Sleep in? No way!
While most of Australia enjoyed a cheeky little sleep in, we were arriving at Midcourse reserve at West Lakes to set up for our 5th annual Australia Day triathlon as a proud sponsor of Gatti Sports Promotions. Today, I was joined by first time triathlon massage therapists, Reagan and Paul who have both been keen as mustard to sink their eager massage hands into tired, heavy triathlete muscles.
We were out with our flags, bananas and jelly beans while attacking the masses with green and gold zinc cream! We’re pretty sure it helped them all swim faster.
Getting down and dirty
Event massage is very different to ‘in clinic’ treatments. Especially at triathlons, we’re dealing with wet, salty, sandy and sweaty, hard working athletes so the usual set up of soft towels on the table gets thrown out the window! To the unseasoned event massage therapist, this can, at first, be a little unnerving as your beloved treatment table is about to get the workout of it’s life! It’s against every cell in a massage practitioners body to allow your treatment table to be exposed to such a state but there’s no way around it; you just have to pull your sleeves up and get stuck in! The pay off from hearing how much better the competitors feel far outweighs the state your table may be in at the end of the day!
Wetsuits are go!
With a slightly longer course for Australia Day, most we’re keen to take it at their own pace. The water was a bit cooler so the wetsuits got the green light, much to the delight of some very happy triathletes. They may have been stoked with the wetsuit call but the wind picked up part way through the race and made for quite the challenge on the bike! Most hit cruise mode after the first kilometre on the run, once the legs had kicked into gear and shaken off the initial heaviness straight off the bike. It was good to see Trudy Fenton, co-owner of Gatti, back out there competing again too, after a recent health scare.. Well, she called it ‘participating’ but we know you can’t hold anyone back when passion and determination collide.
Racing to the massage table
As always, it was good to catch up with our clients and friends. Some of them race that extra bit harder to be the first up on the table after the race and not have to tackle the queue, some are happy to take a moment, relax and soak up the atmosphere while they wait patiently for their turn to have their legs feeling light as a feather again, and enjoy a coffee while they do. Some just like to pop in to say hi, which, for anyone who knows us, knows we don’t mind a chat.
Its also great meeting lots of new people and finding out what drives them to do a triathlon. Like the Yoga instructor who’s had her first baby and just starting to get back into exercising again. And the injured Ultra marathon runner unable to compete in ultra marathons at present due to his chronic OP but can comfortably compete (and enjoy) the Gatti Series.
Hats off to the hoards of first timers keen to challenge themselves and push their own limits. We salute you.
Winners are grinners
Congratulations to Sarah from TRIKINGS for winning the Bodyline Recovery Pack in the lucky prize draw. We’re sure you’ll find all the products and services in there very handy! Remember, if you have entered any of the draws this season, your entry will go back into the draw at Race 6 for a massage pack. You MUST be at race 6 to claim your prize!
Speaking of TRIKINGS, Peter is always a wonderful help and supporter of us at the triathlons. He jumps straight in to lend a hand to set up or pack down the marquee and is always obliging to relieve us of any jelly beans or bananas that may still remain at the end of the race. Thanks Pete!
That sinking feeling
Some great little discoveries from our massage team on the day too; Reagan discovered a slightly higher table height is better when massaging on grass… As the tables have a tendency to sink a little (!) and Paul feeling he was ‘a better massage therapist’ for being part of the day, having released so many tight calves, hammys, glutes and quads proving there’s no better training ground than right at the coal face and getting amongst it.
Once we’d all finished and wound up, Archer, Sydney and Doug arrived just as we were about to leave, so we celebrated by enjoying an Australia Day coffee at Henley… Until Archer turned into an Australia Day gremlin and needed to go home for a sleep.
Thank YOU!
Big thank you to everyone who dropped past the massage tent at the race and to our massage ninja’s, Reagan and Paul for dedicating this Australia Day to helping more Aussies enjoy active and pain free lives.
See you all at the next race!
Hol xx
Bodyline Health 