Nick Conway came agonisingly close to winning the World Under 25 Triathlon Championships in Hamburg, Germany, last month. Picture: Stewart Chambers.By Marc McGowan
SO CLOSE, yet so far – the saying perfectly sums up Narre Warren triathlete Nick Conway’s recent fortunes.
The 23-year-old competed in the World Under 25 Triathlon Championships in Hamburg, Germany, last month, and despite a brilliant showing for the majority of the race, it all came unstuck on the final leg.
With Conway sitting in fifth place at the one-kilometre mark of the 10km run to the finish – knowing he had the four competitors in front of him covered on their run splits – a hornet stung him on his arm.
By the 2km mark the Pakenham Secondary College teacher had collapsed to the ground vomiting, and his airways were closing up.
But Conway’s resilience and determination shone through and he picked himself up off the track to complete the race in 22nd position.
“I had the best season I’ve ever had in Europe and I won a whole heap of races leading into the world championships,” he said.
“If I had have had the race of my career and come 22nd, I would be rapt, but the fact I got so close to being world champion is a little bit devastating.”
Conway remembers the hornet, which he described as bright red and four times the size of a bee, flying towards him.
“It came in slow motion, but it happened so quick – it’s hard to explain. I was like, ‘you’re not going to sting me are you?’,” he recalled.
“Initially it was really painful. I got a high temperature and my hand went numb almost instantly.”
The incident signalled the end to Conway’s short course triathlon career, but he immediately embarked on his long course ambitions on returning to Australia.
He travelled to the Gold Coast and promptly took out the Australian Under 25 Half Ironman Championships, also finishing 10th overall in the open class despite starting after those athletes.
“I didn’t want to leave on that sort of note, so when I came back to Australia I wanted to get back to racing well,” Conway said.
The win has him on track to achieve his goal of competing at the gruelling Hawaiian Ironman in the under 25 category next October.
The Hawaiian Ironman involves a 3.8km swim, a 180km bike ride and a 42.2km run.
Australia’s Chris McCormack won the open class on Sunday.
To qualify for the race Conway will need to finish in the top 10 in the Australian Under 25 Ironman Championships, or record a time within 10 per cent of the winner in Port Macquarie on 6 April.
“I would love to do really, really well in Hawaii and I think I can,” he said.
“Next year will be my last year as an under 25 athlete and with my bike skills I’d like to take out Hawaii, but everyone says you have to do about three or four over there before you start putting pressure on yourself for results.”
Conway will contest the Shepparton Half Ironman on 18 November and is likely to enter the South African Half Ironman Championships and a world cup event in Geelong in January and February respectively.
To keep tabs on Conway’s progress, visit www.nick-conway.com.
