South Australia's picturesque Glenelg hosted the third round of the Australian Youth | Junior | U23 Triathlon Series last weekend, where our Queensland athletes once again excelled.
Tricky weather conditions and below acceptable water quality threw event organisers a few curve balls, however Xcelsports Event's Steve Stubbs and his team delivered a spectacular event for athletes and spectators alike.
The successful contingency plan moved the swim from the Patawolonga Lake to the nearby ocean, adding a 500m run between swim exit and T1. As is often the case, an athlete's ability to adapt to changing plans and conditions played a part over the weekend.
150 Under 23, Junior and Youth athletes took to the starting line, in the draft legal format event. Staged for the first time in South Australia, the adapted swim, technical multi-lap bike course and mostly flat run offered fast, exciting racing. The speed check radar added an incentive for athletes passing through transition to put on the pace too.
For some of our young athletes, it was their first experience racing outside Queensland, or travelling in a team environment. 16 year old Victoria Gillies stormed home to an impressive third place in the Junior 17-19 category, on her first interstate trip, travelling with team chaperones Daniel Mangano and Sally Teiniker.
Queenslanders on the podium:
Youth A Women:
1st Charlotte Derbyshire (SA)
2nd Brooke McCullough (VIC)
3rd Richelle Hill (QLD)
Youth B Women:
1st Erin Wooldridge (NSW)
2nd Ola Evans (VIC)
3rd Ellen Thomas (QLD)
Youth A Men:
1st Dylan McCullough (NZL)
2nd Sam Tierney (SA)
3rd Lachaln Sosinski (QLD)
Youth B Men:
1st Col Curry (QLD)
2nd Mitchell Yarde (QLD)
3rd Ryan Marsh (QLD)
Junior Women:
1st Kira Hedgeland (WA)
2nd Joanne Miller (QLD)
3rd Victoria Gillies (QLD)
Junior Men:
1st Matthew Hauser (QLD)
2nd Lorcan Redmond (NSW)
3rd Liam Mccoach (WA)
Under 23 Women:
1st Kirby Diaz (WA)
2nd Amber Pate (SA)
Under 23 Men:
1st Nathan Rodgers (VIC)
2nd Nathan Breen (NSW)
The weekend also hosted the Australian Youth and Junior Mixed Team Relay Championships. For the two male, one female relay event, the format was changed to allow for the change in location of the swim start. In teams of 3, the order was: Athlete 1 swim - bike - run (tag next athlete at transition), Athlete 2 bike - run - swim (tag next athlete on the beach), Athlete 3 swim - bike - run. Approximate distances for each athlete were 200m swim, 4km ride, 1.5km run.
Youth Relay:
1st South Australia 1 (Declan Gillard-Martin | Charlotte Derbyshire | Sam Tierney)
2nd New South Wales 1 (Mitchell Westhuizen | Sunny Starr-Carusi | Josh Ferris)
3rd Queensland 1 (James Thomas | Hayley Partridge | Lachlan Sosinski)
Junior Relay:
1st Queensland 1 (Matthew Hauser | Joanne Miller | Nicholas Free)
2nd Western Australia 1 (Brandon Swift | Kira Hedgeland | Liam Mccoach)
3rd Victoria 1 (Joshua Taylor | Hayley Stanford | Luke Burns)
Photo Cred: Adrian Simpson
