The heat is not an ideal condition to race in at any time, but for the hopefuls taking to the track on Saturday, there was no time to be on the go slow in the long course event in round three of the Central Wester Inter Club Triathlon Series.
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Before the competitors even set off from the start for the Bathurst round of the series, the mercury was nudging 30 degrees.
It only got hotter as competitors in the grand prix format event tackled a 2.5 kilometre run, 200 metres swim, 16km cycle, second 200m swim then a 2.5km run to the finish.
“It was a bit windy and hot as well. I know a few of us suffered because it was quite hot out there so it was good to jump in the pool,” Mudgee’s Matt Webster said.
With a combination of competitors from Sydney and large numbers from the Central West, the day was challenging to say the least.
“The competition was a bit stronger this year than its normally been,” Webster said.
A few of the young juniors are coming up and they’ve had some training over summer and they’re just getting faster.
- Matt Webster
“They’re just getting to the age where they’re starting to beat us old guys which is good to see.”
One of the young competitors continuously coming up through the ranks is Orange’s talented Rory Thornhill who claimed his first win.
Thornhill was able to peel off the quickest split in the run home – his effort 12 seconds faster than any of his rivals – to take the win in a time of 50 minutes, four seconds.
Thornhill credited spending time training in hot conditions with a squad from Sydney in the build-up as a key to his success.
“I got back from Jindabyne yesterday, so I’m used to the heat really. I was out in the heat doing 100 kays every day, it was really good prep for this actually,” he said.
There was little separating the leaders after the opening run leg with Webster one second behind the leader, and while Thornhill was first out of the pool, Bathurst’s Nick North was quick through transition and they hit the cycle together.
Following the cycle leg it was North who led the way in the battle for long course honours thanks to a 23:01 split. The Bathurst talent went into the event undefeated for the season and was looking to make it three inter club round victories in succession.
Dean Windsor, T4 Bondi’s James Byrne and Josh Stapley had all overtaken Thornhill on the bike leg as well, leaving him with work to do over the final swim and run legs. But Thornhill paced himself well and not only clawed back time, but finished 13 seconds in the clear.
If you get too caught up with where you can be, you can start to go backwards. So I just did my own race and tried to get used to the pace.
- Rory Thornhill
“Well done to him. He must be doing some good training over summer,” Webster commented.
T4 Bondi’s James Byrne (50.17) claimed second, while Bathurst’s Nick North (50.41) crossed the line in third, and Mudgee’s Matt Webster (52.49) came in seventh.
Other top performances for Mudgee were Giselle Denley running eighth in the women’s stint, Jackie O’Hare 13th and Adam Mort 28th.
