RESULT: 1st Overall
After finishing 2nd in 2010 I arrived at Midmar Dam wanting to move up to the top step of the podium and back up my win at the Epworth Mudman. I left home with the rain pouring down which excited me hoping that would make the usually very fast bike a bit more technical and suited to me but it ended up being overcast and cool at the race venue which made it very easy race conditions.
It turned out that this was the biggest Mudman ever held with well over 1400 athletes, great news for multisport in general. Along with the usual opponents of Daniel Carleton and Justin Porteous. (Unfortunately Ryan Redman was sidelined to just the swim due to a knee injury) there was the addition of 2 top road triathletes, Henri Schoeman and Glen Gore, they are both amazing swimmers and with the bike being pretty easy this had me a little nervous and I would have to give it everything on the bike to pull them back.
The midmar water was the cleanest I have ever experienced it, which made the swim quite pleasant. I exited the water in the 2nd pack but knew I had to get a move on when I got a 2min time gap to the leader Henri who had blitzed the swim.
I exited the transition with Justin Porteous glued to my wheel and I knew I couldn’t afford to play cat and mouse with him and had to focus on chasing down the leaders. We got by Glen fairly early in the 1st lap but we still had to chase hard after Henri. The catch was made early in the 2nd lap and I used a climb to attack hard and ensure he didn’t stick with Justin and I. This seemed to snap the ‘elastic’ as he was soon out of sight. Unfortunately later I heard Henri had a big crash and broke his collarbone, a sad blow as he was having a good race. Now it seemed to be down to Justin and I and it looked like the run would decide it. But then about a km from the finish of the bike Justin miss-read the run bike split and took the wrong turn I quickly shouted to him that he was on the wrong track as well as the many marshals that were at the split.
I exited the transition onto the run and was given a time gap of 30seconds to the now chasing Justin. It was going to be a tough run to hold him off but my legs were feeling great and I knew he would have had to have worked extremely hard on the bike to stay in contact. After the one big climb on the run route I took a quick glance back and could see the gap had increased and I could enjoy the run back to the finish, ending up with a 51second gap over Justin in 2nd. Daniel Carleton had fought hard for 3rd overall another great result for the Russell White Academy. Finally having my race kit and giving THULE the coverage they deserve for all the help they have given me added to the sweetness of the victory, as well as having so many friends and family at the event making it a fun filled day.
The Cordwalles crew did a great job with the route and organization and were rewarded with the number of entrants and smiles on everyone’s faces after the race. These are truly amazing events and I hope to see everyone out at the DPHS MudMan on the 13th April.
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