Kristian McCartney and Madeline Oldfield win Race 3 of the Gatorade Triathlon Series in Victoria

Three time Gatorade Triathlon Series Winner Kristian McCartney clocked up an impressive time of 1hr, 55mins to take out the Victorian Olympic Distance Triathlon Championships 2011.

Doubling as the Victorian Championships, Race 3 of the Gatorade Triathlon Series was held at Sandringham on Sunday 9th January 2011, consisting of a 1500m swim, 40km bike ride and a 10km run.

With the absence of back to back race winner Brendan Sexton, the premier series still proved to be one of the most highly competitive fields in Australia.

However it was Monty Frankish, well known for his top 10 placings in the Half Ironman distances, who took a strong lead on the bike, heading out on the run with over a minute in front of the main field. McCartney’s blistering run-leg proved unstoppable for Frankish, with the youngster holding on for third place.

In the female elite division, it was Madeleine Oldfield making it not only an impressive three from three race wins, but also backing up her Victorian Olympic Distance Triathlon Championship title from 2010.

Oldfield proved too strong for her rivals, in particular the field of eager ITU Juniors who each race have taken a top 3 overall placing.

Former high school and state representative middle distance runner
Madeline Oldfield was impressive in this round of the Gatorade
Triathlon Series. She came out of the water with a group of girls who
stayed together on the bike and then she took off on the run not giving
the others girls a chance. Oldfield has had a good battle with Melissa
Vandewater in the first two rounds of the series beating her by 10
seconds in round one. Without Vandewater there the race was comfortably
hers.

Trizone spoke to Madeline after her win in the weekend. We wanted to get to know a bit more about this up and coming triathlete who is dabbling with longer distance triathlons while proving that she has the goods at Olympic distance.

The first questions where the obvious ones… “I started doing triathlons after taking up swimming and cycling when I got some stress fractures in my legs. I won the 07-08 Gatorade triathlon series and placed 3rd in my age group at the 2009 ITU world championships on the Gold Coast. This really got me interested and I started to take things a lot more seriously”.

Whilst the Gatorade triathlon series is draft legal for the elites and this seems to suit Madeline she is adamant that she does not have the swim speed to step up to ITU and compete there. Instead it seems her road to triathlon glory is going to be the 70.3 distance. “Last winter I went to Boulder to train for four months. I went over with my boyfriend Sam and enjoyed it so much that I am planning to go back again in May this year. The environment there was amazing. I swam in Dave Scotts squads with Chrissie Wellington and Mirinda Carfrae. Just being in the same pool with them was inspirational”.

Madeline Oldfield’s plan is to focus on 70.3 ironman racing. “I want to spend this year training and racing 70.3 in the USA learning as much as I can about the racing, nutrition and all other aspects of this distance. Last year I stayed in Boulder with some members of the Boulder Triathlon Club. Possibly I may do the same thing again. My Mum may come this year so it will depend on this”

Finally Madeline wanted to take this opportunity to acknowledge the great support she gets from her sponsors. Malvern Star, Peak Bike Hub, Brooks and Team Barefoot who she is racing for.

Michael Fox, who won the recent triseries Huskisson Olympic distance race in NSW finished 5th overall after a decent break over Xmas. He spoke to Trizone after arriving back home. “I have been taking it a bit easy and keeping low key since the Wollongong race in early December. Last year unfortunately I didn’t ease off and got sick around this time. Last weekend was my first race for 2011 and a bit of a tune up before heading down to Nowra (triseries Olympic distance and Pro Tour race)”.

Michael is still building in to his Olympic distance triathlon career. ”I felt I raced well, it was a tough windy day.The field was smaller than last year with the VIS guys missing. Although the run was the difference, that was still may fastest 10k off the bike yet and much better than last year over the same course. So, I was happy with my race”.

Michael has just had his Saucony sponsorship upgraded for 2011 and, like a lot of up and coming pro triathletes in Australia, Michael is seeking more sponsors to partner with on his road to a highly competitive. “Hopefully 2011 will bring more opportunities for me in this area. I am now going to knuckle down after this bit of down time. My key races will be Geelong, Mooloolaba and Sydney. After which I intend racing pro overseas during our winter”. Look out for Michael this weekend at Nowra.

Over 1,800 competitors participated in yesterday’s event which also included the Gatorade Sprint Triathlon (750m/20km/5km) and Active Feet Fun Tri (250m/10km/2.5km), both continuing to prove popular amongst beginners and social competitors.

The next race in the Series, heads to Portarlington which celebrates its’ 25th anniversary, on Sunday 6 February 2011.