Living in Melbourne we have learnt to come to terms with it’s unpredictable weather. Sunshine and 30 one day, thunderstorms the next. But it doesn’t mean we enjoy the variety. We would all prefer sunny summer days – warm, but not too hot, a nice breeze but not too windy. Unfortunately mother nature has different ideas and likes to keep us on our toes. And unfortunately for us, the second race of the Gatorade & Active Feet Tri Series in Melbourne, we have been forced into competing in a duathlon rather than a triathlon due to the rainfall levels (water pollution) for the second time this season!
Heading to bed on Saturday night, we were all praying to the weather gods that the thunderstorms would steer clear of Elwood, but come around 12midnight most of us were awoken to lightnight, thunder and a heavy down pour of rain. After laying awake for half an hour, and no relief in sight we knew the decision was inevitable. The sheer amount of rain – around 24mm over night (only has to be 10mm for the swim to be cancelled) meant wetsuits could be left at home again and athletes could just pack an extra pair of runners instead.
But come race day, the weather fined up and turned out to be not too bad come the start of the Gatorade race. The wind however made the race tough, so if you are comparing times to your last race remember to take this into consideration.
Tri Alliance had 60 athletes race in the Gatorade Sprint Race and a further 10 in the Active Feet Race. CLICK HERE to view all our athlete results. If you name is not on this list, then you need to make sure that you have ‘Tri Alliance’ as your Club/Squad in your SuperSprint Profile. You can log in and change this at any time.
Tri Alliance top 10 place getters in the Gatorade Sprint Race:
- Brad Campbell – 1st Clydesdales
- Sean Fleming – 2nd – Clydesdales
- Sarah Grove 2nd – Open Females
- Emma-Lise Donati – 3rd 30-34F
- Dale Robinson – 3rd Athenas
- Peter Rainey – 3rd 45-49M (first Gatorade podium & more to come!)
- Andy Wood-Rich – 4th Clydesdales
- Lisa Dominequez – 5th 30-34F
- Jill Sultaon – 5th 50-54F
- Narelle Crooks 6th – 35-39F
- Lidia Ursini – 7th Athenas
- Richelle Olsen – 8th Athenas
- Brinn Tavener 8th – 20-24M
- Amnon Trebish – 8th Clydesdales
- Camilla Forss and Michelle Reckermann just missing out on top 10 places with 11 and 12th respectively in the 25-29F
Well done to all our Active Feet athletes including:
Aaron Gaudron, Eleesha Nesci, Bernadette Shanahan, Alison Faulkner, Jo Stavrou, Martin Churchward, Sonia Noakes, John Giordano, Wendy Wates and Bella Plush – who won her age group!! Well done Bella!
Special Mentions Include:
- Fastest time from a TA athlete was MARK SKILTON in a slick time of 1:00:50
- Fastest transition times combined T1&T2 by a TA athlete was Lisa Dominequez with a combined time of 1min 53sec for T1&T2. Mark Casey also broke the 2min barrier with combined times of 1min59sec. Great work!!
- Brinn Tavener beating last years defending champion (Emma-Lise) by a mere 1sec. (Bragging rights there Brinn!)
- John-Paul Collins on clocking the fastest Bike split of 34:24 on a windy course!
- Tara 5th in her age group for transitions – a sleek 37 and 38 sec for T1&T2, and 5th fastest in her age group. Not bad for her 2nd Active Feet Tri!!
- Aaron Gaudon on posting the fastest TA athlete time in the Active Feet race. Careful Aaron – or their will be pressure to do a Gatorade race soon! 🙂
- Dave Nealon was a no show – even though he promised he would be there after a massive night on Saturday night! MIA again…
- Sonia Gregoul – on completing another duathlon – and still yet to do her first triathlon! She has confessed the bad weather is her fault though, her first race in the US cancelled due to thunderstorms, her 2nd race modified to a duathlon and the weekend also a duathlon. Sonia – you get one more chance! 🙂
- Our group of around 6 athletes who helped out SuperSprint in Marshalling. A big pat on th back for you guys!
- Thanks to those athletes not racing who came along to cheeron and support those who were – makes it that much more enjoyable to race. (Unless you have Coach Greg yelling advice at you from the sidelines!) 😉
- Lakeside Sports Medicine Centre and their team of Physio’s Khanh and Tara and new Myotherapist Justin.
Well done again to everyone who raced, in what started out as an ordinary day, it turned out to be another great days racing. Check out our Race Pictures from the day HERE. Some great action shots – thanks to our photographer of the day Greg Nugent!
Next Race is on Sunday 15 January – at the new race venue of Brighton Beach, so we will see you all down there for another big day. If you have yet to enter, make sure you do by checking out the details on the SuperSprint Website.
Following Race 2 of the Gatorade & Active Feet Series on Sunday December 11 2011, 90+ Tri Alliance athletes, coaches, friends and family headed down to the Port Melbourne Bowling Club for a fun filled afternoon of lawn bowls, and Christmas Festivities. CLICK HERE to read more….
