me. It might only be a kilometre run out and back, but it's a brutal kilometre uphill and I attack it like a madman.

These last couple of weeks as I've bolted up the street gasping for breath I've had flashbacks from the The Coolangatta Gold... the scene where Joss McWilliam's character does his secret squirrel training in a banana plantation. He sprints up this massive hill, ducking and weaving through banana trees like a prize fighter...
...which kind of begs the question - why this scene and not the famous scene from Rocky, where he runs up the stairs triumphantly? Surely it would make better reading on The Triathlete Chronicles... does anyone who's reading this even remember The Coolangatta Gold?

Off the top of my head I can think of a three good reasons...
  1. I've never actually seen Rocky
  2. Joss McWilliam is hotter than Sly
  3. Most people think Ironman means surf life saving anyway, so why the hell not!
And... "Going for Gold" has quite a ring to it, and the perfect title for a blog post! Then again, maybe I've got "Rocks in my Head"...