In July this year I ticked off the most important goal of my season in qualifying for the Australian team for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. There were two opportunities to automatically qualify this year. The first at the Gold Coast World Triathlon Series event in April and then the Hamburg WTS in July. Auto qualification criteria was simply finishing as the first Australian within the top 10 overall. In Gold Coast I finished up 6th but second Australian behind Ashleigh Gentle. This result gave me great confidence heading into Hamburg but I still felt a huge amount of self pressure to perform on the day. Despite not executing a perfect race in Germany– I finished 8^th and ticked the auto qualification box at the same time lifting a huge weight off my shoulders.

 Two weeks ago I headed to the Gold Coast for the official announcement of  the full triathlon team for next year’s Games. The third and final member of the Australian women’s team was decided by discretionary selection a few days prior to the announcement. Triathlon was the first Australian team to be announced for the Games and the women’s triathlon will also be the very first medal event come April! Even though I had known for a while I was in the team, it made it that little bit more real and exciting to join my team mates Ashleigh Gentle, Gillian Backhouse, Jake Birtwhistle, Luke Willian and Matt Hauser for the official announcement.

Both the men’s and women’s triathlon will be on the 5th April with the team relay two days later on the 7th April. Tickets for the grandstand are sold out – but fortunately triathlon is a free spectator event so you are still able to watch on course.

I have just started my preparations for 2018 kick-starting my pre season training at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra. I’m very excited to get fit and ready to line up in the best form possible in April!

After the Gold Coast WTS in April Hamburg was my only other chance to be automatically nominated by finishing within the top 10 and be the first Australian across the line. In Gold Coast I finished 6th but my training partner Ashleigh Gentle was 2nd and claimed the auto spot there.

On Saturday in Hamburg I crossed the line 8th (Ashleigh was 2nd again but as she had already qualified she was ineligible) so I’m very happy to say I managed to secure the final automatic nomination!
It wasn’t the best race of my life but definitely one I’m proud of.

I had a really strong swim and put myself in a solid position by the end of the cycle. The majority of the field ended up in one big group so it was important to stay safe and have an awareness of what was going on around me. My run wasn’t as speedy as I had hoped or prepared for with the front girls moving extremely fast. I was initially quite disappointed with this but I did what I came to do which was to grab the automatic spot so the disappointment didn’t last long
A huge congratulations to the impressive podium girls – Flora Duffy, Ashleigh Gentle and Laura Lindemann.
I loved the build up to both Hamburg and Gold Coast and challenging myselfto perform to my best ability under pressure and I’m incredibly excited to line up alongside Ashleigh next year in the Gold Coast! The final spot will be decided by discretion later in the year.

Team Relay World Championship- Backing Up

I didn’t have long to celebrate on Saturday night as I had to turn my focus to the World Mixed Team Relay Championships the next day. The relay will be a medal event in Gold Coast next year and has also just recently been added to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics so it was extra special to be a part of the team this year!
I raced the first leg with Matt Hauser, Ashleigh Gentle and Jake Birtwhistle following.
Last year I made a huge mistake in transition which cost me a great deal of critical time and I felt like I struggled under the pressure. I learnt a lot from that experience and I made sure I went into the race this year with a solid plan to stick to.
My swim wasn’t great but I rode really hard on the first lap of the ride to make up ground. There ended up being most of the field (20 teams in total) in our bike group so I had to ride quite aggressive to hold a good position and get into transition as near the front as possible.
The run hurt! It was only 1600m long so it felt like I was sprinting the whole time! A small group of 5 of us edged ahead together and with a tight sprint at the end I managed to hand over to Matt in 2nd place. Thankfully a much better leg for me this year
Matt and Ashleigh both were amazing and put us into a great position before handing over to Jake in 5th. There were 2 athletes who had a gap up the road but ‘Super Jake’ mowed them down, took the lead in the final few hundred metres and Australia won our first ever Mixed Team Relay World Championship!!!!
It was incredibly special and an honour to be a part of the team and I’m proud we can officially say we are the World Champions!

So it was a pretty good weekend in Hamburg for me

I’m so grateful for the incredible support that surrounds me everyday. My family, fiancé Brendan (who came to Europe to help me prepare for Hamburg), my friends back home, my training group, Triathlon Australia and the support staff – and of course my coach JT for his unwavering belief in my ability. We did it!!!!

Photographs are thanks to :

Tommy Zafares, Triathlon.org, Michael Strokosch, Simon Damiral and British Triathlon.

The second event of the World Triathlon Series tour this year was on home soil on the Gold Coast. The race had been on my mind since my training recommenced late last year as it was the first automatic qualifying race for a place on the Australian Commonwealth Games team – a team who will compete on the exact same Gold Coast course next year. I’ve raced in Gold Coast twice before and both times I had very disappointing performances so for the few months preparation leading into this year’s event I left no stone unturned. After a relatively relaxed start to the year I started to feel some form building in training through the weeks leading into Gold Coast and I was very excited to test myself out against a world class field.

In both 2016 & 2015 my swim performances were not at a world standard and since then I devoted a lot of effort into lifting my ability to a level that is consistently competitive. I wanted to execute a good swim this year more than ever. I got off to a good start and was able to exit the super choppy Broadwater in a position in sight of the front girls. I hammered the first 2km of the ride which paid off as I had made up enough ground to find myself with the leaders early on. By the end of the ride almost the rest of the field had also made contact with the front so the priority became holding good position heading into transition with 50 other motivated girls!

I executed transition without error and hit the run with the leaders. I knew getting as close to the front as possible would mean the advantageous use of the strong tailwind before we turned back around into the resistance. It broke up pretty quickly and I felt that the pace at the very front was too fast for me. I found myself running for the rest of the way in a small group of 4 with a small but, as it turned out, unassailable lead. My race ended up a sprint to the line for 4^th,5^th, 6^th and 7^th. I gave it all I could but came up short and crossed in 6^th place

Leading into this race I wanted more than 6^th. However I put myself in the best possible position and at this level of racing over such a short distance a few seconds can make a big difference in your final placing.Its encouraging to be at the pointy end of the field again and actually feel like you’re in the race – but I’m certainly not entirely satisfied with 6^th.

The other tough part was that I also missed out on the auto qualification. Ashleigh Gentle (who recently joined our training group and has become a very valuable training partner  ) finished in 2^nd and very deservingly took that spot. I will have another chance in a few months time to qualify at the Hamburg World Triathlon Series event so I’ll give it another go then  

Photos thanks to Tommy Zafares & Wybrand du Toit

This year I relied heavily on emotional support. The words of encouragement that I received from my family, coach, friends, my training group (the Wollongong wizards were amazing in my time of need), my sponsors, fellow competitors, members of the triathlon community and such kind strangers was overwhelming and I can assure you were the reason I was able to finish off the year strongly. So thank you.

My sights are firmly set on looking ahead towards 2020. I watched my training partner and friend Gwen Jorgensen win gold in Rio this year and seeing what it meant to her was enough to inspire me on for another 4 years.

In a few weeks I’ll head back up to Wollongong to join my training group and coach of the past 8 years, Jamie Turner and then it will officially all start over again

In the mean time – I’ve done a month by month review of all my races over the past 12 months. Have a read below

2016 in review

March

I lined up for my first race of the year at Abu Dhabi WTS. Starting the season off the back of a solid training block I still had no idea what sort of shape I was in but looked forward to testing myself out. I finished up 8^th which was a start to the year I was not too disappointed with!

April

Gold Coast WTS had been my focus for a long time as it was the only automatic selection race in 2016 for the Aussie Olympic team. About 100m into the swim I took a pretty big knock to the head which forced me to momentarily stop – and I never regained a good position throughout the rest of the race. Knowing the sort of form I was in I was definitely disappointed with this one.

May

Yokohama WTS was next up. I’d put my head down and tried to forget about the failure in Gold Coast and focused on having the best possible result in Yokohama. I still feel like it was the best race of my life. I was amongst the leaders out of the swim, played it smart and held good position on the bike and had a really good run to finish up a 5^th – the closest I’d ever been to the podium at that stage!

June

A few days after Yokohama I found out I hadn’t made the Olympic team. I took some time off before getting back to full training. A few weeks went by before Leeds WTS popped up.  Needless to say I didn’t have a very good race. I ended up 16^th.

July

Stockholm WTS was next up. This year the course was slightly different to previous years but still incredibly tough. I finished up 7^th which I was fairly happy with.

Hamburg WTS was a couple of weeks after Stockholm. It was a strong field and I didn’t have the best race but held on for 16^th. The next day I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to race in the World Mixed Team Relay Championships where team Australia finished 2^nd!

August

I headed over to the UK for a few weeks in August with my family. I raced the iconic London Triathlon before heading up to the Liverpool Triathlon managing to pull off the win in both events! It was a lot of fun doing some different racing, spending time with my family and mixing up my training environment before heading over to Florida to prepare for the final WTS.

September

Whilst preparing for the ITU World Triathlon Series Grand Final in Cozumel, I decided I wanted to doeverything I could to have the best possibility to walk away from the 2016 season proud of my achievements. Two of my big goals for the year were to achieve a WTS podium and finish in the top 8 overall rankings. I ended up 3^rd in Cozumel and 8^th in the rankings.

October

I had taken some downtime after Cozumel but wanted to race a couple more times before having my official break. I raced both the Nepean and Noosa Triathlon where I finished up 3^rd in both.

November

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to race the Hamilton Island Triathlon and Brendan and I headed up there for the weekend. It was such a fun weekend and I loved exploring the island and meeting a lot of new people.

The following week brought me to my final race of 2016. The World ITU Cross Triathlon Championships was an event I was both scared and excited for. I only had a couple of weeks of specific preparation for the off road event and I wasn’t quite skilled enough for the course but I loved every second of the race! The support out there on the course was amazing and I was pretty happy to finish up 4^th. I also took part in the mixed relay the next day where Australia won  I was able to race alongside my Dad too which was fun.

Thanks for your support – See you in 2017!

Charlotte

Photos thanks to : Tommy Zafares, Witsup & Delly Carr

A couple of weeks after that, I dusted off my road bike which hadn’t been used since Cozumel and travelled up to the Whitsundays for the Hamilton Island Triathlon. What a beautiful place to race! But it was far from a leisurely tropical tour of the island: it had a mixture of everything from riding on the exposed airport runway to the incredibly steep hills covered by rainforest canopy and for the final few hundred metres of the run we got to slog our way along the soft sand Catseye Beach to the finish line. We had such an incredible weekend of racing and exploring the island, visiting the Hamilton Island Primary School and helping out at the kids triathlon clinic. I managed to finish up 2nd in the race too which was nice.

The most fun, scary and demanding element of my end of season stint was yet to come. Back in April my friend Jess Simpson convinced me into signing up to the ITU World Triathlon Cross Championships which were being held in the Snowy Mountains.

I’ve competed in Xterra quite a few times and I grew up mountain biking but I didn’t quite realize how rusty my skills would be or the lack or preparation time I would have! I also had no idea that almost all of the course around the sunning Lake Crackenback Resort would be tricky single track. I had a couple of weeks to prepare for it and thankfully my dad Frank was also racing so I was able to train and learn a thing or two alongside him.
Its safe to say I was scared heading into the race. I spent a few days in the lead up to the race going over the course and there were quite a few parts I hadn’t been able to complete without dismounting my Liv Lust. The amazing thing about off road triathlon though is the friendliness and camaraderie of the athletes competing. Whenever I was out practicing on the course someone would see me struggle on a section and would stop and give me tips. Jess (who was also competing asan elite and an awesome rider) took me around and showed me the best lines. The girls I was racing against (who all knew my skills weren’t up to scratch) gave me confidence before the race that once I was out there I’d be fine. The spectators on the day were amazing, always cheering and supporting me. It was the most amazing experience and quite a different atmosphere to my regular super intense ITU races.
The run leg was just as crazy as the ride and I actually tripped over 5 times in the first lap (and lost my shoe in the mud 3 times). I had a blast and completely surprised myself by finishing up 4th amongst a field of awesome off-road athletes.
The next day I was asked to compete in the inaugural ITU World Triathlon Cross Mixed Team Relay Championships with off-road legend Ben Allen and two newly crowned age group world champions Kate Bramley and Rowan Beggs-French. I went off first and managed to get a lead which was extended by the whole team and Ben Allen anchored us home to cross the line as the first ever World Champions!
I had an awesome time preparing for the event alongside my Dad, had a great time at Lake Crackenback and am thrilled I chose to extended my long season to include some Oz based events!

I’m now officially on my break before I start back preparing for 2017!

Thanks for all your support,
Charlotte

Photos thanks to : Korupt Vision / Australian Triathlete Magazine, Witsup, Delly Carr

Cozumel was hot. Very hot. It was recorded at 33 degrees and almost 80% humidity before we started – with the water temperature over 30 degrees! This was obviously going to be a huge factor in the race.

Pre race I directed much of my focus into my swim as I knew this would likely be key in performing well and could set up the rest of my race. Not having to work so hard on the bike to catch up to another group would mean I could preserve myself a bit more. I had a good start and had relatively clear water most of the way from the Caribbean sea into the Cozumel marina. It was the most beautiful swim I have ever done. The water was perfectly clear and the marine life was incredible (not that I took the time to enjoy the seascape on this occasion).

I exited the water and entered first transition within the top 20 but at the back of the group. This position forced me to work hard through the first lap (of eight) of the bike to secure myself within the big front group. There were three girls ahead of my group including eventual winner (and World Champion!) Flora Duffy. From there I did my best to ride good position on the technical course to minimise chance of “bad luck” and also limit the severity of the accelerations out of the turns. I worked hard to make sure I was looking after myself as much as possible on the ride by sticking to my nutrition plan and constantly throwing water over myself.

I had one plan for the run: to start out conservatively and then run within myself to avoid over-cooking my body. I went out at what I thought was relatively slow and was surprised to find myself near the front a quarter of the way through the 10km course. I was surrounded by some really good runners so it did cross my mind that perhaps I had misjudged my pacing but I felt fine so stuck with it. We caught two of the three leading girls but Flora was still powering out front by herself. Recently crowned Olympic champ (and my training buddy) Gwen Jorgensen had also opened up a gap on us early on and was now sitting in second place. I was with three other girls as we started the second lap but we started to split up as we neared the 5km mark. My body was moving well and contrary to previous races in similar conditions the heat seemed barely noticeable at this point. I was actually starting to worry about how comfortable I felt! Nonetheless I stuck to my plan of running my own race and focused on myself.

It wasn’t until the last lap that I actually realised I was running in fourth place and I could see current third position Helen Jenkins ahead of me who hadn’t put in any more time since I’d first dropped off. This was the first time I actually realised what position I was in! Immediately it occurred to me: “The podium is just ahead of me. I can see the podium!!’ For the first time, I focused on another athlete and  worked on putting in a surge and closing down the gap to Helen. I ran with her for a while, dropping off twice and surging back up in close succession well within the final 1.5km. I had a lot of confidence with my sprinting ability and I really backed myself…as long as I could stay with her until the finish was close enough to sprint. As we entered the ‘blue carpet’ with about 100m to go I surged one more time – as hard as I could – and fortunately for me Helen wasn’t able to go with me.

Running across the line I actually couldn’t believe I was in 3rd. I still can’t. It was an absolute honour to be on the podium next to two people I have huge admiration for: the 2016 World Champion Flora and, of course, Gwen. I can’t thank Gwen enough for the support, encouragement, advice, friendship and being the best training partner over the past 4 years.
There was a huge part of 2016 that didn’t go to plan for me and I really struggled with that for a long time. I thought about ending my season and heading home every day for months. What kept me going was the incredible support I received from family, friends, other athletes, sponsors, the Wollongong Wizards, my coach JT and the numerous people that contacted me. A couple of weeks ago I finally felt like I was back to my old self and I was ready to move on.

I guess what I’m most proud of is something that most people wont know. I’ve collapsed and ended up unconscious 3 times whilst racing due to heat stroke – the heat has always been a big weakness of mine. Part of me really believed I’d never perform well in hot conditions. A couple of years ago I enquired about specific heat stress training and testing and I was fortunate that the NSW Institute of Sport, Triathlon Australia and Jamie supported me in pursuing this. This year I did 3 months of heat specific training in the earlier part of the year along with sauna sessions. I’ve worked really hard over the past couple of years and researched everything I could on heat stress along with having the feedback of some awesome physiologists (including Katie Slattery, Ned Brophy-Williams and Annette Eastwood) . I learnt so much about how best to deal with the heat and what to avoid in the lead up to Cozumel. Honestly, I was so worried about it before the race and I am so proud of my commitment to preparing myself as best as I could.

Finally, a massive thanks to my coach Jamie Turner. When I started ITU in 2010 I never ever believed that I would some day stand on a WTS podium… I didn’t believe that until this year. He’s backed me 100% and then some when I wasn’t capable of backing myself.

Charlotte

Photos thanks to : Delly Carr, British Triathlon, Viviane Sloniewicz and Tommy Zafares.

My next stop was London for the iconic London Triathlon. I raced here last year for the first time and I was really excited to head back for the impressive event that had an enormous number of amateur competitors – including a good friend of mine from my childhood. I was also meeting up with my parents, brother and partner Brendan who I hadn’t seen for over 3 months and had travelled from Aus to watch me race. 
I was very happy to take the win after my silver medal here last year! The London Triathlon has had many athletes who I looked up to growing up win before so it was quite special for me to have my name alongside theirs.
I then spent the following week in Glasgow, the city I grew up in before moving to Australia 11 years ago. I am very proud to represent Australia and I definitely call myself an Australian but when I go back to Scotland it still holds many memories that I will consider home I still have many friends and family living there and I was fortunate I managed to squeeze in some time to catch up with some of them.

The following weekend I travelled down to Liverpool to race in the British Sprint Triathlon Championships. Many of the same girls that I had raced the previous week were lining up again so I had an idea as to how the race might pan out. Some of the British girls are extremely strong swim/bikers so I had to really focus on that so I could get off to a good start with them. The race was quite exciting, finishing up in a sprint finish for the win in which I just edged out the strong Jess Learmonth to break the tape. The race also happened to coincide with my birthday so it was a double celebration!

After another successful weekend I headed back to Scotland with my family and Brendan and we travelled up to Caithness in the far north where I was born. We were very fortunate that the weather was great the whole time we were there and it was absolutely beautiful! One of the nights we stayed in Ackergill Tower Castle (a real castle!) which was a very cool experience.

After what felt like a whirlwind trip, before I knew it I was on a flight to Florida. I’ve spent the past 10 days in hot and humid Clermont preparing for my final WTS race of the year, the Grand Final in Cozumel, Mexico. I’m slowly but surely adapting to the heat a little better each day and I’m loving being back with my Wollongong Wizards training partners (including the newly crowned Olympic Champion Gwen Jorgensen!!)

Photo Credit :

Hrszphotography and British Triathlon

Hamburg is one of the most iconic stops on the World Triathlon Circuit. Set on the banks of the Alster lake and then through the narrow streets of the beautiful city centre with tunnel swimming, narrow streets, tight corners and cobblestone transition the course can’t be called anything but unique. One other defining feature of this race is the huge crowds that line the streets all weekend charging the nerves and fuelling the adrenaline. This year the series event was a sprint distance – my first ITU sprint of the year. As the last WTS race before the Olympics the usually strong field was that little bit fitter but like most of the field I have been gaining fitness and was excited to test myself
over the sprint format.

Surprisingly in the wetsuit swim (which tends to bunch everyone up) I rounded the first buoy at 250 metres in and already had reasonably clear water. This, in my experience, either means one of two things: I was near the front… or off the back! It was difficult to tell during the race exactly where I was especially in the near pitch darkness through the 50m tunnel! Fortunately, as I ran up the exit ramp around 15th, I realised there weren’t too many ahead of me.
In the first of 6 laps a large pack quickly formed with most of the girls except for a group of seven who had a slight lead. Through a tight and technical course a big group is usually less beneficial with everyone constantly pushing for better position rather than working together. The smaller group ahead capitalised and we’d conceded around 50 seconds to the front group as we reentered transition.

I got out of T2 quickly and ran near the front of my group for the first 2km but I couldn’t quite keep up the pace with the fastest girls from my pack. A 50 second gap is quite significant to close down over 5km and only managed to catch a couple from the front group, crossing the line in 15th. It wasn’t my best race, but definitely not my worst. I managed to hold onto 8th overall in the World Triathlon Series rankings.

The next day I was fortunate enough to be selected to race for Australia in the World Mixed Team Relay Championships alongside Jake Birtwhistle, Emma Jackon and Ryan Bailie. The Mixed Relay is an incredibly exciting format and I’d love to see the inclusion of it in Tokyo 2020!

I started off first and after a swim I was very happy with I completely stuffed up my transition. I struggled to get my helmet buckled and stood there anxiously attempting to do it up for what felt like hours. In reality it was around 10 seconds but that was 10 seconds too long and I completely missed the lead group. I pushed myself forward spending most of the remainder alone but in such a short race (300m swim, 6.6km ride and 1600m run per person) it was impossible to make the time back up and I handed us over to Jake in 9th position. I have never felt so terrible about a race in my life. I knew we had a very strong team and I felt like I had completely let them down. Fortunately Jake, Emma and Ryan were incredibly strong and didn’t give up, managing to pull us back up to 2nd place!!! It was so exciting. I was so proud to be on the podium in the green and gold alongside them. Congratulations to team USA who won and Germany for 3rd.
I now have around 8 weeks until my next ITU race, which is my main focus for this season – the Grand Final in Cozumel, Mexico. Its time to get my head down and start training!

When I arrived in Europe six weeks ago I had a break away from structured training to physically recover and mentally reset. Since then I’ve worked on building my fitness backup to the level I was at for the Yokohama event. Stockholm for me was going to be the right timing and level of competition to gauge the extent of my rebuilding fitness.

The swim was in front of the city hall and due to strong winds and the undercurrent, it made the water very rough – easily the choppiest water I’ve ever raced in! As soon as we dived in I wasn’t quite sure where I was in the field or who was around me. I remained in this tumbling bubble until I got out of the harbour at 1500m. As I exited the water I noticed some familiar names around me and I knew I’d have to put pressure on myself in transition and immediately on the bike if I wanted to be near the pointy end of the race.
There were a couple of groups which had already formed within the first lap but I was fortunate to be surrounded by some very strong cyclists who I was able to work with and move forward. We effectively formed a group of around 12 with one solo rider still off the front – the determined and tunnel-visioned Flora Duffy!
The course was a little different this year but still included the steep cobbled hill which we rode up each of the 9 laps. It was also more technical than previous years with lots of tight turns in narrow streets through the Old Town of Stockholm – It was a very interesting course but also made it incredibly tough with non-stop series of braking and accelerating. I tried to stay up close to the front of the group at all times to minimise the risk of crashing. Most of the girls in my group were pushing hard on the bike which was good for positioning once the 40km was done…if you could hold on!
As I started the run I could feel the effects of the ride on my legs. I just couldn’t go at the pace with the front few girls and they put quite a lot of time into me in the first lap. Heading into the second lap of 4 I started to feel a bit more like myself and picked up my pace and each lap I picked off a couple of people. The race finished at the very top of the steep cobbled hill and as it was approaching I realised I was going to end up having a sprint finish with the strong Kiwi, Nicky Samuels. After a tough 2 hours of racing a sprint finish on a steep hill isn’t going to be the most fun way to end it! I managed to get Nicky at the very end and I crossed the line in 7th which also moved me up to 8th in the World Triathlon Series rankings. Flora remained off the front and took out the race in impressive form.

After a challenging couple of months, I am pretty happy with the result. I am very grateful for the support I’ve had from everyone around me that have allowed me to take time to refocus and plan out the rest of my season. I’m looking forward to building back up for the rest of the year!