MOUNT Isa’s Amanda Gowing was the 13th in her division to complete the Geelong Half Ironman on Sunday.
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She ran across the line with a time of 5 hours, 14 minutes and 52 seconds.
Gowing was still in Victoria on Thursday when speaking to Fairfax Media about the race having been “a good stepping stone” to prepare herself for the Cairns based Ironman in June.
She will take two weeks to rest before she readies herself for Cairns, but will still compete in the Race to the Creek.
I kind of had to remind myself I'm not doing an ironman, I'm only doing a half ironman, I don’t have to conserve as much energy."
- Triathlete Amanda Gowing
About 70 triathletes competed in the women’s 30 to 34 years division, including Gowing.
“Obviously I would have liked to have placed higher but being the first race back to see how I was going, it was a good stepping stone,” she said.
“This is my first race back since June last year in the Cairns Ironman, and I only had 10 weeks training so I could have done with a longer prep.
“I did this race to get back into it and meet my coach.”
Gowing is a member of IsaRATS but she is now a member of Victorian based Team Tri Coaching.
The Geelong half ironman was the first opportunity for her coach Xavier Coppock to see her race.
“He’s actually coming to Mount Isa in two weeks to run a training camp for IsaRATS,” Gowing said.
“He will obviously get to see my home training ground and look at the area and see what hills we have to utilise in training.
“It will be an eye opener for him and help with coaching in future.”
Gowing was fairly evenly ranked through the race and finished the 1.9 kilometre swim at 13th place.
A Mount Isa triathlete may not have been used to ocean conditions but Gowing entered the cycling leg confidently.
“The swim was fairly flat and fairly easy to navigate the course compared to other races I have done,” Gowing said.
“I came out feeling pretty good.
“I kind of had to remind myself I’m not doing an ironman, I’m only doing a half ironman, I don’t have to conserve as much energy.”
The cycling leg was 90 kms. It was a two lap course.
Gowing said she faced several good hills she could ride but she was hindered by the unpredictable wind.
It changed “all over the shop” which meant riding a different angle did not guarantee a chance for her to rest.
She then endured the 21.1 km run. The maximum temperature in Geelong that day was recorded at 26.4 degrees, a “perfect day” for the Mount Isa based competitor, but she struggled three quarters along the hilly terrain.
