Hi Guys

I have just come off my 5 week break. Here are just some pics of what I got up to. I travelled to Mexico, then went to Sydney,Melbourne,Wagga Wagga, Temora, Whitsundays then back to the Gold Coast. It was a great time. But it has ended and training has begun again.

cheers

bk

Hi Everyone

Well most of you know I have been hospitalized with Pneumonia. And maybe wondering what the hell is going on.

Well Wednesday I went for my usual ride close to 100k, the last 40k I struggled more than normal. A couple of hours after I started to get a strong intense headache and had hot and cold sweats and loss of appetite. Thursday things got a little worse I struggled to stand up couldn't do anything other than lay down. I thought it was just a bad flu and it would pass on in the next 48hrs or so. Saturday I couldn't get out of bed. My girlfriend Rinni helped me off the bed and took me to hospital. Where 4 hrs later a few blood tests an a chest x-ray I was diagnosed with Pneumonia (on my left side) which is a an infection of the lung. My left lung was infected quite bad and didn't work much at all. So after emergency they moved me up to the ward where I was on a saline drip 24 hrs a day, antibiotics every 4 hrs and Oxygen. It responded great to the saline drip as I hadn't had anything to eat for 4 days before, the antibiotics worked well straight away also. It was imperative I went to hospital as I was reading up on some stats when I got home that 1 in 3 people who do not take antibiotics died. My body temp was 39.6.

So I am now out of hospital and back home. Relaxing. Doing very little trying to recover. The specialist was adamant the lung will come back to full 100% capacity in 6 weeks time. In the mean time I am allowed to start back light training. This will help build the lung back up. I will not rush back into it. I will start with something light on the weekend. It will be hard for the next couple weeks breathing but will improve. I don't think It will be a disadvantage for the Olympics at all. It is a hiccup and I will recover to work towards the result I want in Beijing. If I was to get sick this is the right time for that to happen. It only motivates me more.

Saturday was the final in the World Cup series. Pleased to tell you I ended up finishing the season as World Number 2 and 3rd in the ITU World Cup series.

My 5 week break from training/racing was great. I spent some time in Mexico on the way home then caught up with friends in Sydney and Melbourne, headed back home to Wagga then up to the Whitsunday's Islands before heading back to the Gold Coast to begin training.

I will put some pictures up on my website soon.

But I just want to thank everyone for the support during the year. It was a great year and look forward to an exciting year next year.

Yours in good health(soon)

Sticksy

Hi Everyone,

Well it gives me great pleasure to write to you to let you know I made the Olympic team today. It is news I have been waiting for a long time. The olympics will be something special. It was always a dream of mine first to qualify for the team and second is to win the Gold. After having a good season and qualifying in the first of three team announcements along with Emma Snowsill and Courtney Atkinson, it is a huge relief and a weight off my shoulders. And it gives us athletes and their coaches plenty of time to plan for the Games some 10 months out. I can not wait for the build up. Olympics will be something special, not just for me but for all athletes, so I will give it everything I have.

The men's triathlon is August 19 with the women's the day before. The race is an hour out of central Beijing in Chang Ping province. It will be great to have as many family/friends/supporters as possible out in Beijing next year, so go down to the travel agent book a seat on the plane and grab a blow up Kangaroo and cheer us Aussies on !

We might get some shirts made up like Commonwealth Games. But I will let you know later on.

In the mean time as you can see from the pic I am currently training in the lovely Austrian Alps for the Rhodes World Cup in Greece. So all celebrations will be put on hold till next weekend. I will be back in Wagga I think 24th October.

Until then

Sticksy

Hi Everyone

Well after a couple travel days I am back in Paris. I had a transit in Helsinki on the way from Beijing. I liked the look of the place when I flew in so I changed my ticket so I could spend a couple days looking around by myself (a bit of a loner) in the Finnish capital.

Well Beijing was a solid race, 8th place. I always knew it was going to be hard to back up after a good result at the World Champs and a lot of travel in between. But to get a top 10 this year I was satisfied this time. But maybe not next year...

It was another good chance to checkout the Olympic course and experience China again. China is a different place and It takes a while to actually gel with the place.

1st October is the first of Three Olympic selection announcements by Triathlon Australia. I hope to be named in the team then but will have to wait it out and see. Finger crossed.

In the mean time I have the last French Grand Prix in La Baule on Saturday evening.

Attached are some pics from the Great Wall. Thanks to Haree for the pics. ITU had a media photoshoot and took some athletes out there after the race. It was a great experience even though I could barely manage to crawl my way up those steps after a tough race.

speak soon

BK

Hi Everyone

Well for those of you who stayed up late in Australia to watch the Worlds champs online thanks for the support from your lounge room! I was pleased with my 3rd place, my second podium at the World Championships. There has been a couple of races that I will remember for a long time and this will be one of those. The atmosphere is always second to none. The noise from the estimated 300 000 spectators was deafing and motivating to say the very least. My ears were ringing for many hours afterwards, sure the majority of them were screaming for eventually winner German Daniel Unger but I always enjoy racing in Hamburg.

The swim was quite rough but managed to get out alive. The technical bike was solid from the start. There was a small group away the first couple laps but were were able to bring them back. Team mates Dave Dellow and Matt Hopper done a great job and would of been hard without their help.
I was out of transition in the top 5 then stayed with the lead pack throughout the first half of the run until Gomez made his move with Unger in tow. The two managed to open up a gap of 5 sec on me into the last lap. I was unable to run back on and had to settle for 3rd.

I am back in OZ for a camp and will head up to Beijing Wednesday then back to Europe until seasons end in November.

Press release and Pic's attached.later pic's courtesy of Dirty Haree.

Cheers

Sticksy

Bruised Brad set for Beijing gold
COMMONWEALTH Games champion Brad Kahlefeldt has vowed to find the extra two per cent he believes is required to turn his bronze medal at yesterday's world triathlon championship in Hamburg, Germany, into gold at the Beijing Olympics.

German Daniel Unger outran Spanish world No. 1 Javier Gomez and Kahlefeldt to the line to claim the host nation's first world triathlon crown.

Kahlefeldt's bronze and and silver medals to Emma Snowsill (women's), Brendan Sexton (under-23) and Ashleigh Gentle (juniors) saw Australia finish with the most medals at the championships.

However Kahlefeldt, who was hit in a physical swim leg and stepped on by a rival as he slipped on the exit ramp yesterday, said his bronze medal proved to him that he was capable of winning gold at next year's Olympics.

Kahlefeldt's coach, Bill Davoren, was elated by the performance and that of Snowsill on Sunday.

"We can turn that silver and bronze into gold in Beijing, there is no doubt about it," Davoren said.

"The days when we came here and walked away with four gold medals are gone. It's a different sport now."

It took one of the fastest runs in world championship history for Unger to win gold, with Kahlefeldt matching him until the last 2km of the 10km leg.

"I can't be disappointed with the bronze. It's my second world championship medal and I gave it everything I had," said Kahlefeldt, who finished just 18 seconds behind Unger (1:43.18), while suffering leg cramps.

Kahlefeldt lost more than 10 places when a rival grabbed his wetsuit and pulled him back on the exit ramp.

"I fell on the ground and a couple of people trod on me. People were getting clocked left right and centre. It was really rough," he said.

ITU World Championships Men
1 D. UNGER (GER)
2 J. GOMEZ (ESP)
3 B. KAHLEFELDT (AUS)
4 S. WHITFIELD (CAN)
5 W. CLARKE (GBR)
6 J. FRODENO (GER)
7 T. BOZZONE (NZL)
8 S. HAYES (GBR)
9 B. DOCHERTY (NZL)
10 T. DON (GBR)

Hi Everyone

Well it is one year to go to Beijing Olympics Games. The Australian Olympic Committee launched their new site yesterday. I have been chosen as one of 9 athletes in Australia as a Beijing Hopeful to take part in the 'Athletes Diaries' all the way up to the Games. I will share my journey along the way. So here is the link. I will keep it updated everyone couple of weeks. (There is just a spelling mistake at the moment..sorry about that)

Link
http://www.olympics.com.au/Athletes/BradKahlefeldt/tabid/270/Default.aspx?link=270&tabid=110&

Also if interested there is a recent german/english video interview of myself on the new TriathlonTV site at:

Link
http://www.tri-mag.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=736&Itemid=119

All else is going well. Training has been hard, but the times are coming down. Just a few weeks left till the big one!

Take Care

Brad

Hi Everyone

Last Sunday was the Salford World cup in Manchester UK. It is always a race I look forward to, obviously being a english speaking country I get to do the things I haven’t been able to do in the rest of Europe that is go to the movies, read papers and magazine etc so it breaks up the trip a little. My past record has been pretty good in Salford and I managed to have another good result. Unfortunately I was unable to defend my title this year there but I managed a second place. I was out unfortuantly after a bad transition in the chasing pack. We caught the front group a after about 6k on the bike and it was one large pack. A group got away with a couple laps to go. We managed to keep them within 10-15 secs. Once on the run Gomez, Whitfield and myself along with Don broke away from the rest. Gomez went again with about one lap to go and I was unable to follow his pace, his run time was 29.55 on an accurate 10k course. I finished about 12 seconds behind. The feeling was good, a lot better than the week before in Austria. So I am back here in Aix getting back into the training to get my run time down below 30mins as well..

Some pics attached and press realse below also race footage on www.triathlon.org

Hooroo
Sticksy

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Kahlefeldt claims second World Cup Medal in a Fortnight

Australia’s Brad Kahlefeldt claimed his second World Cup medal in two weeks overnight in the tenth ITU World Cup Triathlon in Salford UK. Number one ranked Javier Gomez of Spain maintained his top spot after an incredible 29.56 minute run. Gomez, in a tactical move pushed the past Kahlefeldt in the later stages of the run to finish twelve seconds ahead of the Australian champion. Crossing the line in third was last weekend’s Kitzbuhel World Cup winner Simon Whitfield of Canada.

With wetsuits allowed for the opening 1,500-metre swim, a long string of men exited the water within seconds of each other and headed out over the flat bike course. After only two laps, the three small groups would come together to form one large bike pack of 54 athletes. Over the next four laps many break away attempts were made but none successful until the final stages of the second last lap when a group of 11 would get away and open a small gap on the rest of the field.

However with only a small break between the two packs, the sport’s top runners quickly made up time to take their spots at the front of the race. The breakaway pack of three, Gomez, Kahlefeldt and Whitfield moved to the front and ran together until the six kilometre mark. Heading into the seventh kilometre Gomez accelerated, knowing that he had to make a break from Kahlefeldt who is known for his incredible sprint finishes. Kahlefeldt and Whitfield could not respond as the Spaniard ran to the fifth world cup victory of his career.

Kahlefeldt is currently ranked fourth in the ITU World Cup rankings sitting on 127 points. With his win, Gomez moves further ahead in the rankings with 227 points. Whitfield of Canada moves up to second with his bronze medal, only 25 points back with 202 points and New Zealand’s Bevan Docherty is sitting in third with 200 points.

Preparations are now well under way for the Australian team competing at Hamburg next month for the World Championships beginning on the August 30, 2007.

2007 Salford BG Triathlon World Cup – Elite Men Results
1. GOMEZ, Javier (ESP) 1:51:47
2. KAHLEFELDT, Brad (AUS) 1:51:59 +:12
3. WHITFIELD, Simon (CAN) 1:52:04 +:18
4. DON, Tim (GBR) 1:52:19 +:32
5. RANA, Ivan (ESP) 1:52:33 +:46
6. DOCHERTY, Bevan (NZL) 1:52:39 +:52
7. BRUKHANKOV, Alexander (RUS) 1:52:43 +:56
8. CLARKE, William (GBR) 1:52:53 +:1:07
9. HAYES, Stuart (GBR) 1:52:59 +1:12
10. RAELERT, Andreas (GER) 1:53:02 +1:15

Hi everyone,

Hope all is well. I managed to get on the podium with a 3rd yesterday in Kitzbühel World Cup in the lovely Austrian Alps. My swim wasn’t too bad and was on the front pack after about 2k on the bike. The pace on the bike was up and down and the chase pack caught us halfway through. I managed to get to the front coming into T2 and was out one of the first. I pushed the pace throughout the 10k. It was quite a close race. I was down from altitude 7 days so feeling wasn’t great and found it hard to continue at the speed that I wanted. There was four of us with 500m to go and Simon had a great sprint and Fred powered over the top when I was seeing stars at about 100m to go. I was happy to get on the podium for the third time so far this year. I am back in Aix now and leave for Salford World Cup on my birthday on Friday.
Pics right, press relase below and Video highlights on www.triathlon.org

Best wishes
Sticksy

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Kahlefeldt gets third in World Cup triathlon

Australian champion Brad Kahlefeldt has gained confidence for next month's triathlon world championships with a return to form in the World Cup round in Austria.

Kahlefeldt led after the bike leg and was only out kicked in the final 300 metres of a torrid run leg to finish third, five seconds behind Canada's Simon Whitfield and one second behind Federic Belaubra of France.

The result was a boost for 27-year-old Kahlefeldt who has suffered months of injuries and set backs and had only just returned from high altitude training.

Kahlefeldt, who has five World Cup wins, said the race had put him back on track for the world championships in Hamburg on August 30.

"Overall I had a really good race, I wasn't feeling completely on top at the start so I tried not to push myself too hard," said Kahlefeldt.

"I had a good start in the swim and my strategy going into the bike leg was to sit back and try to maintain a spot in the front half of the group."

"I looked for a couple of breaks but nothing really happened until the final lap where I managed to finish first and clear the transition ahead of the pack."

Going into the second half of the run leg, six of the sport's top runners, Whitfield, Belaubre, Kahlefeldt and Sven Riederer of Switzerland, Andreas Raelert of Germany and Will Clarke of Great Britain were running shoulder to shoulder.

With two kilometres to go the screw was tightened and Raelert and Clarke were the first to drop off.

In the final kilometre, Riederer also fell back leaving only the three eventual podium athletes together.

Whitfield's sprint put five metres between himself and the other two with Belaubre edging out Kahlefeldt for second.

Hi Everyone

I am finally in sunny Aix Les Bains France, after a fair amount of travel from Font Romeu. I headed down the mountain and flew out of Barcelona for Paris, overnighted in Paris then made the journey to Lorient on the west coast of France. Arriving into Lorient weather was foggy and not great but race day on Friday was great.

I was out of the water in the first pack of about 18 and rode solid over the hilly course to stay away from the main chase packs. Our team Lagardère Paris Racing had 4 guys in the front pack with Will Clarke, Stuey Hayes, David Hauss and myself so it was looking good for our team. We exited T2 and ran hard from the start. The run was up and down most of the way. I went with World number one Gomez attack at about the 1500m point but he unfortunately got away from me in the last 1k.

Gomez actually got disqualified as he threw his helmet in T2, got red carded so I was the official winner. I didn’t agree with their call to DQ him. He won by 9 seconds so I wouldn’t have beaten him even if he did place his helmet in the box.

My team Lagardère Paris Racing raced great. We won, something that hasn’t been done in the club since 1998. This is quite big here in France. We are now leading the overall Grand Prix series.

It was nice to get back to the fast racing. After some bad luck in the last couple races with the crash in Madrid and Food Poising in Des Moines. The feeling was good in all three. I have Kitzbuhel World Cup this Sunday so will keep you updated then.

Ciao
Sticksy

Hi everyone

So the second biggest race of the year 'Des Moines World Cup' has been run and won, and not by an Aussie (geeez).

The day looked promisng, was out in the first pack out of the water and we had a group of 15 or so in the leading pack for a few laps until we got round up by the chasing pack. I wasn't too concerned about being caught. It was stirred up with a couple of breakaways towards the end of the bike. It was still 'winnable' i thought as it was hot and humid if I felt good on the run, but that wasn't the case. I got into T2, went out solid and had nothing. To be honest I didn't really expect too much on the run. My run mileage has been really low the past month with my sprained ankle before Madrid then knee problems after the crash in Madrid then food poising in Des Moines in the week prior to the race. Rasmus raced well and deserved the win.

However all excuses aside I started the race not in the best shape but still aiming for a good result and unfortunately didn't deliver. It was disappointing but there is only one thing to do and that is to get more mileage in the legs with the 3 setbacks behind me now and the injury's and food poising left behind in the USA I will build it back up in time for World Cup in Austria then onto Salford.

I am currently in Budapest. Had the launch of the new ' Sticksy documentary' last night. Was quite a few people there. Haree has done a good job on the DVD. He will put some highlights on youtube soon.

take care

Sticksy

Hi Everyone

Hope all is well where ever you may be. I made it to Des Moines IOWA after a day of travel from Madrid. If you watched the live coverage or seen the highlights video on www.triathlon.org from the race you would know I had a crash. Everthing was going well, felt strong and was up the front in the first pack on the climb when Will Clarke's gears slipped and he fell pretty hard I was right on his wheel with no where to go and went straight over the bars. Game over. Was abit dissapointed , I hurt my wrist and bruised the bone around my knee and took abit of skin off but nothing too serious.

I am back training here in Des Moines. We are staying about 20k out of downtown area in a place called Indianola at Simpson College. There isn't too much going on. I am loving the food. I have to be careful not to bulk up though as It is easy to do here in the US. Alot of the food is deep fried and desserts are to die for(especially all you can eat) so on the first night I really got stuck into it. I have backed it off now as Bill thought I would swell out to much before the race.

So I better go finish my XL hazelnut latte (that is thicker than a smoothie) mm yummo.

The race is the following Sunday at 4.30pm (7.30am AEST-Monday). It is the Worlds richest race $700 000 USD which includes a HUMMER and $200 000 for 1st place. You can follow it online. All systems go and speak to you all after.

Cheers

Sticksy

Hi Everyone

Attached is a feature atricle in the latest 'Australian Triathlete' Magazine on me if your interested.

I am still in the French Pyrenees and head to Madrid for the World Cup in the morning. We are driving down. Should be a fun 9hrs. Then off to the USA for Des Moines World Cup.

cya

BK

Hi Everyone

I am currently in The French Pyrenees training in Font Romeu. The first couple of days were light but now I am getting some miles in and loving it. The only problem here is the cold. It snowed the first day and hasn't really warmed up since, peaking at about 10deg each day. I am not much of a fan of the cold so it has taken a bit to get use to it coming from a nice tropical summer sitting in my banana chair on the Gold Coast to wearing five layers of clothes with a couple pairs of socks over the hands wasn't really what I had planned, but It looks like it will start warming up soon. Well that's what they keep telling us.

I had the first round of the French Grand Prix series in Les Sable. I had a solid swim but had nothing on the bike/run and struggled the whole way through the 20k and 5k run. It was a combination of fatigue from Lisbon World Cup and the travel over to Europe. I am back on the road now and sure hope to not repeat that performance again.

I will keep in touch. Madrid World Cup is a little over two weeks away so should be finding some form by then.

cheers

Sticksy

Hi Everyone

Well I am finally in Europe. The travel time over to Lisbon was a total of 37hrs. Bloody long way! But was nice to finally arrive over here. The weather they said would be great. Nice and warm! Well it wasn't 'nice and warm' for the first few days at around 15-17deg. So on went the tights and jacket for training and was thinking about the sock over the hands trick but I didn't need it this time.

Race day was nice. Sun was out which meant the race venue was packed with 40 000 spectators. Transition and part of the race was in a massive dome which erupted every time we entered. So It was a good experience. Both the men’s and women race was live on Portuguese TV. Swim was in a closed off area part salt water part fresh water. I fought my way through the swim to get within close range of the leaders. Cycle course was fast but technical with a lot on cobbles so the brand new green and gold Giant got shaken around a bit but handled superb as always. I was first off in the main large pack. Had a good transition and pushed the pace from the start to open up a small lead on the others. Run course was very technical as well on boardwalk, cobbles, tiles etc. So it was better to push the pace from the start in the hope only a few others would follow as you can take your own line coming in and out of the corners etc. Javier Gomez and Philip Ospely and myself opened up a gap on the rest half way point. Until they got away from me with a lap to go. I managed to run back up to Philip and had a sprint for 2nd place but he got me this time. Gomez was strong but I will challenge him as the season progresses.

I am in Paris now. I have my team RCF presentation Thursday and race in Les Sable Grand Prix on Sunday.

Speak to you then. Pics attached. Race video highlights if interested on www.triathlon.org

Cheers

Sticksy

Hi Everyone

Well in Ishigaki I didn't have the best swim. I dived in in a good position and after about 200m I found myself on the lane rope. I tried to stay clear but didn't manage that with another 50 guys in close range. I exited and was just off the first main pack. We didn't manage to ride up before the end of the bike. Bill suggested I save it for another day so I chose to run a lap then pullout to save my legs for the training week ahead. I was disappointed as I hate pulling out of races. As soon as I stepped off the plane I went straight to the swimming pool. I have changed a couple things and things seem to be working well. I am motivated to perform.

My next race is Lisbon World Cup the 6th May. From there I travel to lovely Paris to get ready for the first French Grand Prix with RCF for 2007.

Until then

Sticksy

Kahlefeldt toughs it out 26.03.2007

THERE was a good reason why Brad Kahlefeldt showed so much emotion after winning the Mooloolaba ITU World Cup Triathlon yesterday.

He may be the Melbourne Commonwealth Games champion, and a former world under-23 champion, but the Wagga Wagga-raised, Gold Coast-based Kahlefeldt had heard that some judges didn't think he could master a tough Olympic distance course.

The Mooloolaba course, thanks to the hill at Alexandra Headland, is a difficult course.

And yesterday Kahlefeldt came out on top on the tough course against a field filled with talent.

The 27-year-old produced the best 10km run leg time to beat Spains world No. 1 from last year, Javier Gomez, in a desperate finish, with New Zealands Kris Gemmell third.

He screamed in exaltation when he crossed the finishing line, thumped a couple of sponsor signs, and headed back down the final straight to share his win with the supporters he said he couldn't have won without.

A winner of four World Cup races last year, there had been questions over whether Kahlefeldt would be able to conquer a course which contains a hill that needed to be climbed eight times in the cycle leg and four in the run.

He was side-by-side with Gomez at the 5km mark but had dropped seven seconds behind when they started the final 2.5km lap.

Lifted by the parochial home crowd, the Australian drew level with the Spaniard before kicking clear to win by three seconds in 1:49.23.

Melbourne was special because it was the Commonwealth Games. But to win your first World Cup in your home country, thats definitely up there,said Kahlefeldt, who described his victory as a big, big breakthrough.

There had been big questions over my ability on a hard course like this. There was a big monkey on my back.

It doesn't get much harder than this. This is harder than Beijing.

I've shown the (Olympic squad) selectors that I could perform on a hard course in tough conditions.

¡'m going to Beijing, I hope, after that.

Gomez said he had experienced difficulty with the choppy surf in the 1500m swim leg and the humidity of the final two legs.

By the time it came to the sprint to the line, he didn't have enough energy left.

I was very tired and I couldn't follow him,the reigning World Cup series champion said.

At the end, if you're very, very tired, it doesn't matter if you're fast. You just don't have it.

Hi Everyone

Sorry for the late update. As many of you most likely read in the media that I won my second Australian Championships and Oceania Title in Geelong on the weekend.

As you may be aware (well every newspaper) that I didn't have the best swim. I was out about midfield and worked hard on the bike but we were not closing in on the lead pack. I had some great help from Clayton Fettel and Jamie Rhodes and we managed to bridge the gap to the lead pack with about 3 laps to go. I was into T2 one of the first and ran in the lead pack for the first 5k of the run, I struggled to find my legs and started to drop off the leading three. I remained in contact and slowly worked my way up hoping my sticks would come through with the goods. The last lap we were looking at each other with 4 guys with 1km left to run. Courtney put in a strong attack with 500m to go and I managed to stay with him and come round him in the home straight with 100m left to run to successfully defend my title.

It was a hard day, I didn't taper too much leading into the race so the feeling wasn't the best but I learnt that you just got to soilder on sometimes to get the very best out of a situation. The race is always alot harder when you aren't on top of your game but It was a very similar race for me to Richards Bay World Cup last year.

Next race is the opening round of the ITU World Cup series in Mooloolaba - March 25.

Press release ond some attached. More will be on my website soon.

cheers

Brad

Kahlefeldt - Densham Oceania Champs (March 3, 2007 )

In an amazing day of racing Brad Kahlefeldt returned to Geelong and defended his title at the Australian Triathlon Championships in front of a crowd of almost 10,000 spectators. Emerging star Erin Densham also claimed victory this afternoon in the elite women’s race, making in three wins in a row for the 22 year old.

In a sprint to the finish defending champion Brad Kahlefeldt retained his title in this afternoon's championships crossing the line in a time of 01:52:19. Following Kahlefeldt in second place was Queensland’s Courtney Atkinson in 1:52:23 and New Zealand’s Bevan Docherty finished in third place with a time of 01:52:25

The start of the men’s swim leg contributed to a break away pack of around 25 competitors, with Dylan McNeice of New Zealand and Queensland’s Josh Amberger clearing the transition and hitting the cycle leg in first and second place with David Dellow third.

However the young leaders were soon swallowed up in the front pack which established a solid lead early in the cycle leg and continued to hold the position by almost 40 seconds for much of the 40km ride.

The front pack initially contained a ‘who’s who’ of the elite field with the major exception being Brad Kahlefeldt who remained with the second pack.

There were two international stand out’s in the cycle leg, Marcos Albert of Estonia and Pierre Dorez of France managed to break away six laps into ride with both Europeans clearing the final transition and moving into the run leg with an apparent solid lead.

However it was Kahlefeldt who made his intentions clear upon clearing transition in third place with the defending champion determined for a win.

Simon Thompson, Bevan Docherty, Brendan Sexton and Courtney Atkinson were all ready for a challenge swiftly clearing the transition and joining the three runners out front.

“It was not until the final stages of the cycle leg that the second pack managed to merge and push me up into a better position.” said Kahlefeldt this afternoon

“I have to say that the work that happened between the guys in the second pack today was absolutely amazing. I couldn’t have worked my way to the front if I didn’t have the support of some of the younger guys like Jamie Rhodes and Clayton Fettell, it was terrific.

“I felt terrible today and it wasn’t really until the final cycle lap that I got my legs back, I only started feeling better as we began to pick up the pace heading towards the finish

“The sprint really worked for me and it seems like these days that most races tend to be a sprint finish.

“I now have less than three weeks to prep for Mooloolaba but at the end of the day it’s Australian team selection for Beijing that I am working towards, said Kahlefeldt.

Men’s Elite
1. Brad Kahlefeldt (NSW) 1:52:19
2. Courtney Atkinson (QLD) 1:52:23
3. Beven Docherty (NZL) 1:52:25
4. Brendan Sexton (NSW) 1:52:28
5. Simon Thompson (ACT) 1:52:35
6. Laurent Vidal (FRA) 1:52:5
7. Dan Wilson (QLD) 1:53:18
8. Matt Hopper (QLD) 1:53:32
9. Shane Reed (NZL) 1:53:45
10. Aaron Farlow (NSW) 1:53:47

Howdy Everyone,

Well I raced on the weekend in the Luke Harrop Memorial on the Gold Coast. I had a good race, was placed 4th out of the water and tried to get away with Kris Gemmell on the bike but we were unable. There was a small group 15 seconds off the front into T2. I had a good transition and chased them down. I was in the lead at the 1km mark and managed to open up the lead to 150m throughout the 5k run. I eased off alittle in the last km. So thats why 2nd and 3rd were rather close in the pics.

It was nice have my first win of the season in Luke race.

Pics attached courtesy of Chris Hill. Thanx Hilly!

Next race is Australian Champs next weekend.

ciao

BK

Results-
Luke Harrop Memorial- Gold Coast
24/02/07
1.Brad Kahlefeldt AUS
2.Oliver Marceau SUI
3.Tony Moulai FRA
4.Stuart Hayes UK
5.Levi Maxwell AUS
6.Matt Hopper AUS
7. Kris Gemmell NZL
8.Sebastian Gacond SUI
9. Paul Matthews AUS
10.Nathan Campbell AUS

Hi Guys

Hi All My first race back yesterday was the Australian Sprint Champs in Hobart. I finished 3rd. So I was happy with how things are going at the moment. Waldo had a 1.30 advantage off the bike and Courtney and myself tried to reel him on the hilly 5k run leg but we got within 10 secs but we where unable to catch him. It was a good hit out and enjoyed the the challenging bike and run course. The weather was 34 deg while we were racing. Yeh thats right 34 in Hobart! Amazing! But was alot of fun.

Also Triathlon Australia had their annual 2006 'Triathlete of the Year' awards down in Hobart last night. I won triathlete of the year and Male performance ofthe year. Triathlete of the year was voted by my peers. I was surprised I won as Emma Snowsil had a fantastic year as well.

Anyway press relase below and pics attached. Wednesday is another Awards night 'Australian Sporting Awards in Melbourne. For those of you in Australia i think it will be televised on SBS.

Australian Sprint Championships - Hobart 18 Feb:

1. Craig Walton
2. Courtney Atkinson
3.Brad Kahlefeldt
4. Brendon Sexton
5. Matt Hopper

Cya
Sticksy

Kahlefeldt, Snowsill honoured in Hobart
Sunday Feb 18 22:43 AEDT

Triathlon Australia (TA) has honoured Brad Kahlefeldt and Emma Snowsill for their outstanding 2006 seasons at an awards function in Hobart. Kahlefeldt won the 2006 athlete of the year award, which was judged by his peers. He took out the Commonwealth Games gold medal and also snared four World Cup races. Overall, he won 10 races last year from 13 starts.

Emma Snowsill, who won the athlete of the year title in 2005, and Kahlefeldt were also honoured for the best performances of the year. Snowsill won the honour for her third world championship - she also took out the Commonwealth Games title. TA jointly gave the award to Kahlefeldt for his four World Cup wins in the one season. The awards only covered TA's high-performance program, which focuses on the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Olympic-distance world titles and the World Cup series.

Hi Guys

Well just a brief update. I won the NSW Athlete of the Year in Sydney on Tuesday night. I was surprised as I was up against some good competion with 7x World champion Surfer Layne Beachley, Basketballer Lauren Jackson and Gymnastics World Champion Philippe Rizzo and Surf Life Saver Nathan Smith. It was great to win the biggest sporting prize in NSW sport. We had a great night with Mum and Dad both present and Hungarian mate Haree who is in Australia filiming part two of the 'Sticksy Documentry' that will leadup to the end of the 2007.

This weekend I have my first race for the season in Hobart at the Australian Sprint Championships. The form is not as good at this time last year as I want to peak a month or two later but it is still coming together and I hope to have a good hitout again down there in the cold.

On another note My partner for many years Ricarda and I have decided to part ways, on good terms in a mutual decision. She will be based in Germany over the European summer and I will be based in France for most of the summer. She is a great girl and we will remain good friends.

Laters
Bk

Hi Guys

G'day from Jindabyne in the heart of the Snowy Mountains. Training has been going great and I have got in a good base down here in the hills, the heat and of course the bushfires. I am feeling good and am injury free. I am heading back to the Gold Coast this weekend.

Happy snaps attached.

Laters
Bk