The Happy Frog and Harbourside Markets Race Report #2 22 October 2023

Our race today was made possible with the support of our sponsors The Happy Frog and Habourside Markets. Check out our Tri Club models Shirley Sneddon, Shaun Bayndrian and Chris Hamilton on FB and Instagram testing the Harbourside Markets aluminum drink bottles! It was a pleasure to have Kim come along and show support for our sport. Many of us head over to the markets after the Tri and let’s continue to do so especially after hearing one of the market’s meat producers lost their property in a devastating fire this week. 
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We had 45 athletes compete over the Enticer, Sprint, Aquathon and Aquabike events – a great roll up! Welcome to all visitors and new members racing for the first time. David and Jane Rudgley joined in after volunteering last week and run coach Trent Renshaw tackled his first Club event, too. Fantastic to see you on course Trent. 

After the last event some adjustments were made to improve the bike course especially with the change to the bike course layout. Thanks to competitors for navigating safely by keeping left in the car park before entering Jordan Esplanade.  

The morning kicked off with a light to moderate north westerly breeze that seemed to have the ability to pick up the swim buoys. The first one thought it would go over and hang out with its mate at the end of the Jetty to see what was happening there. So Julie Whitton did what Presidents sometimes have to do and made her way out to imitate the first swim buoy so Waves 1-3 knew where to head. Thanks Julie!  
Back in a fuller transition, it wasn’t long before Isaiah Koopmans arrived to set a cracking bike pace out on Harbour Drive chasing down Brad Henry, Elize Strydom, Mark Kirstein, Phil Benoit and Peter Birch in Wave 2 while slowly picking up the field.  

In the men’s Sprint event, Isaiah clocked a lightning fast 58:53, followed by Pat Brennan in 1:02:58 and Adrian Hawke in 1:03:31. These times were around five minutes quicker than last race as everyone gets used to the new course and better racing conditions. These guys were closely followed by the 1:05 Club – Ben Rose, Trent Renshaw and Shaun Bayndrian in that order. Michael Brennan, Chris Hamilton, Mark Garner and Michael Singleton completed the top 10 men. 

In the women’s division, club coach Mel Sylvester came across the line in 1:09:20 and looked super strong on the bike as usual. So good to see Mel recovering and competing really well. Julie Whitton came second in 1:15:26 followed by Elize Strydom in 1:17:16 off the back of a solid run leg! Following up were Andrea Burth, Allira Bayndrian, and Jane Rudgley.

In the Enticer,  Joe Quiring – also on the way back from Port Ironman injury – had a great event taking it out in 44:14 followed by Lee Varney, returning from his recent ITU World Champs Olympic event in Pontevedra Spain, in 52:41 and Krystall Sylvester in 1:04:47.  
 
In the Aquabike, Garry Ward returned after the off season and rode across the line in a time of 50:43 followed by Bella Bowes in 58:56. Over in the Aquathon, Teleah Morley and Thomas Singleton completed in 30:03 followed by Robyn Mcgeary in 44:22 with Karyn O’Reilly and Peter Roberts rounding out the field.  
Encouragement awards go to Kathy Robson and Delenn Croaker. Over the past few months, Kathy has put in consistent training with Annette and Trent plus Mel’s Beachbodies spin sessions. Her times are improving and she’s showing signs of a promising season to come. 

Full results can be found on the website at http://www.coffstri.com/results.html. For those using Strava, the race report can also be found there.

Many impeccable thanks to all the volunteers led by Ellie, for making today’s event happen. Great to see Gordon Abbott back in the Club and helping out today while Annabelle Swainston, joining for the season, completed the bike mount and dismount duties. Thanks to Pete Roberts for helping Kathryn out on the timing. There has been a lot to get through with the new timing system, new chips, bibs, and visitors registering for today’s race. Kathryn, we appreciate all the hard behind-the-scenes work you do! For anyone yet to pick up their new race bib or chip, there will be further opportunities to do so.  

Special mentions to Tina Benoit, who on Saturday afternoon organised hubby Phil to arrive at the storage area well ahead of time to load us up with gear for today’s race. Many thanks to Tina who was presented with a well deserved Volunteer of the Day $50 voucher from the Fisherman’s Co-op. Thank you to the Fisherman’s Co-op for support.  And of course more special mentions to Craig Cusack who continues to turn up and be there to help out with the big stuff with his ute and trailer. We certainly appreciated your help Craig! 

If you’re chasing a club uniform and gear head to the Club web site with a link to Catfish where you can take advantage of the $50 discount voucher to all members. The site will close shortly so don’t hesitate and pick up some Club merch now!

Remember we have the following opportunities for free Club coaching sessions – 

• Spin bike: Wednesdays at 5.30pm at Beachbodies Health Club Coffs Harbour ($5 hire fee).
• Run sessions with Trent at 7.00am Fridays at Fitzroy Oval (bring a yoga mat or good towel for stretching after). Things will be changing up shortly with some bike/run brick sessions at the Toormina velodrome to help members get ready for the North Coast Interclub Series events – more to come on that shortly.  
• Annette is hosting an open water swim session at 7am next Sunday 29 October at the Jetty.

And if you're thinking of a few events, remember Yamba Tri on 19 November. Sign up and represent the Club at the North Coast Interclub Series events. We look forward to seeing you at the next Club Race in a couple of weeks on 5 November with a 6.15am start.  

Peter Birch
Race Director