AMANDA Gowing has smashed her personal best for the 70.3 triathlon distance at Sunday’s Sunshine Coast event.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Mount Isa triathlete completed the 1.9-kilometre swim, 90km bike and 21.1km run course in 4:52.42, placing her fifth from 110 athletes in the 30-34 women’s age group.
The Ironman 70.3 Sunshine Coast Triathlon plays host to 2000 of the best athletes in the world.
“I’m stoked with the result, having beaten my old personal best time for that distance by 19 minutes,” Gowing said.
She was concerned about her swim leg with limited training due to the Mount Isa pool being closed in winter, only preparing in the water in the week leading up to the event.
“With it being an ocean swim starting from the beach, I was a bit apprehensive before the start of the race,” she said.
“But the conditions were good and I just got in there and battled through the first waves and went hard all the way to the second buoy.
“I was lucky that this competitor was next to me and we worked in tandem.”
Transitioning into the cycle leg, Gowing thought her watch was broken because of how fast she had completed the swim leg (31:57).
“I kept shaking my watch once I finished the swim because I thought it was broken, as I didn’t believe there was any way I could swim that fast, with such little preparation,” she said.
“With me preparing for Busselton Ironman in December, I didn’t get a chance to peak or taper leading into this event.”
Coming out of the water in fifth place in her age group, Gowing was excited to jump onto the bike.
“Throughout the bike and run leg, I maintained my fifth position despite how hard it was to tell who you were competing against,” she said.
With a bike leg of 2:32.32 and run of 1:44.04, Gowing finished four minutes behind fourth place in her age group.
“Coming into the event, I was hopeful that I could get close to the five hour mark,” Gowing said.
“I looked at past results and knew if I got near the five hour mark, I should be in the top 10.”
Gowing labels the win as one of the best performances in her triathlon career.
“The result would be up there but it’s hard to compare because of the different distances,” she said.
“To win Julia Creek’s Dirt and Dust in just my fourth attempt with all of my friends around was special, as was running sub 2:30 at Noosa.”
Gowing will continue to train for Busselton’s December 7 full-ironman in the coming months, including another trip to Noosa.
“I now have just over two months to train hard and prepare my body for double the distance I just ran,” she said.
“I’ll be aiming to do sub 11 hours in Busselton and will use Noosa as a training exercise.
“A couple of members of the Isa Rats are going down to Noosa in the first week of November, so that will give me a good indication of where I’m at.