The July school holidays are normally a hibernation time or a chance to head over to Bali to find some warmth. For the last few years I have traveled to the Gold Coast to extend my coaching knowledge and learn from the best. This year I have been fortunate enough to be picked as a Team Australia Coach for the Junior Elite World Championships. So this time I was attending a camp based on being one of the coaches. This year saw a change to the schedule for the Juniors. World Champs are to be held in Mexico in September, somewhere that will be warm and probably humid on race day. So instead of just doing a training camp on the Gold Coast where some warmth could be enjoyed the team found 2 races to attend and made the 2 week camp visit a few countries. Jess Claxton has been named in the Australian Team and she joined me on this trip. We left a very cold and wet Perth and headed to Osaka, Japan, I think it was 32 degrees the first day we arrived, slight difference to the 17 and rain we had been experiencing in Perth. Once in Osaka we joined up with the rest of the traveling team. Liam McCoach from Break Your Limits Academy had flown with us from Perth and then we joined up with athletes from QAS and GCNPC who had flown from Queensland, Singapore and Thailand to join the trip.
Jess and I had been working in a heat chamber and completing course simulation on the Wahoo Kickr to hopefully make sure she was absolutely ready for the race. The Osaka race course was 4 laps over an industrial estate with a massive bridge, which meant 8 times up and over. Jess spent four 4 weeks working in the heat chamber on this course and we were confident we had done enough work to be successful and achieve our goals at this race. This was Jess's first Elite adult race. Osaka was an ITU Asian Cup race covering the traditional Sprint distance. Jess was the youngest athlete on the start list with the oldest being a multiple Olympian.
Unfortunately Osaka was not to be the race we had hoped for, Jess was in the lead group 4th out of the water and in a group that looked the goods, unfortunately Jess came down on a U-turn and broke her bike and the day was done.
Japan was very successful for the Australian Team with being able to win both the Mens and Womens races. Excited for other athletes but saddened to wonder what if, we left Japan to spend a week in Singapore. Singapore was a whole new level. It was the same sort of heat as Japan but the humidity was way more, just walking down the street brought the sweats on.
Singapore was a very different set up and way more casual, the Japan. I guess thats the difference between and event that has been running for 30 years and a new race. Singapore was a great venue very safe and closed roads.
Race morning was a very early start but also super successful. Jess and I had a planned for the race and Jess executed her plan perfectly to take the win. Jess has now started 3 international Elite Triathlons and has 2 wins, very good strike rate.
Below are some more random shots from the trip which I have thoroughly enjoyed and learned from and am looking forward to the next 5 weeks of building and preparation for Junior Elite World Champs to be held in Cozumel, Mexico in September. Have heaps of ideas to attempt at training and some great supporters helping me with some equipment to make sure the Jess is the best prepared she can be.
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