Orange went into the final round with an unbeatable lead and Mudgee Red Devils answered the call to come out in numbers, which they did, but were unable to stop the Orange juice from flowing at celebration time.

Rain began to fall steadily as the lead runner, Nicholas Kastelein, made the first splash into the pool and became heavier as the Inter Club finale for the season reached its climax.

Despite the wet slippery conditions, there were few mishaps on the road during the two bike legs of the Interclub format.

Yesterday’s race was dominated by the talented Mudgee contingent with Nicholas Kastelein showing just why he is now competitive with the upper echelon of the sport in Australia.

The Interclub started with a two-kilometre run and by the time he completed the first kilometre had opened up a large lead on the big field.

When he entered the pool he had completed one third of the first swim distance, one length of the Mudgee Olympic pool, before his nearest rival was in the water.

As the race progressed Nicholas increased his lead and in the final leg raced away from his rivals and had opened up a lead of close to a kilometre by the time he crossed the finish line.

His younger brother Adam was always in the lead group of chasers and came into the transition area for the last time hot on the heels of another Mudgee talent Stephen Moore.

Adam got the better of Moore in the first few hundred metres of the final run leg to come in second while Moore held down third place ahead of Mudgee legend Nick Kastelein who made up strong ground and placings on the bike legs to finish fourth.

Nicholas said that while the conditions were slippery, the temperature was excellent for today’s race.

“The conditions weren’t too bad, even though the rain presented a hazard,” Nicholas Kastelein said.