Keegan Williams's Blog

Since Challenge Copenhagen I have been in North Wales at a little village near Pwhelli where my Gran and aunt live. It was great to see them again and hang out for the week
This is probably my faviourite part of the UK with very narrow roads, rolling and steep hills, not many people. The Welsh are a extremely proud bunch, with most locals choosing the local Welsh dialect.

I did one open water swim there on a nice sunny day, the water was not the hottest I have been in but my Blue Seventy Helix suit kept me nice and warm. It was a pretty good swim apart from swimming through a seagull colony and having about a million interested birds flapping around my head

Check out some photos below

Yesterday I competed in the inaugural Challenge Copenhagen Long distance triathon. It was located in the heart in the Copenhagen city, with the swim at a local beach, the bike a two lap course with very smooth roads and the run was a 3 lap course through the city adjacent a river. 

The night before the race Copenhagen experienced a 1 in 50 year storm event, so the orgainsers had quite few headaches with many roads needing to be pumped dry and the transition areas to be rebuilt because of flood damage. They did a great job and had everything ready by the morning which arrived overcast. 

I had a average swim and was about 30sec down on the main pack of guys but hopped on the bike and eventually made it up to the group at about the 30k mark. At the 40k mark the race went through a tight technical section and the pace heated up and the group split. By the 80k mark it was down to about 6 of us on the bike as a few guys got punctures, and another couple got drafting penalties. I got dropped about 20k to go at the last aid station and rode back into town, I had a little incident in town with a random van which managed to get on the course and they obviously didnt see me and decided to turn directly in my path. Next thing I know I am on the ground, no damage though, just the chain off and some expressive kiwi words out of my mouth.

Out onto the run and the crowd was amazing, the police estimated 120,000 people lining the course, so the atmosphere was buzzing! I had some real toilet problems the first lap, but once I managed to get everything out, I was running along quite nicely. At the end of the first lap I was still in 6th I think but the next 5 infront where in striking distance and I picked all of them up in the next lap. Tim still had a decent gap though going into the last lap and I was just hoping for a big blow up but it didnt happen. So a bit of pain in the last lap and it was time to go through the finish chute. I looked up at the clock and saw 8hr12min, wow, that was a good PB.

So I ended up 2nd behind Tim Berkel of Australia with Danish athlete Jens Gronbek taking out 3rd.

Thanks heaps to the Challenge orgainsers, you put on a great race, my homestay family and all the supporters out on the road and most of all Tracy, looking after me before and after the race, before = nervous, after = tired and sore

Next up is the Rev3 Ironman distance race in Ohio USA in four weeks time.

Hi, its 6am here and I cant sleep so thought I would write a little blog. I ended up with a 8hr12min and 2 nd place behind Tim Berkel

I will write a race report about the day later but wanted to mention some people who i thought did great today.

Obviously Tim for taking it out, and Bec for really showing the class she has got with a super ride. I am sure her thighs have got bigger since last time i seen her, so maybe that is the reason

Two athletes I coach, my brother Emlyn, came in with a 9hr20min, super race for him, not bad for a full time shift worker from Qatar.

And Helen his wife, who just gave birth 6months ago to little Heath, who came in with a 10hr55min race, fantastic effort. Little bit of info about her training - In Qatar that ladies are not allowed in the public pool so she had been swimming in the sea but since the water was so hot, she had to use ice cubes in bathing cap and change them every 10min just to keep cool!

Ruth, who is Helens friend and another Kiwi, doing her first Challenge race, and bascially first triathlon, battling through the bike with 4 punctures, not giving up and finishing. Now we seen her on the run, and this might tell you how crazy Helen is, but she decided to do the last lap with ruth, so she clocked up a good 56k for the day! Emlyn was left to look after the baby Good work Ruth

And finally Garth Barfoot, another NewZealander, i am not sure on his exact age, but its well into the 70s, he made it through another Challenge race with a great finish. I just hope i can be active at the same age.

Well, me and Tracy arrived a few days ago in Copenhagen for the up coming Challenge Copenhagen . The flight to singapore for me involved about 4 movies and a lot of tv, quite a lot of clock watching. We had a night in Singapore and ended up finding a little hotel and straight to bed as it was getting pretty late. The next day I went for a jog, it was very humid and reminded me of Subic Bay as I havent been in that kind of weather for quite awhile. Our plane wasnt flying out to 11 that night, so we decided to have a look around the city, we made a trip to the TBB Singapore, the bike lodging and bathroom faclities where well done and also did a “hop on, hop off bus tour of the city“, which was a good way to see some of the city and not fry ourselves by walking around all day. Later in the day we went out to a pool on the metro which I could have a paddle in, but unforunately it was closed for a month so I hit that idea on the head.

Back to the airport and of to Munich, then a transfer to Copenhagen. This flight was a little longer at 12.5hrs and was with Luftansa airlines. The movie selection was pretty bad, as was the tv, so I spent alot of time trying to sleep and chill out. Finally we arrived in Copenhagen and was met by Terrence, a Australian bloke who has married a Danish girl and has been living in Denmark for over 10yrs. Terrence and his family have been great, It would not be the easiest city to get around if you did not have help. We have even done a recon trip of the bike course, its not the out and back drag strip I was expecting, but quite technical and lot of very small rollers. Kind of like riding around Lake D in Horsham Downs  for the people from Hamilton, but with alot smoother roads. So it should be fun

The travel hit me and Tracy pretty hard when we arrived, I am clad I listened to Mr Sutton and came early as I have some time to chill out and get adjusted now.  Otherwise I might have been a bit of a Zombie come race day