Coffs Harbour Fishermen's Co-Op Race Report #9 - 17 March 2024

A fantastic turn out for the Fishermen’s Co-Op Try and Tri event with 62 participants and 33 signed up to give Triathlon or a multi sport option a go for the first time. Welcome back to all the women and girls tempted to ‘Tri’ again after the recent Women’s event. Congratulations to everyone doing their first triathlon – such an achievement, well done!  

With rain overnight, a damp road required care on the bike and the need to be cautious at roundabouts, to stay left in the lane and to avoid the slippery white road marking lines amongst other potential hazards.  Thanks to everyone for riding as safely possible and being aware of the unexpected. 

Back after the Women’s Tri, and showing some of those Woopi Boardrider surf skills in the water, Katie Hodgson clocked the fastest swim in the Enticer and took out first place in 41:35 followed by Kay Parsons in 44:38 and Emma Thomas third in 45:15.  Strong swimming and running too from Emily Nudd and Hadley March while Poppy Thompson put in a solid bike leg. Katie was also a lucky random draw winner for a $25 voucher to the Moonee/Sawtell/Toormina Hotel Group that are one of the Club’s valued sponsors. 

In our men’s Sprint event, Ben Rose took his run to a new level to sprint home first in a time of 1:06:19 followed by Shaun Bayndrian in 1:07:47 and Michael Singleton third in 1:11:44.  For the women in the Sprint distance Rachel Cleary returned to racing, taking line honours in 1:13:23 followed by Mel Silvester in 1:15:34 and Alina Hill taking third in 1:17:53. Tina Benoit, nursing through recovery with the feet, completed a solid effort in the Aquabike.

There were so many highlights on the day (and apologies for not capturing all) but some include – 

• A collective run highlight was the shared efforts of juniors Gretel Chiswell and Harlow Gourley both taking the Aquathlon out in 27:51.
• A medal must go to Dani Smith who arrived with a flat inconsolable MTB tyre but managed to knock out around 40 minutes on the wind trainer before sprinting off on the run.  
• Props to Julia Silvester for completing her first triathlon in 8 years – good luck up at Kingscliff!  
• Gordon Abbott completed his first Tri and 5km run in 5 years and returned to the Club and course chasing Wendy Maley.  Gordon is also taking on Kingscliff next weekend in the 75+ age category!!
• Kristy Ylinen backing up after the Womens Tri.
• Terrific to see Ian Nash back while recovering after Trial Bay and putting his hand up to volunteer – great stuff Nashy!
• A close finish with Alina Hill just sneaking past Pete Timothy on the line, just to let him know she was there 😊

Our race wouldn’t happen without our volunteers. Thanks a bunch  to everyone that volunteered to make the event happen.  We will be looking to fill our volunteer roster for the next race of the season on 14 April. If you know you haven’t done your volunteer role for the season, get on the Duty man, pick up a duty and share in the fun!

Full results can be found on the web site at http://www.coffstri.com/results.html. For those using Strava check out this race report that can also be found there. Did you know you can join the Coffs Tri Club on Strava to find out what everybody gets up to with their training and events!

Next weekend some of us are heading up to Kingscliff Triathlon, a North Coast Series event and following that it’s the Coffs Ocean Swim on Sunday 7 April.   

Don’t forget to pencil in the NSW Club Champs event on 25 May in Forster…… a great club weekend away – more on that shortly through socials and Email. 

See you all on 14 April for our next Club event – stay safe and happy training!

Peter Birch
Race Director

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