Kate Bevilaqua Day 1 Ultraman Australia 2021 Women's Champion

The following post was written by Kate Bevilaqua about her experience on Day 1 of Ultraman Australia 2021

It is hard to believe it has been 12 days already! But it has taken that long to truly reflect on my Ultraman Australia experience.

Day 1 Swim: I made it!

I was so grateful to be standing on the beach ready to start. Despite all the stress & lockdowns over recent weeks in Western Australia it was happening! I was SO nervous! I had expectations and goals I wanted to achieve. Would the body come to the party! I felt pretty good during the swim and loved having Guy paddle for me. He told me to relax, smile, gives me a thumbs up and feeds me at regular intervals. I didn’t have to think about anything other than swimming. It generally felt good! But when I got out of the water I was disappointed to see the time. 2.49hrs. That was 12-15 minutes slower than the last 2 Ultraman events I have done and I was confident I was in better swim shape. I asked Guy if it was long and he said his watch said it was pretty accurate.
I felt a bit better later when I found out apparently we were dealing with some pretty strong currents particularly in the second half of the swim. 
I just had to forget it and move on, there was A LOT of cycling and running coming up over the next three days!
Out of the swim and my amazing crew were so organised! Guy was busy dragging the kayak up the beach. Mel & Ruth were helping me quickly get changed, bike shoes on, lathered with suncream, food in my mouth and I was on my way.
The first section was quite busy with a lot of cars and traffic. It WAS mid morning downtown in Noosa on a Saturday!

But it didn’t take long to get out on some quieter roads and on the first significant climb I saw my crew go flying past. At that point my legs were feeling really heavy and flat. I was concerned if they stayed that way it was going to be a LONG 3 days!
But thankfully after about an hour they started to feel much better.
I got myself into a groove of steady on the climbs, rolling with it on the downhills, aero and strong on the flats.
My crew were everywhere! Stopping constantly with plenty of food and hydration. They made sure I wasn’t carrying too much on the steep climbs (therefore less weight) and were also tracking everything I was eating and drinking.

I felt good! And as I descended back into Noosa I was pleased with how the day had gone. Crossing the finish line with a new bike course record and overall Day 1 record.

A quick mandatory medical check showed I had lost less than 1kg then Ruth timed me in the ice bath!
Back to the accomodation for a shower, massage, recovery boots and lots of food! It was time to carbo load and get ready for what I believed to be the longest day. Meanwhile, my crew made sure the minivan was packed and loaded sufficiently with nutrition, spare clothes, spare bike parts, maps, snacks/lunch.
You name it they had it! 

By 7:30pm we were all in bed and sleeping into Day 2.

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