JP Tobin

Sail for Gold 2011

06 - 11 June | 2011

Weymouth | United Kingdom

Result | 2nd

April : Straight into action at the French World Cup after the long haul flight from New Zealand…a bit on with time zone changes, however I was primarily in France to “check-in” and get back into the flow of big fleet racing, finished up 8th but more importantly worked in a solid hit out prior to heading up to Weymouth, UK to resume training for the British World Cup (BWC).

May : Weymouth is really becoming like a home away from home, as the Olympic sailing venue the plan is to spend more time on site and become increasingly more tuned in to the local nuances…the setup is ideal, conditions are superb and a sharp organizing team are on track to deliver a truly unique Olympic sailing competition. 

Aside from a great sailing venue, Weymouth is a pretty sweet place to ride a bike, the Isle of Portland provides plenty of trails to piece together on training rides and missions with the local crew make sure we get the best out of the area, including some epic loops around the Jurassic Coast.

Following a few weeks of solid training in Weymouth, we travelled up to Medemblik, Netherlands for the Dutch World Cup, the timing of Netherlands in relation to our peak event of the BWC meant the focus was on pushing hard at race pace for the first half of the regatta…mission complete Dorian and I clocked out in first and second positions respectively. 

Lee Taehoon (Korea) who I coach a bit was ripping, super stoked to see him perform well going on to win the regatta from Zac Plavsic (Canada) an integral part of our training crew in second.

June : Back in Weymouth and time to sharpen the focus for the main event, with selections and ranking points on the line it was well and truely game on…Nick Dempsey (Great Britain) Poitr Myska (Poland), Dorian van Rijsselberghe (Netherlands) (training partner) and myself swapped the overall lead a number of times during the course of the regatta.

Holding a one point advantage going into the final medal race it simply came down to Nick and me and who beat who to decide the overall title…

“The medal battle belonged to Nick Dempsey (GBR) and JP Tobin (NZL) – the pair fought each other all the way round the course, eventually leaving all but Nimrod Mashiah (ISR) in their wake. The points were so close it was a simple matter of winner takes all – and it was Dempsey who crossed the line just ahead of Tobin to take home gold. The Kiwi had to settle for silver, and Dorian van Rijsselberge secured bronze from the charging Israeli with a fourth place.” (Sail for Gold : Media)

GPS action replay confirmed how close it was at the finish…just four seconds!!!

This regatta was the first opportunity to gain selection for the New Zealand Olympic Team for London, 2012…finishing with Silver and Top Kiwi is significant in many ways and is a real boost to confirming my position as the Men’s Windsurfing representative for the New Zealand Olympic Team for London.

Next UP…Home for three weeks prior to heading back up to Weymouth, UK for the Olympic Test Event, from Weymouth it is back to NZ and into the next build for the 2011 World Championships…Special thank-you to all my supporters…POW!!!

Result | 1st (30-34) | 6th (Overall)

2011 is the third year in a row that I have lined up for Xterra NZ and the race continues to inspire…the location is stunning and all three disciplines are well setup to take in the best of a very unique and natural environment. 

My build for Xterra 2011 followed a similar pattern as previous years with total swim training based upon Xterra the year before, consequently my 2XU Elite is a very important piece of equipment…bike and run feature more consistently as integral component’s in my windsurf training, however with a big summer program on the board both disciplines have been just ticking over…I had to quickly find some pace and thanks to Total Sport the timing of both The Dual and The Nugget were ideal in helping me gain some pedal strength and leg speed. 

Onto the race…the swim felt pretty short which I guess is a good sign and I arrived into bike transition in reasonable shape, took some time to get sorted for the ride which was mostly due to trying to balance, it actually feels pretty unnatural getting ready to race a bike having just been for a swim, couple this with the fact that my shoes are mountain bike specific as opposed to triathlon so involve coordinating (while still trying to balance) a number of closure systems.

On the bike I was hoping to not repeat the previous two years in which I welcomed back my breakfast…the plan during the swim this year was to focus on the leg drive, particularly during the last quarter to ensure good blood flow when exiting the water, it seemed to work and I felt pretty solid through a great bike course which takes in some of the best trails in the Whakarewarewa Forest network.

Thanks to Niner Bikes NZ for assisting in putting together one mean machine…racing the Niner rigid (non suspension) resulted in a super light weight ascending weapon with the tradeoff coming in speed/control through the technical sections.

Nutrition stayed with the bike this year, so arrived into T2 (bike-run transition) fueled up and good to go, reasonably quick through T2, a whole lot more straight forward in transitioning from bike to run.

Picked up some extra positions on the 11 km trail run (two laps around the Blue Lake) to finish up 6th overall, first in age group and first non pro…qualifying for the Xterra World Championships in the process…pretty happy as this is my best result to date.

Next…Flying to France on the 19th April to race in the French World Cup Regatta (April 24-29, 2011) from there it is onto Weymouth (Olympic venue) to join back up with “The Team” to pick up and push on towards the British World Cup Regatta (6-11 June, 2011).

The Nugget

02 April | 2011

Waihi Beach | New Zealand

Result | 1st

Multisport is addictive…particularly in New Zealand where locations are stunning, case in point The Nugget Multi Sport Festival, Waihi.

The Half Nugget which consisted of a 10 km trail run from the Northern end of Waihi Beach to Orokawa Bay before heading inland to the mountain bike transition, on to the bike for 29 km of road back to Waihi finishing off with a 2.5 km run around the rim of the Gold Mine.