Sam Douglas and Gillian Backhouse win Nowra Olympic Distance Triathlon

It was a tough day at the office for many reasons today in Nowra. The times were all a bit slower than normal. The run in particular. It was a solid 10kms and not over.The swim was a non-wetsuit, fresh water river swim. It was warm so we would have overheated if we had used wetsuits. Most of us felt Xmas bite us on the bums at about the 5km mark in the run. And was the run hot! The bike was tough as you had to keep pushing the whole way with no let up at all. The was no opportunity to coast and rest your legs.

Thanks to Alex Price for commentating and keeping us informed during all the races. Hope that stress fracture heals quickly so we can see you back racing.

Sam Douglas and Michael Fox came out of the water almost two minutes ahead of Jason Chalker and Gavin Scott. Big Sam promptly put the hammer down on the bike and ended up putting two minutes on Michael on the bike. That was pretty much the race with both front guys running similar times. Michael decided to take a decent break this Xmas so is possibly a bit off pace right now. He raced in Melbourne last weekend in the Gatorade series

39 year old Dean Degan, from Sydney posted the second fastest run time over all in his first ever triathlon. He received a 3min blocking penalty as well. This is always a trap for young players. Most have no idea what it is for when they get busted. Dean was the same. Dean sounds like another prospect for Mick Maroney and TriNSW. If only he could swim. Maybe he could join their other ‘young’ recruit Matthew Koorey. A senior pro development squad could be in the making maybe.

Ben Bell posted the fastest 10km run of the day at 36:02 to win the 35-39 age group. Euan McNair posted one of the fastest bike times of the day to ride himself in to 10th over all and to win the 30-34 age group.

Darren Quarrell showed that at over 40 you can still give it to the younger guys if you put in the hard work. Darren and Peter Clark certainly showed their class in the 40-44 age group. I hope they trained hard over Xmas and didn’t indulge. It will make the rest of us feel better.

Gillian Backhouse started the race on her own even though there were two other pro women in the results. A lot of the usual pro girls and guys who race the triseries were racing in Devonport, TAS this weekend and were also resting up after the TriNSW camp at Runnaway Bay the week prior.

Nowra was a great place to hold a triathlon. Next year’s event should attract a bumper field. Put this race in your diary.

The next race in the Elite Energy triseries is on Feb 12-13 at Callala Beach. Don’t miss out. Click on the triseries logo for more details.