Photo:Leanne Handreck Photography
Queensland's next generation lined up at Gatorade Queensland Tri Series Round 5, at Robina on Saturday, for an action-packed day of racing in Race 2 of the Australian Youth | Junior Triathlon Series and Race 1 of the Australian U23 Triathlon Series.
With a well earned Christmas break seeming like a distant memory, athletes were pushed with the combination of a 2 race format and the changeable weather conditions. Winners were determined by the combined times from both races.
The field boasted a number of Triathlon Queensland's Development program athletes, racing alongside strong representation from all States.
The Youth A Women opened racing, followed by the males on a course consisting of a 310 lake swim, 7km bike and 1.3km run. Emerging Squad's Richelle Hill (QLD) raced herself into third place in the Youth A Women.
In the Youth A Men's Lachlan Sosinski held on to second place with a combined total time of 41:33.
In Youth B racing, Tara Sosinski finished the day in second place with a combined time of 47.56 and Jazzy Shults finished third after racing (48.16). It was a clean sweep in the Youth B Males category for Queensland with Col Curry, Ryan Marsh and Mitchell Densley finishing on the podium.
The Junior races saw fast paced action over the 400m swim, 9.4km bike and 2.5km run course. The 2 races, run approximately 2 hours apart, tested athletes endurance, speed and mental strength.
In the Junior Women's event, Joanne Miller was the fastest Queenslander with a combined time of 1:03:09, just 90 seconds behind the leader, New Zealander Ainsley Thorpe. Nicholas Free was the highest placing Queenslander in the Junior Men, finishing less than a minute behind the combined race time winner, ACT's Callum McClusky.
Race 1 for the U23 Series saw Queenslanders Holly Grice and Brittany Dutton finish second and third, and Matthew Roberts finish first.
