Australia has often quite a bit of young talent in the sport of triathlon and among them these days is 21-year old James Hodge. The man also known as Hodgemate finished third at the Urban Hotels Geelong Long Course Triathlon earlier this year and more recently also third at the Ironman 70.3 Busselton. Last year he won that Busso event, but this year despite going 6 minutes quicker he had to be content with the final podium spot. That also showed him that his performance last year wasn't a fluke. Now though he is back in Wagga Wagga to study hard and prepare for tests.

Slowtwitch: It is good to chat with you.

James Hodge: Thanks mate, really thrilled to have a chat with you and appreciate the opportunity to be on slowtwitch.

ST: What are you currently up to?

James: Just arrived back to Wagga Wagga from Busselton on Monday arvo, and since then I have returned to my non triathlete life of studying like a trooper and finishing off assignments left, right and center - lots of coffee was required.

ST: How are your studies going and how do you juggle training, studying and university social life?

James: University has been going fantastic, currently in third year at Charles Sturt University, with this year being the first time I have had to move away from home, which has been a great experience and learning curve. Outside of triathlon my next favorite thing to do is cooking, so moving out and having to cook hasn’t been that much of a challenge, but I still struggle with the proportion sizes that I prepare for myself. Every time I cook tea, I walk to the dining table and my house friends all stop, stare and slowly shake their head in amazement at the size of my meal, the usual response I get is "hodgey, what are you doing mate, trying to feed an army or something?" I always laugh and say, "na guys, I won’t be able to finish this" but in no time . . . plate clean.
Training at Uni has been really good, a new location of Australia keeps my motivation to train very high, mainly because I am always finding new and interesting routes to explore on the bike and run, while also in a much warmer climate. I have found it quite easy to fit training around studies, by doing an early morning session followed by a mid-day or afternoon session, with study intertwined between and after the sessions. As you may have noticed there is not much time in the day left for any types of social activities so these are basically non-existent for me, but I still get along like a house on fire with all my Uni friends.

ST: What is your favorite meal to cook, and if you were to impress someone special what would you cook for that person?

James: Great question . . . well my two favorite meals growing up over the years were my mum’s awesome Spaghetti Bolognese and my Dad’s specialty patties with roast vegies. I love cooking these two meals and still do quite regularly because they are quick, easy and wholesome. But if I was cooking to impress someone I would whip up one of my three forte dishes, they are creamy fettuccini Chicken Carbonara, chicken mushroom bacon & spinach risotto, and the dish that you can never go wrong with and is guaranteed to impress is the mighty Chicken Parmigiana.

ST: Do your classmates appreciate your athletic endeavors?

James: My class mates and university mates love it, they are all really nice and supportive people, but they do still find it a bit weird when I am leaving for swimming training at 5.30am when they are walking or stumbling in the door from a massive night out. It is also great to see that I have helped motivate some of these people to get more active and live a bit healthier. One big positive is that they are really interested in the sport of triathlon, so I am constantly bombarded with questions revolving around it, such as "how far did you just ride?", "how heavy is your bike?", "what order do you go in?", "how do you do that?", "I wish I could do that.", "when is your next race?" and "how come you train so much?". But I absolutely love answering all their questions, and likewise, they love listening to the stories I bring back after races, they all huddle round and listen to my dramatic reenactments, which always causes a few laughs, especially when I finally reach the finish chute scene.

ST: You had a good day in Busso and we would think that you are pleased with your effort there.

James: I really amazed myself on the weekend and performed well above my expectations, considering the actual training I was able to get in over the 8 weeks leading up to the race. To finish third behind undoubtedly two of the best triathletes as well as runners in the world, in Brad Kahlefeldt and Tim Reed, I couldn’t be any happier, especially after I realized I improved on my winning time from last year by 6minutes. It felt so cool standing on the podium next to these two guys, while also learning the ropes off them on how to spray champagne, and looking at the footage of this, it is honest to say that I either had a flat bottle of champagne or was indisputably the world’s worst at giving a good old champagne shower. I’m leaning towards the flat bottle.

ST: First out of the water in 23:13 and then you cranked out a race best 2:05:55 bike split. That is quite impressive at age 21.

James: Cheers mate, to be honest I wasn’t expecting splits like that as I have been concentrating on improving my weakest leg; the run. In the swim I wanted the lead so pushed hard to the first can, once I got there I just cruised the rest of the swim to save energy as I thought the other guys were on my feet saving their own energy. This is why I was so amazed when I exited the water and turned round to see that I had a solo 29 second lead, I used this to my advantage to aid my pre-race race plan of going solid on the bike to create a lead going onto the run which worked well. I improved my time by 2 minutes on both the swim and ride legs from the previous year, which I was stoked with.

ST: Does your age come up often?

James: Yeah, so I am currently 21, but how I view it mate is like this 21 is a number, just like any other number, it isn’t a barrier or limiting factor. To be honest though, it did get mentioned quite a few times on the weekend at the SunSmart Ironman 70.3 Busselton by the great commentating provided by Simon Beaumont. Also a funny story about my age, most people that know me personally will agree that I don’t look my age, with a lack of facial hair and an immense amount of bumbfluff on my baby face instead, I constantly get asked for ID where ever I go. Recently though when I was staying at Chris McCormack's house, his two young daughters where asking me many funny little questions that kids love to ask, then they said "how old are you James?" and I replied "how old do you think I am?" They thought and discussed for a few seconds before replying with "are you 14?" I cracked up and said I'll take that, obviously I keep my age well. Two thirds of my real age, if someone says that to me when I am 50 I will be pretty happy - that’ll only make me 34.

ST: When did Kahlefeldt get past you and were you able to respond at all?

James: Brad passed me at the 8.5km mark, about 90 seconds after passing through an aid station, and to give you some stats, I was currently running at 3.34km/pace and he flew past me like a gazelle. It was actually amazing to see the speed he was running at, just phenomenal, but I knew the pace he was running was well above my personal limitations, so played it smart, which I am slowly learning how to do with each race, and continued to run at the pace I knew I could maintain.

ST: Reed I guess caught you a couple miles after that?

James: Yeah Timmy caught me at about 12km, and was also cranking the pace, with a final run split of 1:13, which is nothing to be sneezed at. Like when Brad passed me though I continued to play my own hand and refrain from try to bluff my way through which I knew could blow up in my face in the final km of the run.

ST: And Appleton came closer and closer but you were able to hold him off.

James: Sam Appleton is improving rapidly with every race he enters and is a force to be reckoned with, but what makes it better is that he is a top bloke, as well as a top athlete; a golden combination. It was the most painful 1km of my life, at the km to go mark I turned to look over my shoulder to see where Sam was, as I knew he was finishing fast (1.14 run split), my eyes saw a mini green and gold steam train about 60 meters back and I knew he would have enough energy to finish because he is also on the world’s best sports nutrition; Shotz Nutrition. With 200m to go I lost the feeling between my feet and the ground and only will power got me to that finish line to claim 3rd place. Without a word of a lie, I thought my legs were going to collapse before I made it across the line. It was the most exciting finish I have been involved in.

ST: What is next on your calendar?

James: The next race that I am locked in for is the MetaMan half on the 31st of August, which I am really looking forward too. Depending on Uni schedule, I may be competing at the Ironman 70.3 Japan on the 9th of June, but only time will tell.

ST: The big purse at MetaMan Bintan is for the full distance, so why travel so far for a Half?

James: Money is always handy mate, but at the current time it is more about getting a list of good, solid, consistent performances behind me to create a reputable profile for myself and promote the great sponsors that I have that do allow me to perform at my best. The reason I have decided to do the MetaMan half is because Shotz nutrition are the major nutrition sponsor for the event and I am also going to test myself in the heat of the equator.

ST: Who are some of your training mates?

James: I do the majority of my training solo but I do have a great group of guys that I train with in Wagga Wagga. I do some running sessions with Jared Kahlefeldt, and yes, this is Brad’s younger brother, and will actually be going for a ride with him tomorrow. I also have done many swimming sessions with a young kid from this area, Caleb Noble, who is progressing really well. There is a great competition on the local scene between Caleb and another local young gun, Alex Holbrook, they are always neck and neck every race, great to see such quality kids coming through the ranks.
I honestly miss training with my tri mates from Tassie, we like to call ourselves the splinter squad and do swimming, riding and running together. They are all guns, Paul McKenzie, Dylan Hill, Luke McCormack, Clinton Pentland, Casey Mainsbridge, Tim Piper (the hibernator of the squad, appears once in a blue moon), Jono Butler, Luke Purdon and Mitchell Cordell.

ST: We'd be remiss if we did not ask you about the Twinkle Toes nickname. Who came up with it? Or is it really all about Hodgemate?

James: Yeah twinkle-toes was just for a joke one time when I was on facebook, as you may have noticed I don’t like being normal, and it kind of stuck from there on. Hodgemate is the nickname I enjoy the most though, and quite a lot of people call me by this name now, especially my Shotz Nutrition sponsor, Darryl Griffiths. Every time he calls me, I get a massive "Hodgemate, how you doing?" and that is guaranteed to bring a smile to my face, absolutely top bloke. Hodge_Mate is also the name to follow on twitter and instagram if you’re interested.

ST: There is an Aussie brand named Twinkle Toes, and they manufacture baby hand and feet sculptures, and Skechers makes a line of little girl Twinkle Toes shoes. Would any of those brands be an appropriate sponsor?

James: Ha ha really, I didn’t know that! But there is more chance of finding an iceberg in hell than me having children any time soon. But I looked at the website and it is a very cool idea, will definitely look into it later in life.

ST: Talking about sponsors, how is that going for you otherwise?

James: Yeah I have got a great team behind me, I have a secret guru that helps me with my facebook page updates, while also creating and organizing my website hodgemate.com. My manager, Evan, from BPM-Sport has been great and set me up with some absolutely amazing companies, these include Asics, Shotz Nutrition, BlueSeventy, Rudy Project, F2P Sport, Healthwise Active Travel and BV Sport. With the support of these great companies, I can relieve the stress off myself so that I can perform the best I can on race day, thanks to them all.

ST: What bike are you riding?

James: Up until now I've been lucky enough to have a great support in my local bike shop Avanti Plus Launceston. They have been wonderful supporters, and since I have had to move to Wagga Wagga my bike has been maintained fantastically by Kidsons Cycles. Looking ahead, my management team at BPM-Sport.com are negotiating with a couple of brands now. I've been trying out different options to make sure I am happy. Hopefully all will be revealed soon.

ST: Is there anything we should know?

James: Just that I love this sport, love promoting it and can’t wait to be competing in it for many years to come. Cheers and thank you very much for having me in for a chat.
Hodge-mate out!!


You can follow James via Twitter at @Hodge_Mate