What a way to end the season! We have just had a ripper out at Killarney Beach - the weather really turned it on the for us - low winds, flat ocean and the sun peaking thru just in time to start on course.

This event was a celebration of so many things - International Women Days and #ThisGirlCan by giving an extra loud cheer to the women and girls in our club - and with that we encouraged participants to wear a splash of colour or to sparkle on course! Club President Ian Barnes leading the charge on course in his tutu and wig - with lots joining in the celebration to mark the end of our season. Congratulations to Emma Watty taking home best dressed on the day - enjoy the celebration at Simons Waterfront with your voucher! We are also pleased to be donating 50% of entry fees from the day to Emma House Domestic Violence Service in Warrnambool - and hope that can put the money to good use supporting other members of our community who are having a hard time.

Righteo onto the event’s themselves. We had 87 participants on course today - across our short course, sprint and super tri distances. There was lots of first time triathletes on course today - which was a great effort - some even crazy enough to do the Super tri at their first attemp! We hope the event lived up to our your expections, and that you have all given yourselves a massive pat on the back!

Kicking off as our first wave - the Super distance event - which saw a total of 46 participants, included 7 teams take on a 750m swim, 24km ride and a 6. 6km run. The competition was smoking hot out on course, with Eben White out of the water first, followed closely by Todd Dmyke. The first of the ladies out of the water was Kiarna Murfett - all these 3 members of the warrnambool swimming club, and hot off the Shipwreck Coast Swim series. It didn’t take Ruben de Silva-Smith too long to catch up on the bike leg, and Jenny Dowie also made her move in the ladies. By the time the run was up - the sun was hot overhead, and participants tackled 3 laps of the run which included the dreaded beach section, always a challenge on the legs! In the teams section, the Flying Burrito Brothers were out of the water first - followed closely by team Crochet. The run leg in all events saw the lead change.... Riley Ontronen was able to catchup and overtake Eben White, and Gab Lanman caught up ground on Jenny. Across the line first in the ladies was Jen Dowie in a time 1hr 40min, followed in by Gab Lanman in 1:41 and Liv Morgan in 1:42. What a fierce competition in the ladies - well done to all the girls on course. You nearly got her Gab ;) In the mens - Ruben was too far ahead coming off the bike, and with a strong run leg couldn’t be chased down finishing in 1hr 18min. Todd Dmyke finished in second 1:25 and Riley Ontronen in third 1:31. Well done fella’s - and thanks for being good sports with the ThisGirlCan banner at the end! The teams saw the 3 Amigos finishing strong in first place in a time of 1:26 followed in second place team ‘Hoffartis’ (who were also our first mixed team across the line!) and in third we had Team Crochet - special shout out for your kit as well guys!

Next into the water we had the sprint distance in which 28 participants including 2 teams took on the 500 swim, 16 km ride and 4.4km run. Paul McLaughlan was out of the water first in the mens category, and Tara Trickey in the ladies section. The bike course was 2 laps for this group - and it was great to see everyone going around and to all the spectators cheering on. Lots of old rivelries on course in this section which is great to watch. Paul McLaughlon came across the line first in the mens in a time of 1hr 6min, Jason Hoy made up the ground with a blistering ride and a strong run to finish in second place 1:09 and Scott Barclay finished with a strong run coming across the line in 1:11. In the ladies we had Karen Benson finish with a ripper (must have been the tutu that helped) - coming across the line in first place in a time of 1hr 17min, following in second by Tara Trickey (1:18) who held out friend Xiuzhi Pham who came across in third (1:19). 2 teams tackled the Sprint Distance - shout out to ‘Handy and the Bandanna’ and ‘The Vikings’ - and great to see Leesa and Jason Russell back out of course too!

Last into the water - we had our Short Course - which 13 people had a go at! This event is non-competitive, it’s all about getting involved and having some fun, participants are welcome to wear flippers in the water - and to take their time on course and get familiar with the sport. Well done to you all for taking part today - it was great to see a mix of new faces and also some old faces getting back involved.

Our spot prizes for today were generously donated by Salt Skin, By Liv and Quick Spin - we thank all of these businesses for their support of not only this event, but our entire season. Enjoy the goodies to all those who won them! We also thank Bakers Delight CBD and to Materia Brothers for sponsoring our BBQ today.

Moving on from the Adults events - we then had 60 juniors line up for their turn. Under 7s started us off - under the watchful eye of Pete and Donna. Learning the sport of triathlon together as a group. Next up was the 7-9s and the 10-12s who hit the road on the bikes for either 1 or 2 laps, followed by either 1 or 2 laps laps of the oval. So many smiles by all the kids as they crossed the line, a few cartwheels and celebrations! Thanks to Saputo for providing the FM to cool the kids down! And let’s take this opportunity to thank all the mums and dad’s for bringing the kids along all season, for cheering and supporting our club.

Thanks to Moyne Shire for providing our club with a grant to assist with running this event, and to all of our other Club’s sponsors; Saputo Dairy Australia, Optus, UPR, Central Storage, McLaren Hunt, WCC, WDEA. These sponsors help us bring you our season and to help keep memberships and entry fees low! Please support them when you can and say thanks!

Big shout to the Justin and the Warrnambool Surf Life Club who helped us out in the water all season keeping our competitors safe! We really appreciate you guys giving up your Sunday mornings for us.

Thank you to the army of Volunteers who helped out today - setup, marshalling, miscellaneous jobs throw peoples way, BBQ cooking, and those who stayed for the pack up! These events cant run without lots of hands - it’s great to have so many people stick their hands up! Great job to Pete Gaffy who took on Race Director duties today for the first time - stella job, and thanks to Pete and Donna for the awesome job on wrangling all the juniors once again!

Well that brings out Season to a close - the last thing left to do is to celebrate the fantastic year - please RSVP to join us on Friday 26th March. We cant wait to share stories, hear from Jenny Dowie our guest speaker, announce our award winners and share a drink together.