Have been enjoying the Australia countryside and beaches on my honeymoon for the past couple of weeks (click here for our blog) so sorry for the delay in this post but here is my race report for Ironman Australia 2009:
After a lot of disruption (migrating to OZ and organising a wedding) in my training program in the final stages before IM OZ, I was a little worried going into the race. Driving around the route under torrential rain the day prior to race day, did not boost my confidence, as I saw first hand just how tough the route is.
Both the cylce and run route involved a number of sharp climbs that would need to be tackled 3 times. It had rained pretty much solidly since we had arrived in Port Macquarie on Thursday and the night prior to race day was no exception - it absolutely poured and I feared that our bikes, supposedly safe in transition, would now be somewhere out in the pacific ocean.
Race morning dawned and the rain persisted, albeit a little lighter. Transition was now a shallow mud pool.
The more you race, the more you learn and I can certainly vouch for that. Wondering around transition before the race, it is easy to spot the 'newbies' by the size of their transition bags. When I competed in my 1st IM, I had packed for every eventuality, now, I realise that you don't really need all that much. I guess you would call that fine tuneing. I did however have a special addition to my race kit this time as I was due to get married two days after the event. Both my brother, Nick, and I had 'Finch's IM Stag Do' emblazonned on the front of our tops, with myself having 'Groom' on the back and Nick having 'The B-Man' on his (as he was my best man). The kit definately stood out, which drew a lot of cheers and comments from the aussie crowds out on the route.
After finishing off our transition preparation, Nick and I headed down to the start and after some final good lucks we entered the water and waited for the final countdown. The gun went off and I was off to a good start. We had chosen a good position, the lead canoe was just in front of us. However, after 500m or so my shoulders tightened up and I was battling to get any length in my stroke. Nick came up alongside me and started pulling faces at me as we swam along. I decided to back off a little and recover on his toes for a while, however, I lost contact and sight of Nick.  In the final stages of the swim I noticed Nick just in front and I caught up with him so that we could swim side by side to the exit.
After another quick handshake for good luck and we made our way through transition and out onto the bike course.
I quickly found my rythmn even though the opening part of the cycle leg is quite hilly. Turning at 30k I was a little bit ahead of my planned schedule but was keeping well within myself and later, going into the 2nd lap I was still on schedule but I had noticed large groups forming which was a bit annoying. I tried desperately to get away from a group but to no avail. The draft busters were around but seemed to turn a blind eye to the blantent drafting that was going on as I did not see anyone being shown cards.
It rained for most of the second lap making it a bit hair raising down the steep decents and I witnessed three accidents first hand. I kept things cool and decided that prudence was the best policy instead of risking on trying to gain a bit of time. On the final lap I managed to break away from the group allowing me to have a free run through T2. Yet again I spent far too long in T2 trying to get into my compression socks (I will have to rethink my strategy here) and after seeing most of the pack I had previously broken away from come in and out of transition, I was finally out on the marathon course. The transition and finish area is situated at the midpoint of the 3 lap marathon route. The opening loop was pretty flat whilst the second loop had some nasty steep inclines and descents. My running preparation for this race had been the best for any IM I had done so far so I was looking for a good marathon. With my Garming GPS watch on I  really went for it right from the start and was hitting sub-4min Km's along the flat sections. On the second section of the loop, the steep inclines dropped my pace right down to over 6min Km's. I completed the first lap in just over an hour and I was feeling in control. The 2nd lap was pretty much on par with the first, except I started catching some of the top pros who were on their final lap (the pros started 30mins ahead of us amateurs).
It was quite a feeling to catch and pass 2 x world Ironman champion Tim Deboom even though he was a lap ahead of me. The final lap was a matter of hanging tough and the pain was really biting now especially on the sharp descents. I caught up with Nick and stopped to share a few words before putting in a final push over the last 3Km's to the finish.
I was really satisfied with my performance especially my marathon over a tough course and I am looking forward to a sub 9hr on a faster course.
After 2 IV drips and some non-sweet food, I was back in the land of the living and caught up with Nick who finished with a PB performance.

I would like to thank all those who supported me: the Hendersons, the Allens, my Dad, G and, of course, my wife-to-be Kate. (I was getting married in two days time).
My next big race will be the Quelle Challenge in Roth, Germany on July 12th - The training begins now.
Laters,
Simon