Weekend Highlights January 30, 2019

The State Aquathlon Championships were held at Lake Sambell, Beechworth over the Australia Day long weekend, hosted by Albury Wodonga Triathlon Club.  Despite the blue-green algae scare, which saw Sunday’s sprint distance triathlon converted to a duathlon (different venue), Slaine made the trek up the highway to have a go at the 800m swim + 3km run event.  And I bet she’s glad she did, as we can now refer to her as the “Triathlon Victoria Aquathlon State Champion”.  Well done Slaine on your commitment and from what we hear was a less than ideal run stitch-uation!

The Great Australia Day swim is an annual charity swim event conducted by the Rotary Club of Brighton at Middle Brighton Beach in Melbourne, Australia.  This iconic event celebrated its 10th year and it looked like it was the place to be on Saturday!  We hear “the beach was buzzing with fun for one and all, with lots of swimmers, supporters, spectators, sponsors, special guests and lots of dedicated volunteers making it an amazing day!”  There was a 650m swim from the marina to the beach, a 1.4km and a 2.5km open water event around the breakwater and marina.  Well done to the following athletes for joining in the festivities!

Lindsey “First open water race today. Perfect conditions and a fantastic setting. “Respectable” time according to Heather Fell so I’m happy with that.”

Barry “Happy Australia Day to everyone! Started the day off with a 2.5km swim at Brighton Beach – time 48mins happy with that. Have a great day.”

The Mt Martha Australia Day (MMAD) swim is one of the feature events on the open water swimming calendar.  The swim is coordinated by Mt Martha Lifesaving Club and is one of the safest swims with over 100 water safety personnel supporting swimmers over the day.  There is an event to suit all abilities from the 200 metre Benton Road Vet Clinic Nipper swim to the 5km Engine swim, with the main event of the day being the 1.2km Yomojo Swim.  Simon, Fik and Pammy headed down to join in the action.

“Thousands of riders descended on Geelong for the 2019 Swisse People’s Ride. Cyclists of all abilities welcomed the sunrise by taking on the ride, tackling the 35km, 65km or 115km courses.  Familiar faces were scattered throughout the 3,000 riders, highlighted by Geelong Cats’ AFL superstar Patrick Dangerfield, funny-man Hamish Blake, Melbourne ruckman Max Gawn and Swisse People’s Ride Ambassador Alex Johnson who impressively competed the 115km course after six knee reconstructions.  Of course, the ride wouldn’t be complete without 2011 Tour de France champion Cadel Evans, who led from the front for the first hour of the ride before settling in with fans.” *

Well done to all athletes who took part, including Zena and Claire!  We hope you enjoyed the day!

* text from https://www.cadelevansgreatoceanroadrace.com.au/news-media/news/thousands-enjoy-a-perfect-day-for-the-2019-swisse-peoples-ride/