Ireland's number one ranked triathlete, Gavin Noble, ended his season in scintillating form with a superb race in the ITU BG World Cup event in New Plymouth, New Zealand.
The Enniskillen man, based in Stirling, did everything right in a star studded world class field to raise his Olympic ranking by a magnificent 70 places by clinching a career best top 20 place in the last qualifying race of 2006.
Having battled dehydration in the final 5k of the run-leg in the intense heat and humidity in Cancun, Mexico, the week before, Gavin was determined to finish the year on a positive note in New Zealand.
He reports, "Although I was in the lead group in the World Cup in Cancun I simply hadn't drunk enough on the bike, which meant that by 5km on the run I began to struggle in the humidity. I arrived in New Plymouth on Wednesday after a couple of days' travel from Mexico and began the usual routines of getting out on the course and trying to freshen up. I was pleased that the weather was bit more Irish in that it was only 17 degrees and raining – and a strong wind meant the sea was quite rough.
"My swim start was good and I was able to escape the fighting and underwater physical stuff in the first 300m – something that I had trouble with in Salford and Beijing. I ran from the surf in seventh and comfortably in the lead pack.
"The pace on the bike was fast and furious and the hard course meant that there were a number of packs behind us. I enjoyed the hard ride and felt good as we entered transition.
"The wind on the run course made it extra tough and I ran as hard I could to 18th. Jumping up from 162 to 92 in the Olympic rankings, I am pleased to end the year on a positive note."
He went on, "It has been a long and hard season and a year of highs and lows – I began racing in February in Australia, with a few good wins there, including the Victorian Championships, a 15th place in the Commonwealth Games where I was carrying an injury, then back to the European and Asian circuit, when I won an ITU Premium Cup Race in Erdek, Turkey, a bronze in the Asian Cup races in Amakusa in Japan and a fifth and seventh place in Asian Cups in Hong Kong and Plover Cove. In between, I retained my Irish title in Ballyronan and won a great Waterways Ireland race in Athlone."
Basically, he has been living out of his bike bag for ten months.
"I'm now looking forward to getting home for a short break and some rest before I get back to competition in 2007 – warm weather training for three weeks in Aguilas, Spain, with the British High Performance Squad and GB coach Chris Jones. From Spain, I will either travel to the Sunshine Coast, Australia (North of the Gold Coast), again with the British squad – until April 15th.
"My other option is to join the New Zealand Elite Squad in Christchurch, for the same time period. I then plan to compete in the Australian Championships in Geelong on 4th March. This will be a warm-up for the first World Cup race of 2007 in Mooloolaba on 25th March. After that, I am targeting World Cup and Olympic qualifiers in Ishigaki, Japan, Lisbon and Richards Bay, South Africa, which will complete round one of Olympic qualification. The second and final round finishes on 1st June 2008. I hope to be there!" he said.
