World champion triathlete Conrad Stoltz tells us about his experience at the Xterra Asia Pacific Championships.
My last trip to Australia was in 2000 for the Sydney Olympics Games. The triathlon, but also the entire Olympic experience was just awesome.
One of the fondest memories of my life. 14 years later, Xterra is finally taking off in this country where triathlon is a main stream sport and where kids are born with the Triathlete gene.
Finally Xterra is gaining traction in Australia, the Xterra Australia organizers and New South Wales put on a great event, with good prize money (a rarety) and TV and press coverage.
The Aussie Pros also stepped up, “roadies” crossing over to Xterra, which is great to see. Notably Courtney Atkinson, Brandan Sexton and Kiwi Braden Currie.
Eager to follow through on my win in New Zealand the previous week, Princess Hotstuff and I made our way down the coast to Jarvis Bay.
As quite the meat pie connoisseur, I made sure to sample liberally of what Australia had to offer. All the while enjoying the cultural experiences. Like car jewellery…
The course was really good. Fast, furious and fun in all three disciplines, even though a bit (3km) long in the run. Hats off to Ben Allen who put a whole lot of work into helping this event take off.
Princess Hotstuff and I got “roped” into a snorkel trip for the NWS / Xterra travel show. The TV show is geared towards tourism in the region – which and helps pay for the hosting of the Xterra event.
Not that we weren’t thankful to go snorkelling, but after a fair bit of travelling and a couple of late nights, I started catching a cold on Tuesday.
I was doing everything I legally could to not get sick. Stayed in bed as much as possible, mega doses of all kinds of vitamins, drank “Hot toddies” with Cayenne pepper, throat spray without stimulants and the good old snorting of salt water / bicarb of soda mix…
Once on the bike, I pushed the “Launch control” button, but nothing happened. More like “Cruise control”. I crawled past people I usually blow by. Had to swerve wildly to avoid a roadie crashing spectacularly through the first mud puddle. It was funny, I wanted to laugh, but something was feeling eerily off.
Read the full blog here.
