Matty White

2009 YEAR REVIEW

2009 is done and dusted and it has turned out to be my best year yet with so many highlights and personal bests it is really going to be hard to beat in 2010, but I am confident I can step it up and achieve my goal of an Ironman victory somewhere around the globe! 2009 started off really well for me with a great 5th place at Geelong Half Ironman, this was the best field assembled in Australia for a half ironman race with names like Crowie, Bell, Mckenzie, Dellow, Gambles, Watt and Matthews etc, so it was great to see where I was ranked amongst this stellar field.

After Geelong I raced the Kingston Triathlon, I had a huge week of training straight after Geelong leading into this race and wanted to see how my body would react under these conditions and more importantly how it would recover. My body reacted really well to this and I managed to win the race in a record time and by 5 minutes which for an Olympic Distance race was really encouraging. After Kingston I was really focussed on getting ready for Ironman Port Mac so I put my head down and worked hard, while picking up 2 of the most prestigous titles in SA along the way in early March. They were the Mrray Man Event and the Victor Harbor triathlon which is one of SA’s longest running and best events plus I had won this race the last 3 years and really wanted a 4th title. After bagging the Victor race I moved on to Murrayman the next week which is a 2/60/15 distance run over a handicap format where the women start 18 minutes ahead of the men and the overall winner gets an extra $1000 on top of a free return flight to anywhere in Australia and the $800 first male prize so it was a good pay day and winning this race 2 times out of the 2 years it has been running was great as my tri club Adelaide Vales puts on the event and I am looking forward to doing it again in March 2010.

Port Mac for me was a bit of a dissapointment as I did not feel great going in to the event with a bout of gastro, but still managed 8th place in 8.50 which worked out well as it gave me my Kona spot which I was not able to use last year! Once I knew what was happening with the Kona spot I worked out a plan of racing and training in hot conditions.

After Port Mac I did a small local race in Loxton which I love doing and its a great way to end the season, I managed to win that race a week after Ironman and then it was time to switch off where I went to the Hawaii to look at the Ironman course in Kona then on to the mainland for some R and R in Vegas and California. Once I got back in July it was time to get serious and focus on some quality work toward Kona. My campaign started with my main highlight of the year by winning the Yeppoon Half Ironman in August in hot conditions, after this I jumped on a plane and headed to Cairns for 5 weeks of heat training, this was great preperation for Hawaii and idillic training conditions with fantastic rides along the tablelands and running along the foreshore providing enough scenery to easily run 150km a week up and down the esplanade!

Off to Kona and the real game was on, Kona blew me away with the sheer atmosphere around the island and race week is something that you have to see to believe. After being there in May, the island was a completely different race in October and it can be daunting especially when you are racing pro in your first ironman. Race day was a massive learning curve for me as I made some rookie mistakes, but this is what Kona is all about and I managed to hang tough and come home with a good 3.06 marathon which put me in 33rd pro out of 160. After Kona I didnt really have much of a break as I had Shepparton Half Ironman then Ironman WA in December. Shep was encouraging even though I didnt feel great as I managed a 4th place in 3.55hr, my legs were not quite 100% but I kept up the training hoping things would come together for Busso. Going into Busso I wasnt overly confident as my training was more about getting the legs back and not really focussed on endurance so I was a bit worried how they would hold up in the marathon. I was right! after holding down equal 2nd and 3rd for about 15km of the run things started going backwards and I hung on for 5th in 8.35, Overall I was really happy with that result as I have never raced an ironman that close to another one.

After Busso I race the Coomealla Sprint Tri and defended my title for the 4th time even if it was with tired legs a week after Ironman Busso!

Overall things went well all year, with no injuries (touch wood) and I managed to attain some great partnerships with some excellent companies. My main aim for 2010 is Ironman 70.3 Geelong, then Ironman Malaysia in late February so I intend to get things started in the new year in prep for these events after having a well earned break for the last 3 weeks, hung over or not I am back out on the training track New Years Day – OUCH.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE AND THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT IN 2009.

Matty

WA Ironman Run Start Video

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Back page of Riverland Paper

Coomealla Tri Race Report – Done and Dusted for 09

Hey everyone,

I am sitting here writing this race report with a beer in one hand and a big grin, knowing that I have the rest of the year off training and racing and boy am I going to enjoy a well deserved break.

Initailly I was not going to race this weekend as I was pretty wrecked after Busso, not just the race but trying to recover from the after party was a big task! But I started to feel good on Wednesday after a couple of massages and decided to make the trip up to Mildura to compete in the 20th anniversary of this great race. John Flemming and the team put on such a well organised fun race with great prize money so it wasn’t a hard decision to drive up plus my wife was racing so I would be going up anyway.

Race start was 8.45 and conditions were perfect with no wind and thankfully a downstream swim in the Murray, 750m later I managed to emerge in 3rd position only 5 seconds behind the fast junior swimmers. I knew that my strength lies on the bike and to be in touch this early was good for my confidence. The ride leg contained some nice little bites in it which helped me get away and extend my lead to about a minute heading into T2 with Ryan Johnson in 2nd and Shane Johnson 3rd a further minute back. Hitting the run was not fun as the legs didn’t want to play the game which was understandable after the last 6 months, but I managed to extend my lead on the run and things started coming together in the last 2.5km. I ended up winning the race by about 2 minutes to Ryan Johnson and a fast finishing Chris Rawlings. Its great to know that I can bust out a fast sprint distance race only a week after Ironman and still have some good speed.

As for now though it is rest time which will involve a lot of Golf, Christmas Drinks and sleep ins, before I start training again in the New Year and my build up for Geelong 70.3 in February.

I would like to thank everyone for the support I have received over the last 6 months with all the inspirational messages and emails it really helps a lot and does not go unnoticed.

Thanks

Matty

Shepparton Half Ironman Race Footage

I have managed to hunt down some great footage from the Shep Half Ironman,, these guys did a great job, and it was such a fun race to be part of.

Check it out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUPqW9edEn8

Matty

Carnage in Busso Town!

One word pretty much describes the day out there, not only for the pros but for a lot of the age groupers who really suffered in the sweltering conditions on possibly one of the fastest courses in Australia.

On a more personal note I didn’t know what to expect out there and what the day would hold as I really had not done a lot since coming back from Kona and I was banking on the fact that all my Kona prep would give me enough legs to get me across the line in a respectable time and position, so walking toward the swim start I was unusually relaxed and had a “go with the flow” attitude as opposed to the raw nerves which usually accompany a pro ironman start!

The field at Busso was really wide open in terms of stand out quality, my biggest concerns at the front of the field were Vernay and defending champion Tim Berkel, then came a whole list of athletes such as Nyedi, Ogden, Shortis, Rix, Johnson, Marr etc, I knew the race would come together at the front of the field and then come down to whoever could run a fast marathon so it was just a matter of staying in contact through out the race and go, go, go.

My day started at 6am when the gun sounded and almost immediately my heart rate went through the roof and stayed like that for the first 2km, I had an unusually bad swim and came out about 1min30 behind the hitters such as Vernay, Berkel etc. Luckily for me I found my rhythm on the bike and managed to ride up to the main bunch and catch them at 30km in to the ride. The bike course is lightening fast in Busso with great road surfaces and no hills at all so I wound up the lightweight disc and Merida Time Warp and it just soaked up the road. Jimmy Johnson was about 2-3min ahead of the main group which contained all the good runners and it seemed everyone was content to leave him hanging out there.

During the ride I had a few hard digs trying to get away and break up the group but it was too difficult with everyone watching each other. We hit transition all together and I managed to get a clean run out the tent with Berkel and Vernay, which was great as I was around the mark and feeling good at this point. I knew that my legs would not hold out on the run as my preparation has been limited so I decided to have a crack and go as hard as I can before the wheels fall off and hopefully get enough of a gap to hold on. I certainly managed to do that as I checked my watch at the 10km and it said 38min! at this point I was within a minute of the lead and running with Vernay which in itself is a daunting prospect so I decided to back off the pace a bit as Patrick was throwing in a few surges ripping my legs apart. At about the 25km point things went backwards in a big way and I had to ask my self some pretty deep questions to keep going, but I had a good hold on 5th and I was looking at a PB time so I kept plugging away as I really wanted to finish the year on a good note.

Overall I managed to sneak in to 5th place in 8hrs 35min behind, Vernay, Nyedi, Johnson and Ogden which also gave me 2nd Australian which I am pretty happy about as a lot of pros found the going tough and called it a day on the run, so to be able to stick it out after backing up from Kona and Shepparton in tough conditions was extremely satisfying. I have had great support this year from all my sponsors and it was good to repay them with my best year yet in the sport. I am now going to have a break until the new year where I will build up for Geelong 70.3 and possibly another Ironman in February or March! So stay tuned.

Also well done to the SA athletes who toughed it out, I managed to speak to a few of you who said how tough it was. Also a big shout out to Ryan Harris who is a fellow fire fighter in Adelaide who completed his first Ironman in 12hrs and quite possibly the best finish I have ever seen. He was so pumped to finish he gave himself cramps on the finish line! It was so great to see the level of accomplishment on the faces as they crossed the line and I consider myself privileged to be part of this wonderful yet gruelling sport!

Matty

Here are some photos from race day.. ENJOY and thanks for all your support out there I needed it.

Finiah Line

Laying it down with eventual race winner Pat Vernay

My poster at the Ryders tent