Geelong Triathlon – a Who’s Who of Australia’s Short Course Triathletes

Due to inclement weather the schedule for the Geelong Multisport weekend has been changed with all elite races now taking place on Sunday.

The forecast is for rain and low temperatures. A high of just 18 degrees is forecast for Sunday which should make for some cold bike riding after the swim.

The guys will have been primed to race today and waiting another day will play with the minds of a few.

The starter list is a who’s who of the young guns coming through in the sport along with a few older and very experienced hands. It is good to see a few of the long course guys and girls making their way to Geelong. Mitch Robins, Clayton Fettell, Luke Bell and Peter Schokman (ITU Pan Pac racing last year and won Yeppoon) amongst others are racing this weekend. Tara Prowse and Melissa Vandewater did some long course racing last year and are both racing this weekend.

Laurent Vidal and Brad Kahlefeldt are the two who most of the punters would be putting their money on. Bryce McMaster has cleaned up the Queensland Gatorade series recently and is also one of the guys likely to be racing near or at the front. Cameron Good is also on fire right now. He has flourished recently with mentoring from Pete Jacobs and also more recently has come in under Grant Giles of Team Aeromax .

Mitch has his eyes on 2012. He has just come away from a camp at Lennox heads with Grant Giles with Team Aeormax. Also on camp were Cameron Good (Winner at Devonport in January), Tim Berkel, Clayton Fettell, Josh McHugh and Joey Lampe.

Mitch is pumped after this training camp. ”It has been easy to get all the hard training done with such a great bunch of guys and everyone pushing each other to go faster every day. The past few years I have developed a great deal as an athlete under the guidance of Gilesy (Grant Giles). His approach to training and racing really suits me personally and he really knows how to get the best out of me. We have been working closely together lately preparing for the Australian Sprint Distance Championships in Geelong and my preparation has been spot on. I am looking forward to my first ITU race, and my first major race in 2011. We will then build towards the Oceania Championships in Wellington NZ on the 12th March, then hopefully Mooloolaba World Cup on March 26th.”

The boys were looked after well by Grant’s wife Mel as always who plays a big part in the team.

Brendan Sexton has raced well in the last few months. He has won races in the Victorian Gatorade series and also cleaned up the Nepean Triathlon winning both the main race and the Super Sprint race. He was up against Pete Jacobs and Mitch Robins. Both of these guys received penalties during the race which gave Sexton the break he needed. Brendan also came second in New Zealand two weeks ago up against some of the top young guns from NZ. Some of who are the quickest around.

James Davy is another to watch. He came second at Callala Beach triathlon a week ago with very fast 3:06min/km 8km run. He was beaten by an even faster Aaron Royle who is not down on the starter list and is one of the top short course guys missing from Geelong this weekend. Aaron has chosen to stay in Woolongong and stick to his training schedule which is going very well right now.

The women’s elite race is also packed with some fast athletes. The overseas contingent consists of Vendula  Frintova, Lauren Campbell, Tegan Smith, Kirsten  Sweetland and Sydney based South African Anel Stewart. Anel has recaptured her triathlon mojo after a challenging 2010 on many levels. She is being coached by top age grouper Adam Radford. Under Adam, Anel’s times have been plummeting recently.

Of course the front runners such as Emma Moffatt, Emma Jackson, Felicity Sheedy-Ryan, Mel Vandewater and Ashleigh Gentle will be the ones who will be pushing for the podium spots. Gentle finished 3 seconds behind Caroline Steffen at the 2010 Noosa triathlon and has shown she has a big future in ITU triathlon.

Tara Prowse is coming back from a year of injuries and has started to get her speed back. Tara is being coached by Mark Newton of Herts. She trains with Sam Douglas amongst others and is thriving in this environment.