Ro Bairstow's Triathlon Blog

Get out the way!

robairstow — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:03:59 +0000

Sunday morning cycling in Cornwall Park, Auckland.

In Auckland, I’ve been held up by jay-walkers on Ponsonby Road, geese in the Domain and seagulls in Mission Bay (I killed one last year!) but never a cow.

Lance Update

robairstow — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 09:23:12 +0000

Just a checked on what some of the opposition is up to over the holidays.

From Lance’s Twitter account (I’m not a stalker honestly)

“55 mile ride talking all things as well as trying to figure where a coupla 40 something can go race.
Kick started #2012 with a 13 mile run. Another beautiful day in the Roaring Fork Valley.
3600 in the pool then a nasty indoor trainer workout on the bike designed by @JimmyRiccitello.”

I reckon he’s training for Worlds in Auckland 2012 and is planning on coming down here to take on us age-groupers! What do you think?

Happy New Year

robairstow — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 03:43:32 +0000

To everyone. May all your races in 2012 be good ones!

Some of the events coming up in January:
Half Ironman
7 January Port of Tauranga Half Ironman Sunday

Triathlon
3 January Whangamata Contact Triathlon Series Race 2 Tuesday
15 January Christchurch Contact Triathlon Series Race 3 Sunday
20 January Wanaka Contact Triathlon Series Race 4 Friday

Swim/Run
25 January Auckland Stroke and Stride Race 4 Wednesday.

Triathlete Profile

robairstow — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 05:27:38 +0000

Darragh Walshe – Auckland Tri Club Secretary 

Age group: 40-44

Favourite race: There are a few – most of my fondest memories are of races which have been combined with holidays. The Tauranga Half used to be a perennial favourite. Plus the old days of the Fiji Heaven to Heaven race and the Vanuatu International (some good stories to be had at that race)

Best time: Best race completion times are vague memories, but remember being awarded a prize trophy at the Tahiti/Moorea race of an engraved shell lamp which is still of use, providing bedside illumination at home.
Best/favourite discipline: When at my ‘zen’ all three are equal
Why did you get into triathlon? A few too many concussions on the rugby field provided realisation that my frame was more suited to swimming, biking and running as fast as possible.
How long have you been doing triathlon? 25 years – ouch, just realised this now
Describe your first triathlon experience in 3 words? “Flat tyre – bummer” The race was the old ‘Muriwai Mindbender’ and I had just purchased my very first race bike an introductory Avanti model – can’t remember what it was called. Had a mate who worked in the factory and he forgot to put the rim tape on so anytime I put more than about 70psi into the tube it eventually punctured. Managed to still finish, and my triathlon journey had begun.
What are you training for at the moment? Nationals in Wellington
What is the best piece of advice you have been given? Have had plenty of good titbits over the years. Little pieces of the puzzle which have added up to invaluable assistance. That is why training and catching up with other triathletes is such a great aspect of the sport – and hopefully this club can help foster this.
Finish this sentence. I love triathlon because… It provides balance, health and wonderful memories and companionship.

(Re-produced, with permission, from Friday Flash, Auckland Tri Club Newsletter)

Where is everyone?

robairstow — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 21:21:04 +0000

So I got up as usual for my Sunday morning coffee bike ride on a beautiful day that only Auckland can deliver. There was no-one out there! The streets were deserted,

Starbucks was closed, no boats on the Harbour.

No one playing in the Domain. The City was mine.

No annoying motorists, jay-walkers and mega-pelotons.

Why can’t every Sunday be Christmas Day?

Melbourne

robairstow — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:12:06 +0000

Well, I had a week in Melbourne and kept up my training.

The bike I hired for my Sunday ride had 21 gears but weighed more than me.The cycling was a bit hazardous with the tram lines and the hook-turns and you had to look out for hippos on skateboards but apart from that I kept up the routines. Swimming was at the renovated City Baths which are hopefully what the Teps will look like in 10 years or whenever they manage to finish the refurbishments.

I was there when the Aussies were taking us to the cleaners in the Cricket and so took a bit of flak. Should have stayed another week!

There is much to talk about on the Triathlon scene and my New Year’s resolution is to do more posts on the Blog for my “many” readers (6197 views all-time and 97 on one weird day in September!)

Have a great Christmas and don’t eat too many mince pies that you’ll have to carry around at Kinloch, Taupo or Wellington!

Superb Tri Auckland

robairstow — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 22:46:45 +0000

It was a great day for triathlon in Auckland on Sunday. The streets of Auckland were awash with things tri. There must have been at least $5 million of bikes on the docks overnight on Saturday. The wind did ease for the early-starters but picked up by the time my wave got away. Always the case, make it harder for the oldies! And what a quality field. I doubt if there has ever been such a high quality age-group field as that for the both the mens’ and womens’ Olympic distances. The first 170 in the men all under 2:20 on a hilly course. Congratulations to all involved and well done to those who qualified. Second chance at Kinloch and Wellington next year for those who didn’t.

I tried to take some photographs as I had been inspired by the current ITU Best Photo competition. The current leader in this contest is this one below (copied without permission-sorry ITU). The voting can be done here

My pathetic attempts can be summarised below. No comments please, it is not easy!

Too soon!

Too late!

There she goes!

Wave Sizes for Auckland World Cup Triathlon.

robairstow — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:24:58 +0000

Rode the cycle course today. Strong SW made the trip back from Mission Bay quite hard. Getting used to the correct gears now for the hills. Could be a useful advantage.

Below are the wave start times and sizes.

Time	Age Groups	Race	Numbers
7:00	M55:64	Standard	51
7:02	M65:79	Standard	24
7:10	F45	Standard	32
7:12	F50:69	Standard	45
7:25	M18:24	Standard	28
7:27	F18:24	Standard	29
7:30	M25	Standard	36
7:32	F25	Standard	31
7:35	M30	Standard	57
7:37	F30	Standard	35
7:39	M35	Standard	70
7:41	F35	Standard	29
7:45	M40	Standard	96
7:47	F40	Standard	45
7:50	M45	Standard	80
7:53	M50	Standard	56
		Total	744
9:10	M40-49	Sprint	57
9:12	M20-39	Sprint	59
9:14	F40-49	Sprint	40
9:16	F20-39	Sprint	35
9:18	M13-19	Sprint	48
9:20	F13-19	Sprint	32
9:22	M50-84	Sprint	49
9:24	F50-79	Sprint	23
		Total	343

Age Group field sizes at Auckland World Cup Triathlon on Sunday 20 November 2011

robairstow — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 01:23:38 +0000

I thought you might be interested in checking out the relative sizes of the fields at the Barfoot and Thompson Auckland Triathlon on Sunday. It becomes clear where the most competition is!

Tomorrow I will give the times and sizes of each wave start.

Age	Sprint		Standard
Group	male	female	male	female
11–13	1
14–15	13	7
16–17	14	14
18–19	20	11	2
20–24	4	7	26	29
25–19	12	8	36	31
30–34	21	5	57	35
35–39	22	15	70	29
40–44	29	22	96	45
45–49	28	18	80	32
50–54	22	14	56	26
55–59	10	3	26	12
60–64	5	5	25	6
65–69	7	1	14	1
70–74	3		6
75–79	1		4
80–84	1

Totals	213	130	498	246

			Total	1087

Panasonic People’s Triathlon at Maraetai

robairstow — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 08:02:20 +0000

Well it was a beautiful day at Maraetai for the first Panasonic People’s Triathlon. Fields were large despite Ocean Swims and the upcoming World Cup event. The very gererous spot prizes including trips to Rarotonga and large screen Panasonic TVs were an added lure to the fantastic venue. Results are available here.

Highlights of the day were the performance of friend Nick Carter (8th overall in 58:38), Jerry Fletcher battling back for his 53rd consecutive People’s tri race despite little training through injury, and all of us in the Sprint event beating the Spanish elite Ivan Rana (hope you recover from your hammy before next weekend!)

Downsides of the day were what was surely a short swim, I’ve never swum 8:33 for 500 metres. Hopefully it was not short and I’ve changed something technique-wise and am a DOING 1:45 hundreds AND thank you to the bus that held me and about 10 others up for about 3 km. The roads were not closed and although we could draft (it was a draft-legal race, does that include buses? He was only going at about 30 km/h and the fumes were bad. Probably cost me a couple of minutes AND first place in my age-group.