More frequent triathlons in Forbes are likely after close to 140 people took part in last Sunday’s inaugural event at Lake Forbes.
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Organisers were thrilled with the response to the event, which featured two courses around Lake Forbes ski dam, Bedgerabong Road and the cycle / walking path, and say they will consider hosting triathlons more often.
“We were very happy with how many people were there,” said one of the triathlon organisers, Nick Turner.
“We had about 140 competitors over all of the events, including locals and a fair few out-of-town visitors. The feedback was extremely positive and constructive, and mostly complimentary I would say,” Turner said.
“The locals who took part were stoked to be able to participate in an event like this so close to their doorstep, and the visitors - we had people from Dubbo, Orange, West Wyalong, Grenfell - they thought it was great too, they thought it was a great course and very well run.
“It was just fantastic to see such a wide variety of people taking part - it was a distance that was probably do-able for the first timers, and to have 10 to 12-year-old kids through to the more mature people and also the varying degrees of experience was really good.”
“In terms of our next step, we certainly have a great base to lead to from here, and at some stage in the near future we’ll sit down and decide whether we have more frequent triathlons or do we simply build on that one event and make it a little bit bigger and better next time,” Turner said.
West Wyalong’s Angus Westaway was first to finish the long course - a 400m swim, 20km ride and 4km run - in 58 minutes, 35 seconds, nearly a minute ahead of another visitor Mick Ticehurst.
Orange’s Christine Wolfson was first in the women’s long course, covering the distance in 1.01.45.
Forbes’ Daniel Roberts and Andy Hardy were both among the fastest 10 competitors in the long course, while local woman Nik Cronin was 22nd overall.
Thirty-eight men and women tackled the longer course - close to the equivalent of a ‘sprint distance’ in triathlon parlance - but a much larger contingent took part in the short course, either individually or as part of a two or three person team.
Chris Keehan was fastest in the 200m swim, 10km ride and 2km run, in 39.45 minutes, while Tabatha Jones was the quickest female in exactly 43 minutes.
Wii Not Fit were the first team to cross the line for the short course in 38.57 minutes while Forbes Fitt were the winners of the long course team event in 1.11.58.
Turner thanked everyone who contributed to the event’s success, including the organising committee and volunteers, WorkControl who volunteered their time and equipment to make the cycling leg safe, and Rotary Ipomoea, who gave the event their backing for insurance purposes.
Results were being finalised at time of publication and should be available on the Forbes Running and Triathlon Club website (www.forbescharityfunrun.com) soon.
Full results here.