By Nick Creely
Cranbourne pro-triathlete Levi Maxwell admits it’s a “monkey off his back” after a stunning result at the iconic Challenge Shepparton recently.
The significance of taking out his first professional title at the 11 November race after overcoming plenty of self-doubt and setbacks can’t be understated. To Maxwell, it reinforces why he’s devoted his life to one of the most gruelling sports on the planet.
In the half-distance race comprising of a 1.9km swim, 90km bike ride and 21.1km run on Remembrance Day, Maxwell won with a time of 3 hours, 46 minutes and 43 seconds, 47 seconds ahead of the second placed Tim Van Berkel.
“I had a reasonably good swim, about a minute behind the lead, and I just rode hard and got back up,” he said.
“It became a bit cat and mouse; people were playing games, and trying to break away or whatever, and you had to decide whether it was worth going with them and spending that little bit of energy.
“Towards the end of the second lap a few guys were in pain a bit and sort of dropped off, and Luke Bell got off the front and Tim Berkel decided to go for it. I knew he was a good runner, so I decided I’d stay with him so I did.
“We ended up overtaking Bell, and it was Berkel out front and myself in second – he was probably 10 seconds ahead of me, and got him about 2kms into the run. He just kept looking at his watch and showing signs that he was hurting a little, so I decided to keep going and build a gap.
“I pretty much built maybe a 90 second lead, but in the last lap, it was the end of the race, and I was hurting a fair bit – he was making some gains, probably not enough to put me in trouble, but enough for me to go ‘ok, I need to be switched on, and do enough to hold him off’.”
