Well, what can we say...it was a tough call this month to select our May "Athlete of the Month" with so many great results that saw 36 of our TEAM CORE athletes racing down at the Busselton Half Ironman. However, we have made this decision based on the fact that we believe that Helen Cuthbert really aspired to our 3-C motto of Commitment, Consistency and Camaraderie during the 16 week program and displayed courage and determination during the race. Most of all though, Helen had a smile on her face the whole way round - awesome! If you don't love it, don't do it.
Helen posted a 37.01 swim split, a 2:48.07 cycle time and a 1:52.27 run split to give her an overall time of 5:22.55 and a very impressive 13th place finish in the 25-29 category in her first ever Half Ironman!
It was personally a great pleasure to coach and work with Helen in the lead-up to this event. Just like in any coach-athlete relationship when the pressure is on in the harder weeks, tempers do get frayed. What inspired me particularly though about Helen's attitude was her openess in communication and willingness to discuss things that were troubling her. In doing so we could work together as a team to address these issues and make sure we were heading on the right track. Well done Helen, it was a privilege to work with you...here's to the Ironman! ;-)
Helen's race report:
"Busselton HIM 08 - this was my big challenge of 08 and I knew that it was going to take lots of hard work and early mornings, but Paul & the HIM group kept me motivated and it all paid off when I crossed that finish line blubbing and laughing!
I was happy to wake up on the morning of the race to an overcast day with little wind (I hate wind!) and was nervosuly looking forward to starting. The swim.. I was pretty nervous about the swim as I don’t like the thought of getting punched in the face in the water, but the waves starts helped and I soon got into the swing of things, swimming smooth(ish)! Once onto the bike I got into a groove and stuck to my nutrition plan to the carb! On the second lap the wind picked up a bit and I started to feel the burn, but once onto the last lap I realised I was nearly there and started thinking how I was looking forward to the run (weird!). I think the support crew did the best job of encouraging us all through every lap & it was really nice to hear the occasional 'go hell raiser' around the course. I was so pleased to get onto the run I think I surprised myself and kept up a decent pace (for me) and managed to enjoy it! I did start to cramp on the last turnaround but made it to the finish in 5hrs22.51 much quicker than anticipated - What a great day!"
Well, what can we say...it was a tough call this month to select our May "Athlete of the Month" with 
