Finishing a goal in tough race
Busy mum grits her teeth to take on gruelling race
Mud, guts, experience, toughness, endurance and family – these are the keywords mum-of-three Sarah Kaehler thinks of when contesting her maiden 2016 Crocodile Trophy comes to mind. The 39-year-old has ridden many of the trails the field of more than 80 riders will battle between Cairns and Port Douglas over the next eight days but in reality she has no idea what she is in for. Just finishing would make waking up at 3.30am to train all worth it.
I’VE JUST GOT TO RIDE MY OWN RACE AND NOT GET CAUGHT UP IN WHAT’S GOING ON AROUND ME AND JUST GET THROUGH EACH DAY THE BEST I CAN KEWARRA BEACH’S SARAH KAEHLER
MUD, guts, experience, toughness, endurance and family – these are the keywords Kewarra Beach mum-of-three Sarah Kaehler thinks of when contesting her maiden 2016 Crocodile Trophy comes to mind.
The 39-year-old has ridden many of the trails a field of more than 80 riders will battle between Cairns and Port Douglas over the next eight days but in reality she has no idea what she is in for.
Kaehler has been traversing the Far North on social crosscountry rides for the past seven years but stepped up her training 12 months ago with the help of Crocodile Trophy-experienced riders in the Astute Financial Racing team in a bid to join the elite ranks in the famed race.
Just finishing would make waking up at 3.30am to train all worth it.
“I’m a working mum with three kids so I train at 3.30am and get as much as I can done before kid drop-off and try to fit as much stuff in as I can,” Kaehler said.
“I’ve been riding with the guys doing a training program ... and there’s been a lot of hills and a lot of big days we’ve ridden, so hopefully with everything that we’ve done, it’s enough to get me through to the end.”
The team has high hopes she can ride into the beach finish at Port Douglas in a podium position but Kaehler said just finishing would bring a sense of triumph whatever the result with her friends and family cheering her home.
“I would absolutely love that, but ultimately my goal is to finish it and what happens in between that, I just want to do the best I can do ... and hope for the best really,” she said.
“Just to have the support there with family and friends and the locals, the people that you know, is always an awesome feeling.”
Kaehler said to do that she had to trust her training, although she “might curse a few people on the way up the hills”.
“I know that it’s an epic race. There are a lot of climbs. I’ve just got to ride my own race and not get caught up in what’s going on around me and just get through each day the best I can and along the way I’ve got to enjoy what I’m doing as well, even though it will hurt,” she said.
“Maybe the advantage is I know in my head where the big stuff is, and depending on how I’m feeling, you’ve got to make your own judgment whether to back off a bit to prepare myself for the next climb, but at the same time it’s a race and you’ve got to not back off too much.”
“You never know what can happen with the elements – the heat, the humidity, the hills – and people are good at some things and not necessarily others but you’ve just got to wait and see.”