😱 Wowza! What a fabulous weekend we have just had down at the Warrnambool Foreshore. With an event to suit everyone – it was a jam packed day, with a fantastic buzz in the air.

Our open and min tri events – saw 87 participants take part – amazing to see everyone supporting this event and our club 🥳. We had 51 individuals tackle the sprint distance course, and 9 teams take on the sprint made up of mix of teams of 2 and 3 people. 12 participants took part in the mini distance, the first triathlon for many which is so awesome to see. The mini triathlon series in January the spring board a few needed to gain some confidence and step up in distance for this event which was great to see.

We had competitors from as far away as Melbourne, Hamilton, Horsham, Ararat, Bendigo even an exchange student from Germany taking part – the word is getting out about our club and it’s the place to be 😍

18 women tackled the open distance event today with stiff competition from the start. Steph Hibburt had an early lead and wasn’t able to be chased down, followed across the line by Jenny Dowie and Gab Lanman rounding out the placing 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

33 males took part in the sprint distance event with a hot challenge on from the word go. Todd Dymke out of the water first 🔥 – but unable to hold on in the 🚴🏼‍♂️ leg. The hot battle was on from the word go between Kobe Henderson and Ruben De Silva-Smith, Kobe putting in a cracking run leg to finish first across the line followed by Ruben and Andy Ryan in 3rd place in a close finish. Jason Morgan and Ben Tatti who have returned to our club this year followed in closely behind.

The teams was a hot competition with Team Odyssey (Chris Taylor, Sean and Div) leading off the bike, however Sam Edney of the Heavy Hitters (teaming up with Campbell Thomson and Travis Greening) closing the gap on the run smashing out sub 3.30min kms – on fire Sammy! Team Odyssey hung on for 2nd place followed in 3rd by the Powered by Pilates team of Prue Nadaraj, Dallas Jones and Kristie Chiller. The teams event a fantastic way for people to get involved in our events if they aren’t keen to do all 3 legs on their own – pairing up with friends or family as a starting point. A special shout out to two of our clubs life members Leigh McCarthy and Claire Farrer who teamed up as ‘McCarthy and the Turtle’ – fantastic to see these guys back on course 🙌🙌🙌

Our mini distance event had 12 participants take part – lots completing their first ever tri. A non competitive event and a great introduction to our sport, there were lots of happy and satisfied faces as they crossed the line. Well done to you all! A great mix of young and older and a super supportive vibe amongst the group which we love to see and what it’s all about 😊

Following from the Open events we had our All Abilities triathlon – which saw 10 fantastic guys and girls take part tackling some swim, ride and run elements. Well done to each and every one of you – and give yourselves a big pat on the back! A special shout out to Jasmine Anne who showed amazing strength and determination out on course today – you sure were an inspiration to us all! Thanks to South West Sport and genU for helping with coordination of this event.

Last up for the day was our Kids Tris. We had approx 30 youngsters sign up for our kids events, kicking off with Under 7’s triathlon taster with 9 kids taking part, many of who this was their first triathlon experience. Led by Pete Varley and Donna Lumb the kids made their way into the water, followed by a bike ride around the outside of our transition zone, followed by a run back through the finishing shoot. Looks of happy little faces and proud and excited parents running alongside and watching on. This event format a perfect way for the youngsters to build some confidence and learn all about triathlon – so thanks Pete for developing this concept for us! Finishing up for the day we had our 7-9 and 10-12 age groups go around the course. Both sets of kids on the course at the same time – the older group doing some extra laps compared to the younger kids. After a run along in the water, the kids hit the bikes up and down viaduct road, before heading back into transition and a run along the beach to finish off. Lots of cheers by family and friends watching on as they kids crossed the line – diving straight for the flavoured milks generously donated by Saputo Dairy Australia. The kids gave a big ‘Thanks Saputo’ cheer out

It was fantastic to be able to bring our marquee event back to the foreshore this year and it’s no mean feat, with hours of work behind the scenes by our hard working Committee. Bringing the event back was only possible with thanks to a Warrnambool City Council – Community Development Fund Grant, so we thank council for this. Thanks also to Lauren Edney and Jack for their work coordinating to get the ride course in tip top shape for us and believe it or not – for councils attempts to get the seaweed cleared … the tractor was down Friday and Saturday hard at work, as well as Peter Gaffy out with his shovel Saturday arvo too 💪🏻 – but unfortunately a natural beast we just couldn’t beat.

We want to say a big thank you to Jon, Mary Ellen and the team at Pavilion Cafe & Bar who accomodate our event down around their restaurant. We hope you all enjoyed some breakfast, 🍦and ☕️ while you were down there, and if you didn’t get a chance to grab a meal we highly recommend you head on down – the meals are top class 😋!

Thanks to the Warrnambool Camera Club for coming down and taking some photos of our feature event – cheers guys – we can wait to see the pics of the day! 📸

Thanks to Brett Barker taking on the job of Race Director for the Open events, Ian Barnes for coordinating the volunteers and the all abilities tri and Pete Varley for looking after the kids events.

We had an absolutely massive army of volunteers for this weekend – starting with setup Saturday, set up Sunday, marshalling across the various events and a crew who stayed back to pack up! Thanks legends – there is just far too many of you to name, including 8 guys and girls from the Warrnambool Athletics Club – so cheers 🙌

Thank you to the Warrnambool Surf Life Saving Club for their early start, and for providing the water safety for our events. It sure is a reassurance to the girls and guys in the water to have you out there – so thank-you for giving up some of your time, on a busy day for your club – to help us out 💕

Thanks to Ultimate Performance & Rehab for the prizes the open events and the Cally Hotel for the vouchers for our 1st team across the line. We also had spot prizes today courtesy of Saputo (delicious looking cheese hampers – don’t forget to pop out to Cheese World Great Ocean Road to pick up hampers for yourself or a great gift idea), UPR for the class passes – so jump in and see Dallas and the team for all your Pilates needs, Lucas and the team at the Cally Hotel for the meal vouchers (lucky ducks that received these – yummo) and to Cafe Cycles Company for the store vouchers – we can’t wait to see the shop open, sounds like the ideal spot to finish off those weekend rides.

We also thank our clubs sponsors for their support for the entire season – Saputo, Optus, Central Storage, Taits Legal, UPR, Cally hotel and Bakers Delight Warrnambool CBD – where you can support those who support us, and tell them we sent you.

That’s a wrap of a ripper day out – we can’t wait to see you all back out at Killarney on March 15th for our final events of the season – with open, mini and kids tri !

Location

Warrnambool Breakwater