Natalie Van Coevorden- Australian Triathlete

I want you to think for a minute. Do you know someone or heard of a person that has been hit by a car whilst on a bike? Sadly, I am sure your answer will be yes. Any official statistics will grossly understate the truth as only a fraction of accidents are reported and luckily most do not result in the ultimate cost. My brother has been clipped twice and unfortunately now, I have an experience of my own to tell. Whilst out on a Saturday 50km ride, a driver on the left of me didn’t stop at a give way sign onto a main road. We all swerved in different directions and unfortunately one of us, Ashlee Bailie, wheel was clipped sending her flying into the windscreen of the car and into the air. Hearing and seeing the impact of what happened was certainly a shock to the system. She was one very strong, brave and lucky girl – fortunately, I did not add to her injuries as at some points I was holding her hand tighter than she was holding mine!   She has come out with stitches, bruises and hopef

  Being in the race is one thing but watching it back you can see a different perspective of how the race played out. At the moment   the voice of Barrie Shepley is playing in the background of me writing this and I get to see what most of you saw from your computer screen or on TV somewhere around the world.   Six months ago, Auckland invited me to New Zealand for Under 23 World Championships to finish the 2012 season. Not too much has changed since then as my excitement levels were still as high to achieve and perform on such a strength endurance course. Since Mooloolaba I have been exceeding the demands of competition with plenty of wetsuits swims, spending a few hours behind the motorbike wheel and runs that were critical “to run like chillis”. Leading into this weekend, with training easing off, I knew that the weeks of training had come together well and was confident in my ability to perform this weekend. I knew the race was going to be completely different to the previou

Travel certainties – it is very unlikely that: ü   My bike bag weights less than 23 kgs ü     I don’t get 100 stares whilst I wait in the airport check up line ü     I pick the nice airline counter lady or man ü     I won’t leave without getting Sumo Salad at Sydney Airport ü     I will leave the plane without a sore neck or even some tears if I watch the right movie ü     I wouldn’t join the hundreds of people trying to find free wifi when we land   When the mornings start to become cold and the grass is wet from frost, its nearly time to go again. Well, within a short 37 days till I leave Australia for another 6 months, I have decided that it is time to get organised or realise what I have done wrong in my last 2 years. “Girls, always making the easy things difficult”- the saying I have heard so many times.   Being allowed to take 2 pieces of luggage has given me room to take a lot of my wardrob