Blackwood Marathon Relay 2009

A year has past since the Blackwood Marathon Relay 2008 - don't the years just tick over faster and faster? Last year was my first iron man event and since then I have done a lot more iron man events, so I should be getting better at these, however older at the same time.

To top it all off this year the family came down and not only that a couple of days before the event Michelle got herself roped into doing the run leg. Her first ever competitive run since childhood.

Over winter I have put a but more effort into my worst leg the run and I do seem to be getting faster at this horrible part of my competing. I also have to ensure that Michelle does not catch me, I reckon with some more work she just might.

So the Blackwood Marathon event is made up of 4 stages (5 if you do the equestrian section - none of us did this), the run 12km, canoe 8.5km, swim 1km and into the bike 20km. In the area between Boyup Brook and Bridgetown in the South West Of WA. This area is very hilly for WA and it makes the event what it really is - harder.

Let's start with Michelle she competed in the Cranky Monkeys team and ran the 12km in a time of 1:12:19 which I think is good considering she had not trained at this distance at all and was roped in late on Wednesday night when I got home from the pub.Well done love keep up the good work!

Michelle's team completed the event in 3:17:49 coming 120th of 179.

For myself (No. 412) the results are a little mixed from last year:
In the iron man category I came 7th out of 18 that completed with a total time of 2:55:25.

Run - 00:54:27 (better at last 4:47 faster than last year)
Canoe - 01:07:40 (slower by 2:35 due to less water and more portage - need a faster boat and more practise)
Swim - 00:14:24 (slower by 15 secs need to wear my swimming cap next year)
Cycle - 00:38:54 (faster by 2:29 still room for improvement think the road bike gearing will suit the event better than the Tri bike)

In the overall scheme of things I placed 59th of 179 total (teams + irons).

If you are interested in entering or checking out the results, photos or anything else about the event see the Blackwood Marathon Relay Website