This weekend is Triathlon Australia’s Super Sprint Race Weekend to be held at the Gold Coast’s Sports Super Centre in Runaway Bay. It is race one of a four race series for Australia’s fastest Junior and Youth athletes and 225 athletes from the across the country will be competing.
The event has a history of showcasing Australia’s up and coming triathletes. Since its beginning in 2006, Super Sprint Race Weekend’s past winners include Olympians Emma Jackson and Ashleigh Gentle, Under 23 World Champion Jake Birtwhistle and long course pro-athletes Ellie Salthouse, Sam Betten and Josh Amberger.
In the Junior Women category (16-19 years old), racing will be hotly contested by our own Kira Hedgeland and Jessica Claxton(NCTC). Olivia Smith(Exceed) is coming off her final exams and is a known front runner, so may look to shake out some cobwebs. Also, competing in this field will be Cassia Boglio(BYL), who is returning from injury, and new talent Catherine Daly(Albany).
In the Junior Men category, Liam McCoach(BYL) has shown himself to be in great form in the early season races and should look to podium. Luke Bate(UWA) has also hit top form in recent weeks as is Brandon Swift(BYL), both of who will look to push their claim for top points. Rounding out the WA field, Mitchell Lees(NCTC) and Mark Lori(BYL) are always consistent racers and are an outside chance.
The strong entries from the Youth A (14-15) and Youth B (12-13) categories herald a great future for the sport. WA’s top athlete in this age group, Taylor Kroyer (BYL) and Abby Ouwendyk (Fremantle) are both expected to perform well and challenge for podium places, as will Rachael Edwards (BYL). In the men’s field Alec Davison(Eclipse) has been leading the pack in WA and is strong across all 3 legs. He will be joined by Cooper Foxcroft(BYL) and Daniel Kempson, both future talents in this category.
Race Two sees the athletes back on the Gold Coast on January 21st, Race 3 in Glenelg, South Australia in February and Race 4 will see everyone make the trek way out west to Champion Lakes, for the Way Out West Triathlon on the 4 & 5 March.
Selected athletes from the Junior Category have also been invited to a National Development Camp held at Runaway Bay’s Sports Super Centre for four days immediately after the weekend of racing. This camp focuses on honing and developing the skills of Australia’s best junior athletes. WA High Performance coaches Stuart Denton, Grant Landers and Steven Gleeson have been invited to attend the camp as facilitators. Another boost to the WA talent pool.
Best of luck to all WA athletes competing on the weekend.
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