Shane Farrant and Rhiannon Snipe win Australian Sprint Champs

Triathlon ACT had the weather gods looking over them on Sunday morning after a horrendous storm the night before threatened to make the race an unpleasant experience for all.

Criticised in the past for some organisational issues the race in Canberra went off without a hitch and was very well run by the Triathlon ACT team.

The swim was the usual Lake Burley Griffin affair with the added challenge of small debris from the previous night’s storm floating around in the water. Mainly leaves and twigs so nothing that caused issues.

The two lap 20km bike course, whilst seemingly flat and fast was constantly undulating and had numerous false flats making it difficult to get in to a rhythm. The run is always great around the edge of the lake. Flat and fast!

The overall wins went to Shane Farrant and Rhiannon Snipe. Snipe was racing in a different category to overall second placed Elyse Foster so it wasn’t until later that she learnt she had won by 29 seconds. Third placed Bonnie Atherton lead Foster for most of the race but was eventually passed late in the run to miss second by 12 seconds.

In the overall men’s division the top three were all racing 20-24 so we had a great race unfold with Shane Farrant and Lindsey Wall only separated by 11 seconds in the end. Third placed Nuru Somi had one of the fastest runs of the day but a minute slower on the bike meant he was off the pace for the run.

It would be great to see more people at this race next year to support Triathlon ACT. The event was a great success and with the ease of putting these events on in Canberra along with the great support of Events ACT it is good to have a supportive local government and community. Not something we always find with triathlons.

Special mention to male 45-49 winner. Dr Michael Maroney OAM had more than one reason to celebrate this weekend. His OAM for services to the sport of triathlon is highly deserved and a wonderful reward to both himself and his family. We hope we have another 32 years of Mick competing in and helping the sport of triathlon.

It was great to see former top 10 Kona finisher Lousie Mackinlay racing in Canberra as well. She is loving being back racing and it shows.

Also racing strongly was 25-29 age grouper Peter Calder who picked up some valuable points for his London campaign.