Townsville World Champs Contributed By Team Parcours Athlete Lesley West
Whilst British, our Parcours Ambassador Lesley West, lives with her family in rural Victoria, Australia. Lesley has been doing triathlons for several years, and returned to racing after having a child in 2022. Recently Lesley raced at the World Triathlon Multisport Champs (in Townsville, Australia) competing in two events – the duathlon (standard distance), and the long course triathlon. We caught up with Lesley to find out how the Championship went, oh and spoiler alert, she’s now a double World Champion in her age group! Awesome work Lesley – hope you threw a shrimp on the barbie to celebrate, or were typically British perhaps with a cup of tea and digestive biscuit!
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In October 2022 I raced the IRONMAN World Champs in Kona. To say I was disappointed in my race is an understatement. In hindsight, it said more about my expectations of myself than my actual performance. I had a 9.5month old son who was terrible sleeper and had croup during race week. Averaging five hours of sleep a night, some of it on the floor, wasn’t ideal prep.
I decided afterwards that IRONMAN distance racing was just too much for us. Juggling work, being mum and training doesn’t really lend itself to five hour training rides every weekend.
So, it was perfect when the Multisport World Champs were announced for Townsville in 2024. No major travel needed and definitely no five hour rides.
I secured my spot in February 2023, so fast-forward to March 2024 and I was ready to start my build. With a place for both the standard duathlon and long course triathlon, I set some lofty goals - top step in duathlon and a podium in the long course.
Training through winter in regional Victoria meant doing 90% of rides indoors and the majority of runs involving multiple layers and gloves. But an escape to the sunshine was very welcomed! We left Ballarat’s icy mornings and landed to 25 degrees c in Townsville – bliss!
We wanted to make sure it still felt like a family holiday, so race week was a mix of taper training and visits to the water park, with potentially more ice-cream and coffee stops than advised in race week. Happy athlete = fast athlete, right? (ED: We definitely agree)
Duathlon was first up. A 10km run, 40km ride, 5km run in the blazing sun. All women under 50 were starting together, so I knew the pace would be on! If you’ve ever seen a duathlon start, you’ll know that everyone sets off like they’re doing a 100m sprint!
The gun fired and we were off. I’d got to the start really early to make sure I had a good position at the front. I’m normally very confident in my running, but after almost 10 weeks off running earlier this year with an Achilles injury, I was going with the “fake it ‘til you make it” approach!
The first 100m was flat, then it quickly turned to an uphill, helping break up the field a bit. We had four laps of 2.5km, including a 300m climb up the boardwalk on each lap. By around 1.5km there were three of us off the front together. A quick glance at their age group tattoos was reassuring – definitely younger.
We stayed together for the first three laps and then strung out a bit. I lost contact with the lead around 9km, entering T1 in second place overall: 36:17.
Quick transition and onto the bike. Two laps of a very flat but slightly technical course, weaving through the main foreshore with speed bumps and roundabouts. I was passed early on, moving me back into third, but regained second spot around 14km.
My wheel choice had been my Parcours Chrono on the front and Disc on the back and it was the perfect choice. I was able to strongly cut through the cross-head wind back into town each time, with no issues at all and feeling totally stable.
Into T2 in second place overall, about a minute down on the lead. Ran out and suddenly my legs felt VERY heavy. I think the injury time out started to play a factor here. Plus, I’d maybe over-cooked it on the first run. But it was fun, so that’s the important thing right?! (ED: yes yes and yes!)
Two laps of the 2.5km course coming up. I knew I had a good lead in my age group and had a small gap to third overall. Knowing that I had another race to go in a week, I ran strong but was glad that I didn’t have anyone closely chasing me.
In the end I finished in 2:02:11 – Age Group World Champion and second overall female!! Goal number one – tick!
One week to recover and importantly, hang with family, before the next race. Some of my Fluid Movements squad mates arrived, so it was great to catch up with them too.
Admittedly, recovery wasn’t as quick as I thought it would be. Perhaps the perils of being in my 40s. Duathlons are hard, especially when you run close to your 10km PB.
Active recovery, some rides and runs and it was time to race again. With a 3km swim, 114km ride and 30km run it was a weird distance – longer than 70.3 but not quite full distance. If I’m honest, a bit too much swimming for my liking.
The day before race day quickly rolled around, with the usual race admin, bike checking and trying to rest as much as possible (easier said than done with a toddler).
There was chatter about it maybe being a non-wetsuit swim, but thankfully the water was just below cut-off. As a pretty mediocre swimmer, I’d rather boil than be out there without some buoyancy!
Our wave was all females under-45. Horn goes and off we went. I tried to find some feet to sit on, but it’s not a skill I’d put on my CV. Two laps including an Aussie Exit and I got through the 3km in just over 52mins. I’ve been working hard on my swim and I’m not sure the time reflected the effort, but 6th in age group wasn’t bad.
It was a long drag run up to transition, then through the motions in T1 and onto the bike. Although completely flat, it was technical. Three loops with lots of twists, turns and roundabouts. We weaved through town, out onto the highway, around the V8 Supercars race track (that was cool), back onto the highway and then about-turn through town again. The wind was increasing and the last stretch of each lap was into headwind.
I struggled to push the power I expected, so was even more glad I had a top wheel set-up with Parcours. Pre-race I’d wondered whether the disc was right given the twists, turns and surges, but it was perfect, especially once I got up to speed on the highway – zoom zoom!
Made it through the bike in 3:10, entering T2 five minutes up on 2nd, but the heat was building and the sun was beating down.
We had 2.5 loops of 12km and one 6km loop, which all included running up the boardwalk three times. 30km is a tricky distance to pace. I knew not to go out at 70.3 pace, but also needed to be quicker than full distance. I deliberately didn’t look at my watch much and went with feel. The first lap was HARD, but there’s nothing quite like hearing your toddler shout “well done Mummy!!” to keep you going.
I stuck to my nutrition plan and made the most of water over the head and in the mouth at each aid station. By the end of the second 12km loop, I’d passed a couple of women from other age groups and knew I had a solid lead in 40-44. Just one 6km loop to go. I saw the two overall leaders were way off in front, and thought 3rd was out of reach. Went for one last push at about 2km to go and caught 3rd place in the last 300m. Cue an all out sprint! Hard on the downhill and straight along the blue carpet.
Age Group World Champion and 3rd overall non-elite!!!
What. A. Week.
To win two World Championships in the space of eight days, but even better to finish as 2nd and 3rd overall at the age of 40, has given me so much confidence and belief in myself.
These champs may not have the glamour and appeal of IRONMAN World Champs, and admittedly it probably wasn’t as busy as it is when it’s held in Europe (travel to Australia is super expensive right now). But for me it was retribution for my disappointment in Kona two years ago and proof to myself that even though training and life look very different nowadays, I can still do hard things and can do them well.
So, what’s next? A short rest to take a mental break, and then into the build towards IRONMAN 70.3 World Champs in Taupo in December.
