The Fourth Beachport Hotel Triathlon March 2nd, 2013

The Whole Beachport Community came together again to make the fourth annual Beachport Triathlon a huge success.

The day was OF COURSE windy and the night before we seriously considered cancelling the swim. Luckily the wind dropped a little from Friday’s 30 knot winds and the swim went ahead.

We achieved a total of 217 entrants. All entrants braved the rough choppy conditions, and made it back to shore. This is a credit to the swimming rescue team. The team encouraged and gave many entrants the opportunity to rest and then continue. Just knowing that these qualified volunteers were there gave competitors the confidence to complete the swim.

The bike and run leg was again, marshaled by the who’s who of Beachport. I have had many comments from entrants at how encouraging the marshals were, clapping and cheering, as they rode and ran around the course.

The effort of the volunteers and the attitude you bring to the event, makes the Beachport Hotel Triathlon very unique. It demonstrates what the town of Beachport is about. On behalf of the committee we cannot thank you enough, for your enthusiasm and support.

The Town was beautifully decorated with a fantastic artistic feel, with decorated sculptures and art pieces made by the Beachport Sea Urchins and Craft Group. The detail and time spent on these pieces is a credit to there creators. Thank you to all the creative people of Beachport !

This year entrants had the opportunity for a massage, to relieve their weary muscles by Beachport local Anna Hooking. We have had great feedback from people lucky enough to get some time with Anna. I even heard that even some Junior entrants got a massage after their race. Thank you Anna very much for your time and skills.

Race Results

The winners of the Challenge Course were Toby Richardson of Mount Gambier with a time of 1:03:49, 2nd place male went to Dayne Pearce who has competed in three Beachport Triathlons. Third place went to Matt Fallon from Adelaide.

Ricarda Gummer was first female across the line, all the way from Germany in a time of 1:16:52. Nikki Smart of Lucindale came 2nd by less then a minute with Trish Brand from Coonawarra third., The Short Course was won by Richard Meadows from Normanville in a time of 35:27. Richard has competed in all 4 Beachport Triathlons, 2nd place male was Mark Pretty from Millicent and Stephen Munn from Edenhope.

Newby triathlete Kylie Peel from Robe was first female across the line in 43:32. Second place was Georgie McKay from Lucindale and Third Josie Aston form Mount Gambier, who are both regular entrants in this event.

Junior 8-10 winners were Henry Muller and Amy Wight from Mount Gambier.

Junior 11-13 winners were Jett Attard and Ruby Hickman . Jett and Ruby were both first place winner in 2012.

Local entries were a lot higher this year. Five local teams entered the short and challenge course. This was great to see. Teams are a great way to get involved and maybe if we get a growing number of local teams we could look at a town team prize!!

Darryn Simons ran a great race, considering how much running he did the day before setting up! He came out of the swim very strong, proving training in all conditions does pay off. Infact all the Beachport locals excelled in the swim, this included Abi Spehr, Leanne Sutherland, Lyn White, Noame Morros and Linda Sheppard. Other local team efforts included Tiffany Gillan who rode and ran in Team Bluepod. Jaimie Coleman rode and Tylah Saunders ran in team Waterfront Café and Jack Sullivan ran in team Boddington.

Local sisters Noame Morros and Simone Kain (nee Burdon) battled to the finishing line with Noame just beating Simone by 21 seconds. Can’t wait to see what happened next year. Well done girls.

It was great to see the new CEO of the Wattle Range Council enter the event. Peter Harriott is a veteran of competing in Triathlons. He is currently training for an Iron Man so the Challenge course was a good light training run for him. The Wattle Range Council have been a huge support to us over the years and we look forward to there continued involvement on and off the course.

We had 66 junior entrants this year. This is becoming a very big part of the day. We will need to have a few changes next year, as it continues to be the biggest growing section of the Triathlon. We will revamp the transition area and make the bike a single big loop as some kids did 3 loops, and some did one, The local Juniors did very well. Nicole Moran came 2nd in the 8-10 category and Alex Spehr came 2nd in 11-13 category. Semi Locals Max and Sid Reeves came Fourth in both there age group categories. Sponsorship

Thank you to the local businesses that support the Triathlon. We are very excited and appreciate the support of the Beachport Hotel who are the new event major sponsors.

Fabulous prizes were donated by Bompas and BluPod. Bompas donated gift vouchers to all junior entrants and Blupod donated a wetsuit and goggle set to the short course winner. The winner of this event Richard Meadows was a very appropriate winner of this prize as he and his partner have competed in all 4 Beachport Triathlons and been a great support to us over the years. Thank you to IGA for donating sunburn cream for all the entrants to use.The Beachport Motor Inn for donating accommodation for the Tri SA Technical Officer, and Anro Signs for so many signs, too many to mention.

The Committee

I would like to thank the committee members Bob Grieves, Darryn Simon, Rhonda Burleigh, Linda Lambert, Brett Snodgrass and Co Race Director Helen Russell for working together for the past year planning for the 2013 event. It’s a rewarding job and the combined skills of the group make this event happen.

The Future

We have a lot of ideas for the future of the Triathlon, planning needs to start straight away as course information needs to be submitted to Traithlon SA very soon. We would love ideas from the community on how you would like to see the event grow. For example we can add a fourth event, maybe an Olympic or an extra challenge event. If you have any ideas or suggestions positive or negative send us an email [email protected].

The Beachport Community

Finally Thank you again to everyone who helped make the event happen. No matter how big or small your contribution it all goes together to make the Triathlon a very successful and fun event.

Gabby Reeves