Emma Moffatt’s Road To London Kicks Off in Geelong

 Olympic bronze medallist Emma Moffatt will make a hit and run visit to Geelong this Sunday for what will be the first stop for many athletes with their sights set on this year’s 2012 London Olympic Games.

Moffatt will be joined in the Australian Sprint Distance Championship race by fellow Beijing Olympian and 2007 winner Erin Densham, training partner Ashleigh Gentle, a host of young Australians including former World Championship open water swimmer Danielle de Francesco and a strong international contingent in the 32-strong field.

While Moffatt has the luxury of an early Olympic nomination, announced last December, both Densham and Gentle will be very much in the mix for an Olympic berth to be determined later in the year.

Geelong represents a perfect early season hit out and an ideal event for many athletes to get back into race mode.

But the Australian girls won’t have to look too far to see a strong group of internationals, some already booked for London and others seeking the final stamp on their passport to the biggest show in sport.

Sarah Groth, already named on the US Olympic team for London, will be joined by another London bound athlete, New Zealand’s Beijing Olympian and 2011 ITU World Championship Grand Final winner and former World Under 23 champion Andrea Hewitt.

They will be joined by a huge Dutch contingent including Rachel Klamer, who was second in last Sunday’s Oceania Sprint Championships in Kinloch, New Zealand and athletes from Germany, Italy and South Africa.

Moffatt is certainly no stranger to the popular Geelong Sprint Distance course, a 750 metre swim; 20 kilometre bike and five kilometre run, having won the title twice before.

The two-time world champion from 2009 and 2010 showed all her class to scamper away on the final lap of the run to beat Canada’s Kirsten Sweetland and fellow Australian Emma Jackson in last year’s race.

And while the pressure of selection was eased with her early nomination from Triathlon Australia, it didn’t mean any rest over the Christmas break as she and new coach Craig Walton put their plans together for a tilt at the London podium.

“Even over Christmas, we kept training. There was certainly no letting up. London will come around soon enough,” said Moffatt, who admitted she was pleased to put an indifferent 2011 behind her.

“Geelong is always a great way to start the competitive season, with a little sprint distance race and I’ll only travel down on Saturday, race Sunday and get back to training on Monday.

“My major races will come at the ITU World Cup in Mooloolaba (24 March) and the ITU World Championship Series race in Sydney (14 April).

“Training has been going really well. We have a good group, including Ashleigh Gentle and Liz Blatchford and that always makes training a lot of fun.

“There’s nothing better than a good chat with the girls before we get down to the serious side of training but so far so good.”

Moffatt certainly covers most of the Gold Coast in her week-long training routines, swimming three times a week at the Denis Cotterell Pool of Champions at Pizzey Park, Miami and three times a week at Southport Olympic.

And then in between the squad will run and bike ride around Nerang, Coombabah and Coomera and into the hinterland and south down to Kingscliff.

Other Australian youngsters to watch this Sunday will include 2004 Olympian Maxine Seear, 2011 ITU World Championship team members Tamsyn Moana-Veale and Natalie Van Coevorden while second round winner of the National Junior Series in Canberra last weekend, Ellie Salthouse remains in doubt with injury.

The only athletes missing will be Olympic champion Emma Snowsill, who will return from her overseas training base in South Africa for the Mooloolaba and Sydney races, and Jackson who will also set herself for those Olympic distances races.

The men’s race will see Beijing Olympian Courtney Atkinson, a four-time Australian Sprint Distance Champion spearhead a field that includes 38-year-old Ironman king Chris McCormack who won the Sprint Distance title back in 2001 and fellow Olympic hopefuls Brendan Sexton and Jamie Huggett as well as talented Frenchman Laurent Vidal and the cream of Australian’s youngsters.

Missing will be defending champion Brad Kahlefeldt, pre-nominated for London, who will set his sights on Mooloolaba and Sydney.

Atkinson started his campaign with an impressive win in the Seven Sunshine Coast Enduro Triathlon at Caloundra last Sunday, as he chases Sprint title number five over the Geelong course and ultimately a place in the team for London.

“Training over summer is back to normal, I hate making excuses, so put simply last year was a shocker, but I haven’t lost it, it’s still there and I’ve got a few big months coming up in regards to selection,” Atkinson said after the Caloundra win.

“It’s not just the Australian Team I’m looking at, the reality is, if you want to go to London and do something you’ve got to be ready to race the rest of the world, not just Australia.   So it’s baby steps at the moment, I’ve showed that I’m back in form, next step is to do Olympic Distance and show I’ve got form and then it’s heads down for London.”

McCormack was in action last Sunday too, finishing sixth to fellow Australian Aaron Royle in the Oceania Sprint Distance Championship in Kinloch, Lake Taupo, New Zealand.

Royle produced a stunning bike leg to hold off Dutchman Jan van Berkel and fellow Australians Huggett and Peter Kerr and another Dutchman Martin van Barneveld, who will all line up in what will be a strong field of 57 athletes in the men’s field.

Others include leading Australian juniors, Victorians Marcel Walkington and Joel Tobin-White and Queenslanders Drew Box and Jesse Featonby.

Event Information

AUSTRALIAN SPRINT DISTANCE TRIATHLON CHAMPIONS – HONOUR ROLL

MEN                                                                                                                                                                             WOMEN

1992             Greg Welch                                                                                                                     Michellie Jones

1993             Greg Stewart & Tim Bentley                                                             Maureen Cummings

1994             Miles Stewart                                                                                                               Emma Carney

1995             Troy Fidler                                                                                                                         Emma Carney

1996             Lach Vollmerhaus                                                                                               Emma Carney

1997             Chris McCormack                                                                                                 Joanne King

1998             Cancelled                                                                                                                           Cancelled

1999             Peter Robertson                                                                                                   Jackie Gallagher

2000             Craig Walton                                                                                                                 Emma Carney

2001             Bryce Quirk                                                                                                                     Loretta Harrop

2002             Courtney Atkinson                                                                                             Nicole Hackett

2003             Courtney Atkinson                                                                                             Loretta Harrop

2004             Peter Robertson                                                                                                   Maxine Seear

2005             Craig Alexander                                                                                                     Felicity Abram

2006             Cancelled                                                                                                                           Cancelled

2007             Craig Walton                                                                                                                 Erin Densham

2008             Courtney Atkinson                                                                                             Emma Moffatt

2009             Courtney Atkinson                                                                                             Annabel Luxford

2010             Not Conducted                                                                                                         Not Conducted

2011             Brad Kahlefeldt                                                                                                       Emma Moffatt