Challenge....Accepted!

The announcement of the Challenge Series returning to Australia came as a massive surprise to most people. I received an email on a Tuesday afternoon from Supersprint announcing that they will be managing Challenge Melbourne. This race is part of the 3 Challenge races to be held in Australia:

- Challenge Forster 24/11/13

- Challenge Melbourne 2/2/14

- Challenge Batemans Bay 16/3/14

This race is 1.9km swim, 90km, ride and a 21.1km run around Sandringham. This race will be in place of the Sandy Olympic distance (Olympic Distance to be at St Kilda during Jan). The 1.9km swim is a one lap course in Sandringham. The swells can be a bitch sometimes (but I enjoy it), the ride is 3 laps of Beach Rd (roads closed from Brighton to Mordy) and the run is 3 laps from Sandringham to Brighton.

I needed some financial help to sign up to this race as the announcement for registration was too sudden and I just didn't have any funds. My budget was blown out of the water from my last pay as I finally bought a new helmet. To be honest, if I knew this race was coming up, I would have delayed the helmet purchase even further. I was stressed. I really wanted to enter this race as feedback regarding the Challenge Series have always been positive. If I missed out on a spot for Challenge Melbourne, I would have happily raced Geelong Long Course instead.

I had help in paying for the entry this afternoon and so now this race will be my lead in for Melbourne Ironman. If everything goes to plan, this will be my 4th half ironman-distance triathlon. I am looking forward to being part of this inaugural event. Tri Alliance happen to be a training partner for this (working with Supersprint) so we will see more athletes joining us within the next few months.

USM also announced that Geelong Multisport festival will be returning and will be having their events on the week after Challenge Melbourne. I will be heading down to Geelong to support and to stay with family for the weekend. May even do a team entry to keep up with the training routine leading into Ironman Melbourne.