Eurocoast Triathlon Club members were in action again on the weekend, racing in events in Canberra and Penrith.
Canberra hosted the Jackie Fairweather Memorial Triathlon Festival. The races commemorated Jackie, who was a World Champion in Triathlon and Duathlon (run/ride), an Olympic Bronze medallist in the Marathon, Australian Triathlete of the Year on two occasions, and has been inducted into both Triathlon Australia and ITU (International Triathlon Union) Hall of Fame. At the time of her death, Jackie held a senior position at the Australian Institute of Sport, dealing with High Performance Programs.
The major sprint race (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run) was a qualifying event for selection in the Australian team for the 2018 ITU World Championships, which will be held on the Gold Coast.
Sally Jeffrey was again the best performing Eurocoast triathlete, winning her age group in a time of 1:22:36. Sally won her race by an impressive 30 seconds. Sally didn’t have her usual start, and was 4th after the swim leg. It wasn’t until the run leg where Sally hit the front, finishing with the fastest run by 4 minutes.
Ivo Ahlquist finished 12th in his age group (40-44), finishing in a time of 1:12:12. This was in the middle of the group, a great effort.
In the non-qualifying Sprint race, club members also achieved outstanding results. Claudine Bradley placed 2nd in her age group, in a time of 1:28:36. Claudine was second after the swim leg, and maintained this until the end, unable to close on the eventual winner.
In the mens 55-59 years, Rodney Bradley finished 2nd, infront of Stephen Phipps (3rd) and Gary Ashton (5th). Rodney and Stephen came out of the water in those positions, and held them throughout the race. Gary had a slow swim leg and gained on the 4th placed finisher in the following legs, but was still 1 minute behind him at the end.
Paul Searson won his age group, in a time of 2:02:28.
In the Super Sprint race, comprising of a 200m swim, 10km bike ride, and 2km run, Maureen Searson won her age group in a time of 1:07:56.
At the same time, the Ironman 70.3 Asia Pacific Championship was held at Penrith, based at the International Regatta Centre. This was a qualifying race for the 2018 Ironman 70.3 World Championship to be held in South Africa. Ironman 70.3 is a half Ironman distance, consisting of a 1.9km swim, 90km bike leg, and finishing with a 21.1km half marathon run.
In her first race at this distance, Zoe Whymark finished an impressive 10th in her age group, in a total time of 5:47:36. Donna Phillips also raced, and finished in 12th position in her age group, in 6:17:16.
The next race on the calendar will be the Callala Beach Triathlon festival, on 9/10 December.
Above: (L-R) Stephen Phipps, Paul Searson, Claudine Bradley and
Rodney Bradley, all medal winners in the Sprint distance race.
