This Sunday is the Senior State Sprint Championship, which will take place at the SunSmart Series Race 1 at Hillarys, hosted by Trievents. The event is the second race in the Senior Triathlete of the Year Series where TWA members can accrue points towards the Triathlete of the Year Award. It is also an Australian Age Group qualifying event for people wanting to qualify for the World Sprint Championships in Rotterdam next year.
The weather is looking great for the weekend with the expected forecast being revised to a slightly cooler 29C max, with light southerly winds between 10-15 knots. With the protection of the marina it should mean good conditions for the swim and a slight tail wind on the way out on the bike course. Over a 1000 athletes will take to the start line in the first race of the SunSmart Triathlon Series.
In the Men’s Open race Oli Stenning is back to defend his title. His first race back for the season was TEP Race 2 over the same distance at Champion Lakes. He had a strong swim and ride but was just caught in the final section of the run. His main competition will come from a couple of other younger athletes in Jonnie Sammut and Sam Lade.
In the Women’s Open race it’s an open field with defending champion, Katey Gibb having moved to Queensland. It’s hard to look past Jessica Claxton, who has made the move up to the Open field after an excellent season last year. When she raced at TEP Race 2 just under a month ago, she was so far ahead that she caught some of the men’s field who had left 5 minutes ahead. Look for Kerry Mulholland to lead out of the swim and the other main competition to come from Kirby Diaz and Rosie Farrell. Nikki Pursell will round out the field having made the move up to the Open category after taking out her Age Group in the Triathlete of the Year last year.
There’s a lot of opportunity in the age group racing with only a handful of last year’s winners back to defend their title including Abby Ouwendyk, Katherine Ryan and Barry silverlock. And it’s always interesting to see who moves up to the next age category, like Emma Leonard who is set to battle it out with Katherine Ryan.
Entries are open until 12pm today or registrations will be available on the day. To register, just click here.
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