The Club held its inaugural race of the 2020 season on the Australia Day long weekend. The starting line was packed with 27 adults and 10 juniors, making it the largest turnout in recent times.
With wafts of a post-race brunch and coffee floating over the pool, the field of participants had extra motivation to get started and stop the clock in their personal bests.
In the Adult category, Anthony Biggs, a regular in competitive triathlon but new to this Club, recorded a speedy swim (1:30/100m) and started the cycle with a lead of more than 90-seconds over both Daniel Butt and Jordan Cohen while ‘comeback king’ Roy Cohen was close behind.
Not even the harsh headwinds in the cycle could slow anyone down. Craig Pager posted the fastest time on the bike (36.9km/h) and managed to overtake six athletes in his pursuit of Anthony.
At the end of the bike leg Anthony's lead had been cut down to just over a minute by Craig while Jarred Shein and Roy Cohen were battling for a third place podium finish.
There was also a great tussle for 5th, 6th and 7th place with stalwart Alan Kaplan starting the run with a short lead over Johnny Lewis and Michael Linton.
Anthony managed to keep Craig in his tracks and crossed the finish line 1 minute ahead of him while Jarred secured a bronze finish. Roy finished fourth, followed by Michael, Johnny and Alan with the latter three finishing within just 27 seconds of each other.
The sole female competitor, Jana Greenblo, put in a stellar performance on her Club debut and we’re hoping this encourages more women to get involved at the next meet.
In the Junior category, Jake Pager won the shorter distance and Julian Brown placed first in the longer race with good all-round times by the younger generation.
Well done to all involved!
- Daniel Bos and Alan Kaplan