|
Forster IronMan 2005
What was I thinking? Four weeks after Ironman New Zealand
where I had to dig into the bottom of the well. I was
backing up for IronMan Forster. I had two weeks totally off training after
N.Z. but still my first session back I couldn't even sit on my training
buddy Craig "Maddog" McKenzie's wheel. The signs were never
ever good. The trip there was just as ominous. I left 2am Thursday morning
solo in my pride & joy, my 1985 230E gun metal grey Mercedes. I'd
always wanted an immaculate old Merc as my father
had one when I was very young and thanks to my biggest
ever pay day coaching Malik. I was able to upgrade from my 1970 green
Ford Escort. Anyway all was going well on my trip to Forster. My training
mate Maddog who was already at Forster was giving me early moring calls.
I got to Albury and decelerated when problems came out of the blue. My
baby was shaking and it wasn't because she was cold. I stopped at a petrol
station and filled up. She started back up but still had allot of troubles
accellaerating off the mark. Sure enough even that early in the morning
I got every red light in Albury and had to do the one foot on the break
and one on the accelator. to stop her stalling. Once on the freeway and
up to speed she was fine but do I risk going through Sydney's traffic?
Am I doing more damage to my baby? I got to Hollbrook and decelerated
again hoping the problem was just a dream, it wasn't. I pulled into the
toilet block next to the submarine at Holbrook and called my flatmate
& website designer Paul "Dorf" Lock. he knew it wasn't a
hello call as it was arround 6am. "Call the RACV", was his annoyed
response, "call someone who cares". Fair enough I thought and
called them up and waited. Craig's wife Georgia called me about a minute
later to see how my journey was going. Then Kate Patterson called 5 minutes
after that. The phone was going off during my wait. I called my sister
and got her answering machine, left a message talling her the situation,
Paul & Craig called up. Maddog was already looking at bus services
from Holbrook to Forster. He knew I was in two minds still about racing
and was likely to get my bike out of the boot and ride home leaving my
troubles behind such is my nature. Craig and I had become very good friends
in the last months. We did most of training together and our personality's
are so opposite it just worked perfect. He is very meticulous and counts
every km. The first time we rode to Portsea and back he made us ride an
extra 600m as the ride was only 179.4km's. I on the other hand am quite
laid back once I get going get white line fever and try to make most sessions
a race. Craigs a real straight shooter and perfectionist. If I was tired
and having a bad endorphine day historically
i'd be changing my bike set up totally either during the ride or as soon
as I get home. "What are you thinking you idiot? You rode awsome
yesterday you're just tired," would be Craig's response. I listened
to him because I respected him. He was a big reason why I had a solid
race at N.Z. and I decided to leave my bike in the boot and wait for the
R.A.C.V.
When they did arrive, the guy had a look and asked me to follow him back
to the garrage about a km up the road. I got her there and had to wait
a few hours as the mechanics started at 8am so I had a snooze in the car.
My sister Tammy called as did a few other friends as the word must have
spread. the mechanics arrived & worked out fairly quickly that at
least two of the four cylinders were gone, that it had to get fixed. My
sister called back as did Mum & Maddog. Craig was still sorting out
a bus and was also looking into if anyone else doing the Ironman would
be driving by in the next few hours. Tammy topped that though. Her and
Chris her fiance dropped everything, got into Chris A.K.A. 'The Bears'
4WD and came to pick me up. I got a motel for the day as they were five
hours or so away.
When I signed the guest book of the Motel I got the normal 'are you related
to Tammy'? Question. I had a shower and an awsome sleep after such an
early start. Woke up & walked back to the mechanics. He was just getting
into cyclingand had lost alot of weight. He had mny problams finding all
the screws to get the cylinder head off the Merc which didn't bestow much
confidence in me for her resurection. Chris & Tammy arrived and they
met the mechanic coming to the same conclusion as me. We packed everything
into Chris's 4WD and left the merc behind. We arrived at Forster 2am Friday.
Tammy called Forster tourism earlier and nailed a two bedroom house overlooking
the lake which had a last minute cancellation. I slept poorly as I knew
something was wrong. I woke up at 5am and checked my bags. I had left
my bike shoes in either the Motel at Holbrook or the boot of the Merc.
I felt terrible, I wished I'd just stayed home. My bike shoes were in
the boot of the Merc under some old training wetsuits. Tammy & Chris
were even prepared to drive back to Hollbrook. We sussed out express post
but that still wouldn't have gotten the shoes there by race day. Luckilly
for me my sponsors TCR
and Pearl
Izumi were at the expo tent.
Wally at Pearl Izumi gave me a brand new pair of bike shoes and Deano
(TCR)
the cleates. Although I felt like an idiot it was a relieved idiot. Now
i could concentrate on the race.
Swim
We had a ten minute head start this year over the age groupers which ment
a 6.15am start, I was not to happy. I got into the start line with Maddog
on my left and Macca on my right. Macca's a terrific bloke, he always
asks if he can draft off me in the swimand marks me out at the start.
He was quoting lines from the movie Braveheart while the officials were
trying to stop us creeping forward. "Hold, hold" he kept repeating
in a scottish accent. I couldn't remember where he was getting his lines
& he told me it was when William Wallace was telling his Scot's to
hold their line while the English were charging towards them. Very cool
dude. The gun went and I hit the front fairly early trying not to hit
Craig or Chris. I led the first lap and a quarter before Cam Watt came
pass to do a turn as I was tired & slowing. Macca was on his feet
minus cap and goggles which must of got knocked off. This still didn't
stop the man. I jumped on and was already aware that I was going to struggle
with energy all day. I moved back to the front towards the last turn.
It was very confusing as we were chopping through age group swimmers on
their first lap. I didn't want to hit any of themas most of them would
have been elderly people have a crack. I was too tired to sprint awaybut
I was spent, I stood up level with who I thought was Cam Watt and couldn't
be bothered sprinting up the ramp. Cam had driven the rest of the second
lap and set a really good pace. It wasn't Cam but pea heart Matt Tippet
who never did any work and pulled out early on the bike.
Bike
I had a good transition and tried to get first on the bike but Macca was
too fast and pipped me. I felt shit house. As I got on I was hoping I
would come good soon. Luke Bell cam epast looking like a Rolls Royce,
he was about 30 seconds behind Macca but caught him which is some feat
as Macca's like a turbo once he's on his Kestrel. Pople came past and
I couldn't go with them which was very, very frustrating as a month earlier
I would have dropped them. Craig came past early in the ride which cheered
me up. he evened slowed down for me to tell me to pull my finger out but
I was in la la land. I rode solo until Coobs Road where Mich Anderson
steamed past, yelling "G'day Van". He's a great bloke and awsome
rider. I rode about 20 meters behind him to the Coombs Road turn but my
energy levels dropped again & the Anderson train steamed off. As I
got back to town and the crowd was awsome. I was around 7th or 8th position,
a few minutes behind Maddog and re-energized. I tried to bridge the gap
but once the crowd was gone my energy soon dissapeared. I was caught by
a group at Combs Road. Riding in this group was a good mate Davis Meade.
Davis works fulltime and has a family had made up a ten minute deficet
from the swim. I had a chat to him and he said he was stuffed having to
play catch up. I rode with the group to town and got off feeling like
I did 30 km's into the run at New Zealand.
Ride
I was really angry with myself but tried to salvage something as I was
still top ten 20km's into the run. I ran with Chris Leigh for a while.
If anyone deserved a good race it was him but he was having problems.
I couldn't keep it together. All day I couldn't hold any of my N.Z. form
for more than twenty minutes before having big lulls. Trudged home in
just over ten hours. Sick of having bad races now. Maddog had the fastest
run of the day and came fourth was my only consolation.
The "Bear" organised for my car to get trucked back to Melbourne.
I'm really lucky to have such a great family. Craig got his spot for Hawaii
he was pumped. We went back to the finish line for the last few hours.
The Forster finish line is one of best for atmosphere in the world of
Ironman I suspect. I've never come home in the top ten here and never
will as we all know it's being moving next year. Anyway Hawaii awaits.©
2005 John Van Wisse
back to top
New Zealand IronMan 2005 
I went to New Zealand feeling fairly confident that I could hold my own
for most of the race. However, at the same time, I was realistic that,
on only 60km a week of running, I would struggle during the second half
of the marathon.
In my favour, I'd done a lot of good hard runs off the bike with my training
partner, Craig "Maddog" McKenzie. In fact, we did two a week.
The first was on Wednesdays, when we'd do a 180km time trial on the bike
in around 5 hours 10 (including slowing down for lights), followed by
a 10km run, at a pace of slightly under 4 minute/km. Then, on Fridays,
we'd do a 100km time trial, averaging 36-38km/hour, followed by a 12km
run, averaging 3.40 - 3.50 per km. These sessions gave me a lot of confidence.
Another core session in my build-up was Monday's long run of 20km, which
involved a 3km warm up, 15km @ 3.30 - 3.5 per km pace, 2km cool down.
Craig was an awesome training partner - even on the tough Monday session,
he'd barely be puffing (hence his nicknames "Maddog" & "White
Kenyan"). I wish I'd had 3 or 4 more months in which to run with
him & establish a solid base. This was sadly lacking due to long term
injuries, but I improved out of sight in the few months we trained together.
Once again, my travel companion to New Zealand was Dave "the flying
Eadie" (see report on the Tasmanian Half Ironman). Dave's a really
funny guy. He used to run 13min 50sec for 5km on the track and hates being
outrun in a triathlon (he talks almost as fast). He is a policeman by
trade, but specialises in helping underprivileged kids. He's very gullible
and sensitive, so I goad him with stories about Craig McKenzie not holding
him in very high esteem as a runner. His reaction is always good for a
laugh and I can entertain Craig on our long training sessions with the
stories of how I bait Dave.
Dave and I were dropped off at Tullamarine by mum's taxi service. Dave
packed everything into his bike bag, while I had my bike packed in a cardboard
box and my other possessions in a light suitcase. During the drive to
the airport, we worried about getting stung with a hefty fine for excess
luggage. I was convinced that Dave's one bag was heavier than my suitcase
and bike box combined, but, to my great disappointment, I was charged
$140.00 for excess (29kg in total), while Dave got away with only $20.00
(21kg total).
The flight passed very quickly in Dave's humorous company. He kept trying
to woo the air hostess with his 'charm', and to prove his theory to me
that they all women want is 'a nice guy' (if you say so, Dave). We arrived
at Auckland airport around lunchtime and hired a van, which was more than
spacious enough for all our gear. We initially booked the van because
there were going to be three of us travelling together. The third man
was ex-bodybuilder turned IronMan star, Anthony Figuero. Unfortunately,
four weeks earlier, big "Figs" had run into a tree on the Sandringham
beach paths and knocked himself out. Figgsy is half blind at the best
of times and, although he denies it, I'm sure he wasn't wearing his customised
coke-bottle Oakleys at the time. Figgsy was out of it, mentally and physically,
for weeks after that. He spoke in riddles and had lingering back problems.
I expect the tree was a write-off.
We arrived in Taupo that night and spent the next few days catching up
with friends in the town's numerous coffee shops. Taupo is the perfect
race venue. The town is well spread out; the lake crystal clean (although
boringly flat, in my opinion); and the New Zealanders a terrific bunch,
being really laid-back and down-to-earth. I love the place.
Swim
I was well aware that there were several excellent swimmers lining up
for this race, and I had decided months earlier that I wouldn't renew
my rivalry with swim course record holder, Brent Foster. The last two
times that I raced in NZ, he sat on my feet the whole way, then overpowered
me in the final stretch. The first year he did it to me, I was fuming,
so much so that I increased my normally lazy amount of swimming of one
session a week to 3 - 4 just to crush him the following year. That year,
I went out like a bullet. I had a minute lead over the main group by about
500m, but Brent was still on my feet. My stomach popped at about 800m
and the barely 10m gap I opened on him quickly disappeared. I knew he
was hurting too, so I kept pushing, but he came past me with 200 metres
to go and opened up a gap of about 15m. I then started catching him again,
but I ran out of time. I came out seeing stars and didn't end up having
a very good race; neither did he. This year, Brent broke clear with a
vicious surge about ten minutes into the swim. I held back and sat comfortably
behind the front three swimmers of the lead group of about ten people.
Brent just missed his swim record & pulled out during the bike. We
all came out about a minute back in around 46 minutes. Cameron Brown had
an awesome swim and came out in this group, which was a really nasty surprise.
On the positive side, the long 400m run-to-bike transition was carpeted
the whole way and the crowd was cheering madly.
Bike
I had a good transition and my heart rate was well under control after
my lazy swim. Because of this, it took me only ten minutes to find my
bike legs, instead of the usual 20. Unfortunately for me, though, I missed
the front group of rock star, Kieran Doe, with his bleached dreadlocks;
drinking mate and top five off the bike in Hawaii, Stephan Sheldrake;
superstar, Cameron Brown; and monster cyclist, Bjorn Anderson. They were
absolutely smoking. When I found my legs, I felt terrific and dropped
Bryan Rhodes and Gail Maynard, but I was losing a lot of time to the front
group, who seemed to be going insanely fast. I rode solo for the whole
first lap and a quarter of the second one. I was fine with this as I'd
done a lot of 180km time trials in training. It was nice, however, to
get caught at about the 120km mark. I was bored by that stage, and demoralised
by Cam Brown being in the front group, which had powered away from me.
I finished the bike in 6th place, ten minutes down, with a 4 hour 50 ride.
To my surprise, bike superstar, Bjorn Anderson was sitting in the transition
tent, having blown up. When I asked him if he was alright, he said yes,
and wished me luck for the run. To his credit, he started & finished
the marathon, walking almost the whole way.
Run
I felt like I had steam coming out my ears. I'd done so many hard brick
sessions in training, I knew I'd be strong for a good part of the run.
I had been hoping to start the marathon with Cam Brown, but he was ten
minutes up the road. As usual, I felt rather un-coordinated for the first
few kilometres, but was still managing to hold a good pace of around 3.40
per km, if not faster. The crowd support was fantastic, even though not
many people knew who I was, as I was a late entry and my number wasn't
in the program. In fact, some Aussies in the crowd thought I was Courtney
Ogden. It had been four years since I'd gone 8 hours 32 here, and I was
loving being in the action again. I moved into second position at about
25km, but, all of a sudden, my quads felt like they had a sledge hammer
whacked against them, no doubt due to the lack of running mileage. Although
I crept home and ended up in 7th place, I was very happy with my performance,
as it gave me a lot of hope for a good one Hawaii, if I can stay injury
free. I finished in 8 hours 51 seconds and was the first Aussie home.
Dave the flying Eadie went 9 hours 31 seconds, his best ever time, with
a 2 hour 59 marathon. We got smashed the following night.
All in all, it was a sensational trip. ©
2005 John Van Wisse
back to top
Tasmania Half IronMan 2005
As I headed to Tassie on a "Toyworld" propeller plane with good
mate, Dave Eadie AKA "the flying Eadie" (the guy who used to
run 13.50 min for 5km), both of us had high hopes of a solid race. Dave
wanted the fastest run outright for the day and I just wanted to finish
the run. Seriously, I'd had 11 months off running due to a knee operation,
and had only built up to glorified runs around the block in the few months
I'd been back.
Race day was a pleasant 15 - 20C, with only light winds. The swim this
year was held in Bass Strait, which gave us a head-on chop. Luke Bell
and I got away quickly, thanks to the chop (it's harder to draft in chop),
but neither of us could see the first turning buoy, which was about 800m
straight out from shore (apparently). I asked a guy on a ski, who had
been paddling to the side of us, to lead me, and he went to oblige, but
promptly fell in and we never saw him again.
Lukey and I had a laugh and just kept heading straight out, eventually
sighting and turning round the can. Luke was quite happy to follow me
and I owed him a tow, as he had sucked me along for most of the swim at
the Shepparton Half IronMan a few months earlier. Once we'd turned the
can, it was clear we had a fair lead over guys such as Kane Malherbe,
Joe Gambles, Matt Tipett, and my good mate, Dave "the flying Eadie",
who I hoped hadn't drowned. I couldn't see the next can, so I shouted
down the rubber duckie for help. I thought it was Stevie Wonder in the
rubber duckie as he kept zig zagging everywhere and doing 'donuts'. Eventually,
he just left us. I had no idea where I was and Lukey was just having a
nap behind me. Luckily, a young lass on a paddle board came across. I
followed her until I saw the last can, but we'd all been swept down shore
about 200m.
The swim had been a fun adventure in very clean powerful water, not your
normal boring lake draft-fest swim. I surged through the last part of
the swim, once I knew where I was, and had a tiny gap over Luke, who was
just cruising. Despite a 5-10 second gap, he beat me on to the bike, and,
as per normal, I couldn't push a gear for the first 15-20 minutes on the
bike and Luke was gone.
The bike course was awesome. We had a whole lane of the highway. It was
three laps, with some goods climbs and descents. I came off the bike 6-7
minutes behind Luke and with a 6-7 minute buffer over third. I knew I'd
be in trouble as I'd only built up to an 8km run in training, and that's
exactly where I started to struggle. I had run well up until then and
not much had changed , but, from 8km on, I slowed and was being charged
down by Joe Gambles, who smelled blood and picked up the pace. I hung
on to second behind Luke. Joe came third, only a minute or so behind,
with the fastest run of the day.
The Tassie Half is a great event, very pure draft-free race and really
well run by friendly people - well worth checking out.
P.S. Dave "the flying Eadie" blew on the last lap of the run
(fourth fastest run of the day)
©
2005 John Van Wisse
back to top
AUSTRALIA’S
JOHN VAN WISSE WINS 19TH ANNUAL MANHATTAN ISLAND MARATHON SWIM
 NEW
YORK, N.Y., June 17, 2000 - John Van wisse, a 27-year-old swimming coach
from Springdale, Victoria, Australia today won the 19th annual Manhattan
Island Marathon Swim (MIMS). His time for the 28.5 mile course was 7 hours,
53 minutes, 48 seconds (7:53:48). It was his first attempt at the swim.
He received the Gallagher Cup, named for MIMS founder Drury Gallagher.
"I was very pleased with my swim," said van Wisse. "The
water, which was about 67 degrees, was very clean. The current was swift
and I really enjoyed it. It's a great way to see New York."
Van Wisse and 34 other individual swimmers, a record number, along with
two six-person relay teams, began the race at Gangway 6 on the Hudson
River side of Battery Park at the tip of lower Manhattan. They took a
counterclockwise, tide-assisted route around Manhattan, going up the East
River, through the Harlem River to the northern tip of Manhattan, and
down the Hudson River back to Battery Park. This year's swimmers represented
nine U.S. states and the District of Columbia, as well as Australia and
the United Kingdom. In second place overall and first among women, only
three seconds behind van Wisse, was Bronwen Whitehead, 21, a student from
St. Ives, Australia, with a time of 7:53:51. Finishing in third, fourth
and fifth place were Jack Thomas, 28, Ft. Myers, Florida, with a time
of 7:56:34; Barbara Pellik, 35, Eaton Australia, at 8:15:50; and Marcy
McDonald, 36, Andover, Connecticut, with a time of 8:20:54. One relay
team, the Fairfax Six-Pack, finished at 7:49:42, while the other, the
Royal Air Force, finished at 8:07:13.
back to top
English Channel
In 1875 Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim the treacherous
waters of the Dover Straits. Fuelled by beef tea and beer, Webb swam breaststroke
and covered the 38km stretch in 21 hours and 41 minutes.
At a reception in Webb's honour, the mayor of Dover boldly predicted
that no one would swim it again and indeed it was 36 years, despite 70
attempts, before anyone did.
For Webb glory brought ultimate disaster: Known as a "superman"
for his marathon effort across the Channel, he died in an ill-judged attempt
to swim Niagara Falls.
Webb's enduring inspiration lives on in the many athletes who try to
emulate his feat. Over 6000 attempts have been made since 1875, with fewer
than 400 being successful, a success rate of seven percent.
In 1993 Springvale marathon swimmers, Tammy and John van Wisse, created
history by becoming the first brother and sister team to cross the English
Channel.
The super-fit pair began their journey from Dover's white cliffs and
followed a strategically plotted course by experienced boatmen.
John, 21, smashed the Australian record previously held by Susie Maroney
by clocking 8 hours and 17 minutes. Only 15 minutes later, Tammy, 25,
stood on the French shore to claim the first successful brother and sister
title in the Channel's history.
The triumphant swim avenged the previous years disappointment when John
had to be pulled out of the water just four kilometres from the finish
with hypothermia.
Olympic swimming legend Dawn Fraser, provided support onboard John's
boat and believed the record swim was a classic moment in marathon swimming
history.
"It was a great swim by Tammy and John - they got there on sheer
guts and stamina," she said.
For more information on the English Channel visit:www.channelswimming.net
back to top |
