Race

Hi




Well the race went good, but not exactly the result I wanted. I raced as hard as I could and 24th is the best I could do on the day. Nothing went wrong, just I didn’t have it in the tank. As soon as the gun went off I had clear water, but after 200m I hit the wall and struggled for the rest of the swim, I don’t know why, just felt flat. I fell through the places a bit in the water and sat in the middle, swimming hard as I could to stay in touch with the bunch. I come out of the swim, had probly the fastest transition out of everyone, and had to work hard for the first 2min to bridge up the gap to the front bunch. There wasn’t really a front bunch, just a huge long train of guys that were stretched for couple hundred metres. The first 5km were tough, very very fast, some of the hardest biking in triathlon Ive done. Then when we got into town I started to feel good and relax a bit. I was strong on the bike and it showed, I was sitting in good and other guys were hurting. Agter the first lap sitting on the back recovering, I decided to go near the front to stay out of trouble, lucky I did because there were 2 or 3 crashes straight away and I missed them which was good. I pushed the pace for a bit but kept it steady. I come into transition in an ideal spot to attack off the bike onto the run, about in the top 5. As soon as I took my first steps I knew it was going to be a long 5km. And it was. I was hurting. I don’t know why but I couldn’t push harder or run faster. In the warm up I felt the best Id felt in my life, so why did I feel so bad know? I slipped back a lot, struggling to keep up with the incredible pace. I saw guys pass me like I was standing still, guys that I raced at Youth Olympics and couldnt run near as fast as me. In the last 500m I started to feel good, like I should’ve felt from the start. I picked up about 5 spots straight away then had a sprint finish with my mate Knabl from Austria who got 3rd at YOG and who I had a sprint finish with in the teams race at YOG. He got me by a whisker, but was all good because we were both well back and were both capable of making the podium. Kevin McDowell from USA who got 2nd at YOGfinished 3rd, and had a awesome race and deserved to make the podium, hes a consistant and awesome athlete. So, wasn’t really a good day, but guess you get them ae. Had 2 days cruising in Dubai which have been great, and head home tomorrow, looking forward to it. Its been greta trip, met so many new people who will be friends for life and have learnt more in 6 weeks over here than I would 10 years at school. I know the standard that Ive got to be at to race well at elite worlds, and know how much harder Ive got to work to improve, which is a good thing as itl keep me busy and out of trouble for another year!!! Will see you when Im home, be cool to show around my medals and catch up with everyone.



Aaron

Ready....

Sitting in my room, going over and over my race plan in  my head. Tomorrows D-day, been waiting for this for a long time, and I think im ready to give it my best shot. I'm nervous, no doubt about that, but the thing is its just another race, just another swim bike and run; thats just what i do every other day of the year. Only thing different is that this has more bling bling on the line and more guys going for it.....the fastest 78 u19 guys in the world, and they are all as hungry for it as me. I'm going into the race to race my own race, and not worry about anyone else. At the end of the day, im here for myself, and I'm here do my best, and thats all I can ask for. Im excited to get the opportuntiy to race as its very prestigious event and even more special because I will wear NZL accross my chest once again, and every time I do that the feeling never fades away, im always proud and will do nothing less than give it my best.

Tomorrow the agenda is sleep in (have a late night tonight after subway for tea, maybe foot long or foot and half), go to subway have breakfast, go to subway again for lunch, then head to the transitions/course to set everything up. Obviously im a fan of subway, it just works for me and thats what i like. I'll listen to the playlist racesongs on my ipod with a bit of 'lose yourself' by eminem and 'the haka' by the all blacks, those two songs get me in a race mood and will get played over and over again. At 5.20, we get introduced over the speaker to the world, me being number 57, near the end of the pontoon, I'll take my place then when that gun goes, all the bullshit stops, and its time to do what we do best; race.

"The fight is won or lost far away from the witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road; long before I dance under those lights."


-- Muhammad Ali

budapest

Hi there

in Budapest now, arrived yesterday afternoon. We are staying in quite a nice apartment, rooming with the other u19s; Edward Rawles and Sam Osbourne plus u23 Tom Davison, good bunch of guys so its all good. Budapest is very different, quite run down and dodgy in some parts, but also some real nice old buildings and stuff. Drivers here are crazy ae seen one crash on our ride today and about 100 other close calls, lots of action, never a dull moment in Europe, bit busiet than Riversdale thats for sure!!! Went for swim today and cruisy bike, was good to have a look around. With the race, there are two transitions, about 6km apart, so thats going to be different and new to me. Water in river is real dirty, but we swimming in a lagoon type thing adjacent to the river, pontoon start with 77 other guys, going to be a full on washing machine start...intense. Bike 6km into town then lap it up couple times, then ran around town and over the famous chain bridge that Budapest is known for a couple of times, should be good, maybe wont have time to check out the scenery though!! Road is bit rough, heaps pot holes which will be good, keep everyone alert and honest ae. Preperation has been good, hard to come off such a high after Youth Olympics and try put it together again but ill give it my best shot, im looking forward to it and never the less its a valuable experience for next year u19, lucky to have 2 chances at this grade. Its been raining here tonight/afternoon, hopefully it snows for my race haha na i dont mind the weather conditions, rain and cold will suit me better as the Euro's have just come out of a hot summer of racing and will be ready for the heat...Im not, ive come from weather in gore! But heat doesnt worry me either, handled it not to bad in Singapore. Done all the hard work, now just got to put the pieces together and hopefully it works out. Can only do what I can do and ill get the results i deserve, so thats all you can ask. Looking forward to getting home, the trip has been wondeful and truly awesome, but I think after the youth olympics im still waiting to get home and celebrate and catch up with everyone, been away for a month now and as cool as it is to be away there is no place like home ae. Had to laugh yesterday at the airport and on the plane, few of the NZ team members were asked if they were the NZ kid who won Youth Olympics (as we all had elite team kit on), so its funny how prestigious that race was and how the news from the 'olympic' world is spread around the world ae, so many people know and have heard about it. pretty awesome, but now not the under dog and boy in the shadows of before. But one more job to do and thats worlds, can watch it live on www.triathlon.org/tv for free, i would give the exact link but computer not letting me. I race 5.30pm local time here on Sunday night which is 3.30am Monday morning in NZ. Will keep updated with race preparation in next few days and fingers crossed all goes well.

Cheers for your support

Aaron

Siggy to Budapest

Hi there




Sorry haven’t updated this in a while. Have two more days left here in Sigmaringen, been going good. Weather has been average, except last two days have been really good. On Monday morning I train 4hours to Frankfurt then fly to Budapest, looking forward to going there. Training has been going not too bad, ticking over. Shins been average so have been trying to keep them under control and keeping off my feet as much as possible. Love Europe, awesome place to train in. Lots of cool scenery to stare at when out biking and so different to NZ. My race is on Sunday the 12th at 5.30pm, looking forward to it. 78 guys in my race, should be a step up from Youth Olympics, be good. Race might be on TV at home, not sure, but will definitely be able to watch it on the ITU triathlon website…most likely free. After that I will leave with Mum and Dad, be good to see them again in Budapest, been a while. Anyway enough from me, see you soon.



Aaron

training

Hi

Training is going alright here, shins have still been giving me grief so have to watch the running and back off a bit. Biking and swimming is going good though, the weather here is very average, had couple hot days but mainly raining every other day, but still warmer than home. getting close to Budapest now and getting pretty excited, should be good. Sigmaringen is a cool town, me and penny went downtown yesterday and had good look around. Quite good with penny here as got someone i now well and also saves me cooking haha she cooks me lunch!!!!! anyway im off to bed, got a big set of 4km bike 1km run max reps tomorrow......5 of them if the shins can handle it, will see how it goes.

Aaron

siggy

getting settled into Sigmaringen in southern germany. Is real cool place, love training here. The europe roads are awesome to ride on and awesome scenery. feeling not to bad, still bit smashed after plane ride and not fully recovered after both the races, but getting better. Cant wait to come home, its a long time to be away and cant wait to catch up with everyone, but the training is ideal and pretty good fun hanging with everyonme who has the same goals as me and train just as hard as me.

Thats enough for me, off to bed.

Laters Aaron

Silver and off to Germany

Hi all,

Been a bit slack with the whole blog thing as been travelling to germany for past 24hours. Been a llooonnggg day.

Our Oceania team won Silver at the first ever Youth Olympic Games team triathlon the other day, awesome to get another medal, 2 medals out of 2 opportunities aint bad at all. Below is a race report if you want to rad it. I was honoured  yesterday to accept a gift on behalf of the NZ Youth Olympic team from like our twin school for the Youth Olympics, so that was a great opportunity and a real privlage to take some leadership for the team. At presnt Im in Sigmaringen in southern Germany and loving it, only ben here for half a day so far but its awesome! Lovely lifestyle and awesome laid back village life, definitly going to enjoy my time here. Cant wait for training to start with the elites early this week, will be a great opporunity to learn new stuff and get to know them all. I have internet access for the whole time im in Germany, so will keep this updated.

Thanks for your support
Aaron

Race report:

I teamed up with Maddie Dillion from NZ and Michael Gosman and Ellie Salthouse of Australia to form an Oceania team for the first ever Youth Olympics Team triathlon. Ellie lead off, racing really well and finishing in the main front bunch off the bike and finishing the run in the top 5, only a small gap behind the leaders. Next was Michael and he also raced awesome and held his own, with the leaders being the European and Americas teams opening the gap a little more. Maddie was next, and she had an absolutley amazing ride, gaining 44 seconds on the front bunch and running up 2nd placing when she tagged me. I left about 15 seconds down on an athlete from Argentina who was racing last for the Americas number 1 team, and leaving only about 2 seconds before the Europeans number 1 team. Us 3 had a good lead on the rest, and thats where the medals were at from that point on. The Argentina athlete held his own on the swim, and I worked with the Austrian (Alois Knabl who won bronze in the individual race) on the bike to try bridge the gap on the leader. We were flying, and working extremely hard. I desperatley wanted to bridege the gap, as the run was only 1.6km, so didnt want to muck around and give him much of a lead. The Austrian and myself come off the bike together and I lead out of transition in hot persuit of the Argentina guy, and we were gaining fast, but we were running out of metres to the finish. He had about 30m on us when the Australian coach screamed at me and said "The Argentina guy has a 15sec penalty, so you two are racing for Gold" (the penalty box is about 100m from the finsh, and you must do your penalty there or you are disqualified. As soon as I heard that, I surged desperatly and tried to drop the Austrian. I was hurting bad, completely on the red line, full throtle. He surged back and was simply to strong for me and opened up a small gap. As we passed the penalty box, the Argentina athlete had served about 10sec of his penalty, so I sprinted as hard as I could. He started sprinting after me, and after having a small break, he was absolutly hauling it!!! I held on to take the silver, 3 sec back from the Austrian, and about 5 sec up on the Argentina guy. Was extremely satisfying to get another medal and proud of how our team raced, it was awesome!!!

Gold Baby Gold

Hi,

As you may have seen or heard back home I won the first ever guys Youth Olympics Games triathlon. Was awesome. Feels unbeliveable, and hasnt really sunk in yet, but it will when I get home mid next month and get to see friends and family. I had a good race, raced smart and hard and gave it everything I had in the tank. I took a risk on the bike, which I dont normally do, but I only had one chance so I thought why not. It worked out alright, got a small lead at the start of the run but it didnt really relive the pressure. The USA athlete put lots of pressure on me throughout the run and we were neck n neck the whole way. I had a bit more in the tank at the end and wanted it that tiny bit more, and dam was it sweet. I won by 13sec, so had time to enjoy the last couple hundred metres. Was a very proud moment and een better when I had the haka done for me by the NZ team, which was unbeliveable. That was just as cool as having gold dangling around my neck, was so proud to be a kiwi. I've been resting up today and just cruising, and same tomorrow with a it of recovery training. On Thursday I will team up with the Australians and Maddie and do a 4 person relay for Oceania which will be awesome, and cant wait. Been a cool experience and a huge learning curve, experiencing the highs and lows of sport at the elite level. All I could think about during the run was 'dont give up, dont give in' and thinking about everyone thats helped me along the way, espicially someone special starting with J (with the lucky pink ribbon tied to the stem of my bike), who never ever left the back of my mind!!!. Without the support of everyone i wouldve struggled t get here, let alone get on the podium, so for all the help Ive bee given I am extremely grateful. When i return home on the 18th September I will be keen to catch up with everyone and show my medal and have a yarn. In Friday I head to Germany for training camp, so Im not done yet. So I need to focus on Worlds now and try and back up the gold with a solid performance in Budapest. Thanks again, and keep following my blog. I'll try my best to update it everyday in Germany and Hungary. Check out link below on you tube for highlights of race.

PS. Gore High School is awesome-especially the year 13's, luv u guys!!!



Thanks

Aaron

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu2f_y2mLFI

Getting Close!!

Hi peoples

Got training over and done with quite early this morning. Went to the pool for light swim then a run before, feeling alright but the shins are giving me bit of grief today.

Slept like a baby last night, but had bit of a sleepwalking disaster and ended up 5min away in the food hall before I relised that it was actually 3.30 in the morning and food wasnt being served yet. looked like a fool when I asked one of the cleaners what the time was!!!

Going to go have a feed now, and have a look around. In the main village square, there are about 100 booths set up representing different countries and activities around their culture, so might go check some of them out. Also we get given about 20 or 30 NZ koru badges, and each nation has one, so might go do a bit of swaping. Some awesome ones out there. Leave for opening ceremony later in the afternoon, which will be pretty cool. Meant to be huge and quite amazing so Ive heard.

Cya Aaron

Hi

Had course familarisation today which was cool. Early start and about a 50min bus trip to race venue. Kinda annoying being so far away as we have to leave our bikes and gear there. Bikes all set up and rearing to go. The swim is good, very warm 28 degrees which is warmer than most indoor heated pools. Water isnt the nicest, typical city beach with bit of rubbish and bit dirty.The current in the water is extremly strong, pushing you to the right; which is less than ideal when im number 7 and must start on the far right. So there will have to a lot of tactics to sort out how ill get around that, cos it could easily stuff things up. Bike course is cool, tight course mostly but flat. just a wide footpath inside a park beside the beach, similar to queens park..kinda..um yea kinda not haha!!! The run is pretty gud, going to be very fast bike and run. Also had athlete briefing so most things all srted and rady to go. Still coming to grips with the heat factor, its very hot and constantly sweating. Olympic village is pretty cool but a lot of hype. Opening ceremony is tomorrow, like a haf hour bus trip away, so its going to be chaos transporting about 10000 people fromn the village to there!!!! Rules are so strick for the race, especially with uniform and sponsors logos. On our bike, we are only allowed the brand and model displayed once, and my bike says 'specialized' about 6 times, so everything must be taped up and covered. Same  with drinkbottles, race suits etc, everything is plain or given to us. at the course is cool, we get our own athlete lounge (but its really just a tent) and got a big fridge full of free drinks...so dont worry im getting my fair share of stuff thats for sure. Its been really cool talking with athletes from other countries and meeting them. Had a yarn with few guys that ill race which is cool. Opening ceremony tomorrow which should be pretty cool.

Will post something tomorrow.

Cheers Aaron

in singapore!

Hi, I am writing from the Olympic Village in Singapore. Landed here a few hours ago and got a bus to village, which is HUGE!! but really cool. It's quite hot here which is a shock coming from the southland winter, but its good. The whole experience is huge already and it hasnt even really begun. Got free flash touch phones over here to keep, so they will come in handy while in here. At the airport, there were camera crews all over the show filming, and I had a short interview with a channel called World i think which was pretty cool. Heard I'm getting one with sky sport tomorrow arvo which is choice, nervous but an exciting opportunity. I race on Monday, so have got a few full days to climatise and get familiar with the whole environement. Getting quite nervous being amongst it all, just a small fish in a huge pond here with 5000 other athletes. I'm rooming with dallas Seymour, havent met him yet but heard he's bit of a legend so that will be choice. Seeing some famous people around hopefully which will be cool.

Will keep this updated daily as I have wireless in my room here at the village, so thats all from me. I'm hitting the sack after a lllooooonnnggg day.

Chow
Aaron

getting ready

Everything is all sorted to go- getting all packed tonight. I fly to Auckland tomorrow and stay a night there, then fly to Singapore early Wed morning. Very excited and cant wait to see the big wide world. I race on the 16th, which is one week today. 32 athletes in my race at the Youth Olympics, the start list has just come out and numbers have been drawn randomly by previous Olympic champions/medalists which is cool.

I'd like to thank all the people from the community that have helped me out, especially the Riversdale/Waikia/Gore community- without your support I really would've struggled to get to this point. I'll try and keep this updated everyday from now so keep an eye out!!

Aaron

Training is ticking over just nicely. I leave next Tuesday. Can't wait to get some sunshine.

Hi!!

Hi everyone,

I have created this blog so family, friends, the community and people who support me can follow me and my progress when I'm overseas training and racing. So keep an eye out and I'll try to publish as much stuff as I can and leave some comments if you want!!

Cheers Aaron