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Huskisson battle awaits

The first shot was fired last year in Huskisson on the New South Wales south coast. The man who pulled the trigger was Pete Jacobs and the one who felt the shot was the newly crowned world champion Craig Alexander. The gap was 90 odd seconds and it was a race that reverberated around the world. Tongues were wagging at the cafes as many a conversation was started with "Did you hear that Crowie got beaten?"

In 2010 the race organisers were hoping for a rematch and sure enough they have got their wish as both Jacobs and Alexander have entered.

“I was disappointed with my performance last year rather than the result,” Alexander said. “You can have a good race and not win, but last year was probably my worst swim in a race for a number of years and in the final wash-up Pete was the best performer and thoroughly deserved his win. I’ll be looking to put in a better performance and a lot of that will start with the swim.

“I think Pete’s the one to watch again. He’s just back from a training camp in Dubai and he’s tackling Ironman Australia in a month, so he’ll obviously be fit. His goals for the year are a little different to mine, so it’s difficult to match up form, but I’m well rested and raring to go so there will be no excuses from me come race day.

“Every race has its place – they’re all important to me. I only race about 12 times a year these days so I choose my races wisely. Race conditions are the best way to evaluate your form, you race to win, and then you conduct a post mortem afterwards to see if you need to make changes in training that will benefit you down the track.”

The hostilities on the course will be reignited once again. Jacobs has been signed to the Abu Dhabi team and arrives in Jervis Bay ready to go.

So with that in mind you could be forgiven in thinking that they were the only two in the race. Yes, they will be a nice side issue to this race but there are plenty of other pros lining up to take a shot at winning the Australian Long Course Championship.

Alexander and Jacobs will be joined by Tim Berkel, fresh off a podium finish at Geelong 70.3. This will have given Berkel a nice shot of confidence going into Huskisson. The Berkel career is a work in progress and on the rise. He will be a threat. Others in the hunt are Chris Dmitrieff and Jason Shortis. Shortis, an Ironman icon in Australia, has struggled to find the his peak form of late and is a wild card as anything can happen when he races. Having watched him storm the course at Busselton to write him off is folly.

Geelong 70.3 hero Clayton Fettell could well be the lynch pin of this race. Given his swim style he might be the perfect escape partner for Jacobs, The two of them must work together to build a gap that Alexander can't run down. It had better be a big gap!

The women's field does not run as deep as the men's but is still loaded with talent. Pip Taylor should be the one setting the pace. She is the defending champion and is obviously suited to the course. Lisa Marangon is an expert at this distance and wins domestically on a regular basis. This will be a test for her but she has mastered so many races around the country and deserves a favorite tag. Throw in Carrie Lester, Tara Prowse and Leanne Irvine and this might be one of the best races of the season.

Huskisson delivered the first big shock of the season last year. This year Alexander won't be fooled and is not the athlete he was a year ago. 2009 was a year that showed Crowie to be the best runner in the sport running down huge margins, a fact he proved again in Geelong when he ran down the lead set by Clayton Fettell. It will be a herculean effort that beats the two time World Champion.

photo: Delly Carr