Richie Cunningham 
I am a professional triathlete from the Gold Coast in Australia. I've been competing in triathlons for 10 years and recently moved to the US from Germany. I compete primarily in the 70.3 half iroman and olympic distance triathlons. My career highlights include a first place finish in the Team Relay World Championships and a 3rd place finish in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships.
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News
September 14, 2008: Ironman 70.3 Triathlon, Muskoka, Canada
I was really looking forward to doing this race all year. It was nice to race in a beautiful place and on a demanding bike and run course. The start list was looking really hot until the morning of the race when 2 or 3 athletes pulled out. The swim went really well and I exited the water 3rd behind Simon and Brent. It was a long tough run to transition, which really hurt my legs for the first 10k of the bike. Crowie came flying past me just after leaving transition on the bike. I was unable to follow him for the first couple of k's, which resulted in me chasing the front 3 for the next 60k. I could always see the leaders but couldn't quite bridge the gap. I finally managed to catch up around 75k. Coming out of transition, Crowie and Brent took off at a crazy pace. My race plan was just to run strong and get through the run course. Me and Simon closed the gap back to Brent and then I managed to pull away and open up a lead, which I was able to hold for the rest of the race. Despite the constant rain and cold, I was really happy with the race. Congrats to Crowie for winning. With this form, I think he can go on to win Kona.
August 24, 2008: Lifetime Fitness Series Triathlon, Chicago IL
I was pleased with the way I went in Chicago considering I hadn't really tapered for the race since I was trying to focus all my training on end of the season with Muskoka, Austin, and World Champs as my main focus. It was quite a strong field. The bike was really fast as everyone had to chase the leader, Matt Reed. I felt good through the first 2-3 miles of the run and then the heavy training load caught up to me and I had a large bonk. I was still able to hold on for 6th place. Next day was my birthday. Happy Birthday to me. Where's all my presents?
July 27, 2008: Ironman 70.3 Triathlon, Newfoundland, Canada
For once, flying to the race, I ended up being the lucky one. I arrived on time with my bike and bags. Most of the others weren't so lucky. Rinny had to wait two days for her bike to come, Crowie spent a day sightseeing around America only to end up 12 hrs later arriving back at the same airport he left in the morning, and Paul Matthews' flight was cancelled and spent 3 days getting to the race - his bike finally arrived at 10pm the night before the race. Destination races may be beautiful to see, but they are a pain in the ass to get to. Race day turned out to be nice and warm. It's so good to do a race that starts a little later (at 8am). It wasn't a large field, but certainly had a lot of quality. The swim was fairly low key. Paul and Brent slipped away and had a minute going into transition. Me and Crowie then settled in to chase down the lead two. Crowie managed to bridge across to the front group. Poor Paul's troubles continued after receiving a very dodgy drafting penalty. The bike was quite difficult with a solid head wind. Heading into T2, Crowie and Brent had about a minute and a half lead. Starting off on the run, I could see them running head to head and I knew I was going to have to run hard to at least catch one of them. At the turn around, I noticed Crowie had started to pull away from Brent, so I set my sights on catching him. With the final turn around at 15k, I realized Brent had pulled out, which left me in second place. It was good to get back to back second places. Now I look forward to a couple of weeks of training before Chicago.
Top 5:
- 3:59:45 Craig Alexander Boulder CO AU
- 4:01:33 Richie Cunningham Brookline MA AU
- 4:04:09 Chris Legh Boulder CO US
- 4:06:07 Sean Bechtel Caledon ON CA
- 4:06:26 Paul Matthews Boulder CO US
July 13, 2008: Ironman 70.3 Triathlon, Providence, Rhode Island
It was great to actually be able to drive to a race. The triathlon ended up having a really strong field. The swim was a normal swim. Leaving transition, Paul Ambrose put the gas down straight away and rode extremely strong all the way to the front group. With a tailwind, the pace was high. Once Oscar Galindez caught up, the pack split. After 4 weeks of feeling down, it was good to finally feel better on the bike. Coming into transition, I was just over 2 minutes down on Oscar and Paul. I started to chase hard to pull back as much time as I could early. I was feeling pretty good until I hit the hill. Once over the top, I found my rhythm and set off chasing the leaders again. I was feeling pretty good and then another unexpected wall hit me:
This wall included a hood, windscreen, and some asphalt on my ass. I didn't realize that steeple chase was part of the race course. I tried to jump over the car before it hit me. I avoided getting run over but still ended up ass first into the windscreen.
Once I picked myself up off of the ground I was still able to think clearly and just wanted to get back into the race, but my legs didn't seem to want to cooperate and were all wobbly. After a few hundred meters, I regained control of them and set off after the leaders again. I managed to fight my way to second place. Crossing the finish line, I went straight to the medical tent to get the rest of the glass plucked off my butt and back. Overall, I enjoyed the race and the tough course, minus the obstacles.
June 15, 2008: Ironman 70.3 Triathlon, Lawrence, Kansas
Finished 7th. A lot of effort for no pay. Sometimes I think what's the point.
June 8, 2008: Eagleman 70.3 Triathlon
Eagleman turned out to be another hard fought race. There was a lot of controversy regarding drafting. The race day was super hot and made it difficult for everyone. Paul Amey and Terenzo both had a great race. I managed to struggle through the run to hold onto third. The heat really knocked me around and it has taken me several weeks to recover fully.
May 18, 2008: Columbia Olympic Distance Triathlon
The Columbia triathlon is a great race if you want to get the european feel for triathlon racing. The swim is in a little lake. The bike course is challenging but scenic and enjoyable. It's good to find a race that has a bike course with some hills and a challenging run through the parks and back streets of the local area. The race started off fairly relaxed without too much stress on the swim. Once on the bike, Chris Lieto didn't waste any time in proving that he's one of the best riders in triathlon. After about 5k, he had already opened up a lead. With Macca doing a lot of the chase work, I was just riding to hold on. In the last couple of miles, me, Macca and Greg started passing athletes that we had already passed earlier in the race. We didn't know if it was them or us that had gone the wrong way. In the end, it was us. Greg and Macca opened up a small gap coming into transition. I didn't know what position I was in because of our detour. I chased hard for the first 2 miles but my feet were still numb from the swim. I finally managed to warm up around 3 miles and that is when someone told me I was 5 minutes behind Lieto. In the end, I was still happy to manage 4th place.
May 4, 2008: Ironman 70.3 Triathlon, St. Croix, Virgin Islands
The new bike was great, even in the hills. It got me up the beast the quickest to win the bike prime. Once again, Crowie pulled out a phenomenal run to pull back the two break away riders and win. I tried to go with him the first couple of miles. Averaging 5:30's for the first 2 miles was a little quick for me on that course. I managed to run down one of the guys to finish 3rd.
April 27, 2008: St. Anthony's Triathlon, Tampa, FL
5th place on my new bike - 1:50.39. Next week, I'm off to St. Croix to compete in the 70.3 Ironman triathlon.
March 29, 2008: Ironman 70.3 Triathlon, California
I finished my first triathlon of the season with a 5th place in a time of 4:05:38.
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