27 June 2008
Challenge Alumni take on Hawaii and Comrades
The 2007 Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge alumni continue to achieve – pushing themselves to the limits both mentally and physically in their chosen sports.
In June this year Tory Trewhitt (07 Challenge with partner Michael Klim) who runs trewhealth, a Melbourne based health, fitness and rehabilitation business, completed his second Comrades ultra marathon (89km) in South Africa. The marathon, described as the ‘ultimate human race’ this year had 11,192 participants of which 8,613 finished.
Just finishing this marathon is an outstanding performance, let alone Tory’s finish in the top 10%, in a time of 8hrs 36 minutes.
“Prior to the gun going off I was confident I would complete the course, but in events of this duration it is the ‘WHAT IFS’ that play a part and these can dictate your race performance.”
“With an early start and an expected 28 degrees top temperature my race plan was to go out slowly and consume fuel and fluids early then once I reach (the) 45km mark reassess. I went through to the half way mark three minutes ahead of schedule, but then hit a small hurdle between 60-70km when I started to get pre-cramps and the heat became a small factor as I climbed a hill that seemed (it) would never stop.”
“Disassociation was then my focus as I made it to the 20km to go sign. For me this simply meant that I only had four laps of Albert Park to go and I could now break down the distance in my mind and aim for a finishing time.”
“As I ran into the stadium I was not only physically and mentally relieved but my feet were happy to get off the road and hit the grass.”
“Completing the run I was happy and have now completed two Comrades Ultra Marathons in a row, both DOWN HILL in 2007 and UPHILL in 2008 and only four minutes separated my times. So this chapter is now closed and I search for other extreme events that will test my grey matter!”
Matt Dusting (07 Challenge with partner Tim Robinson) is another of our past competitors whom we’re proud to claim as our own. Matt’s ironman results mean he will be heading off to the beautiful island of Hawaii to tackle the tough Ironman World Championship. After finishing in 36 th place (out of 1,500 competitors) at the Australian Ironman Championships at the Port Macquarie Ironman in April, and achieving the qualifying time, Matt has been preparing for the performance of his life in Hawaii.
“Firstly I was just glad to be finished after nine and a half hours of punishing myself! I knew based on my time I would be close to qualifying but very soon after finishing I was given the great news and it was a very special feeling and more special to be able to share it with the many family members and friends who were there watching. We were all pretty stoked. It was extremely satisfying as it had been my number one goal for the last 12 months.”
“It’s definitely the highlight of my triathlon career thus far (just in front of last year’s Webber Challenge!”) Finishing my first Ironman was unforgettable but to qualify for Hawaii was about achieving a stretch goal I had set myself 12 months ago after racing at Port Macquarie.”
“My training program starts in early July and will involve a 14 week build up, approximately 10-12kms of swimming, 250 – 350kms of riding and 60-90 kms of running per week. Training to me is part of my lifestyle and very social, so I’m quite looking forward to the next 3 months of seeing a lot of my friends even if it is at 5.30am during Melbourne’s winter months.”
Fresh off the back of another points haul at the French Grand Prix which has seen the Australian driver score points in six of the eight rounds of the Championship so far, Mark too is enjoying his sport!
Between the grueling schedule of travelling to races each fortnight, with testing during the off weeks, Mark continues to work hard on his fitness which encompasses a range of cross training activities. This weekend in the UK Mark will compete in a mountain bike race where competitors see how many laps of a 9 kilometre course they can manage over four hours.
