Katey Dominates Busso
2017 Busselton 70.3
Sunsmart Busselton Ironman 70.3, is always a special race for me. Being in WA, it is a home town race (even though I am now based in QLD), was the first 70.3 I competed in eight years ago and have done every year since. I also had something to prove, having finished 3rd pro female the last 2 years I was keen to see what I could achieve after making the jump to a full-time professional. I’m also not ashamed to say I desperately wanted to win this race and had done for years.
Arriving in Busselton I had the usual pre- race butterflies, but they soon disappear when surrounded by familiar faces that I hadn’t see since I moved. It was great to be back racing alongside long-time friends, it always puts you at ease. This year Busselton would be different from all my other races here, I was the top seeded female with a target on my back racing some talented girls. I’m usually the one who flies under the radar, this was something I definitely wasn’t used to!
The weather leading up to race day were perfect, and race morning didn’t disappoint! No wind, relatively warm and not a cloud in the sky, very unusual for Busselton this time of year. I wasn’t complaining though, coming from the Sunshine Coast I was a bit dubious of my ability to handle the usually cool weather. The race start was fast and hectic, with Alise Selsmark and Jacqueline Thistelton making an early break. With over 500m to the first turn buoy I focused on pushing hard to try and catch their feet, before the turn I managed to pass Jacqui but couldn’t quite bridge the gap to Alise. I spent the remainder of the swim trying to reach Alise with a few swimmers on my feet, but came out of the swim 15 sec short.
Heading into T1 I had Jacqui and a few others on my tail, and managed to get to the mount line with Jacqui where we both passed Alise who was having a few issues with her shoes. Having spent the last few months working on my cycling strength and feeling fast on my new Argon18, I was pretty comfortable of my ability to hold my own on the bike, so I put my head down and road hard. I didn’t lift my head until I hit the roundabout in the Tuart Forrest to see who had hung on, to my surprise no one was there! Not wanting to risk my chances and knowing there were some strong bikers amongst the girls behind me I continued to push hard until the far turn around. At this point I was able to see what was going on behind, and could see a pack of about four had formed about 1 minute behind. Being in the lead on the bike is something that I’m not used to and has never happened before, so I made sure that the rest of the ride I kept a solid pace.
Heading out of T2 I realised that the chase back had broken up with Kerry Morris now only 40 sec behind me and already coming into transition. Kerry I have race many times, but having recently gained her pro licence and now training full time she has made huge progress and I wasn’t sure what surprises she might have on the run… I wasn’t going to stick around the find out!
I knew that there were some good runners in the group behind me and having ridden solo I wasn’t sure what my legs who have towards the end of the run. Busselton has a three-lap run, dead flat and one I have done multiple times before, and I knew it back to front. The first lap I set a fast pace, not usually a smart move in a race like this, but I wanted to create a bit of a gap between me and the others early. Having spent the last 2 months with knee issues, I’d done limited running so I wasn’t sure how the later part of the run would go and I sure as hell didn’t want a sprint finish. The second lap, I settled it down a bit to conserve some energy and keep controlled, running normally comes easy to me but at this stage I was starting to feel the pinch. Passing transition heading out on the last 7km of the run, to my shock I saw that Jacqui had passed Kerry and was quickly closing in on me. I’d started the run with about a 90 sec buffer and this was quickly disappearing!
The last 7km was up there with one of the toughest runs I’ve ever had to do, I desperately wanted to win and not lose the front spot I’d held all day, especially not so close to the finish. The last lap was not pretty, running technique and any sort of dignity was out the window! The whole last lap I didn’t look behind once, I didn’t want to know how close Jacqui was getting I had tunnel vision the whole way. The tears started flowing as I turned to the finish and could see the tape at the end, I wish I could have spent more time in the finishers shoot and enjoyed the moment but to be honest I was so scared that I would be caught at the final moment. The feeling of lifting the banner is something I’d never forget, especially the honour of doing it at a home race in front of family and friends.
For me the race was one I managed to execute perfectly based on my circumstances, what made it even better was being able to share the podium with Jacqui and Kerry. Both who pushed me the whole day and both of whom had breakthrough races after having recently joined pro racing.
Ironman Busselton 70.3 to me is a demonstration of over 9 years of hard work I’ve put into the sport. I raced for the first time there as a naive 22 year old on a road bike, after seeing the pro women race I told myself that one day I would be like them. It’s taken a while, with a huge number of personal ups and downs but I made it happen through hard work and determination. I’m now looking forward to setting my next goal and seeing where it take me!
