13.08.13

Samoa Half Ironman Results - Talofa from Samoa

My last race of the season didn't go to plan but that has been the story for this entire year and now it's time for my 6 week break. My last race of the season had me on the warm tropical island of Samoa, it's only a 4hr plane trip and it was the Inaugural event with a tough course and some great prize money.

Things started off well and I was out with the group 1:30 behind Graham Ogrady after the 2km swim but 100m out of transition I punctured. I quickly got off my bike and used my Pitstop to repair and pump up the tire(hopefully this would last!)I was back on my bike but had lost 2mins to the leaders. I headed off and tried to gather up the lost time on Graham and Australian Tim Berkel. The bike course was beautiful but the roads had been damaged last year after the Island was hit by a major cyclone and at 26km my luck turned again with another flat tire. I wasn't the only one getting flats with Tim Berkel having two flats in the first 35km to end his day and my mate suffering the same with three punctures as well!

I tore off my old tire and put a new one on only for this to got flat, so I waited for over 30mins while the entire field passed me until the tech van came through and I was able to get a spare tire. The only thing was there was no glue on the tire so it meant being extremely careful on the 4km descent that was on the return trip back to T2. I wanted to finish this race so I pushed on and ended up crossing the line in 5th place although a long way behind due to the punctures.

It's now time for a good break of 5-6 weeks to revitalize my body and get me ready for some late season races and the New Zealand season. Hopefully I don't eat to many pies on my break and put on too many kilo's!

Kind Regards Cameron Brown

AVANTI RIDERS