Long Beach’s own ironman, Peter Cox, had travelled across the Tasman for his latest mission, competing in the Ironman New Zealand triathlon held around Taupo.
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The Eurocoast triathlon member completed the a 3.8km swim, 180km bike leg, and 42.2km run in a time of 15:32:47, finishing 45th in his age group, and 879th overall, out of some 1200 starters.
Cox said the event has been part of his ambitions for a while.
“In 2014 I put an Ironman triathlon on my bucket list,” he said.
“After I started training, I read about the formation of the Eurocoast Triathlon Club in the Bay Post. I contacted Rod (Rodney Bradley – club president) and joined the club with a wonderful bunch of guys and girls.
The winds caused significant waves on Lake Taupo, with some 70 competitors being unable to complete the swim leg. The conditions also caused a delay to the start of the half ironman event that was due to start an hour later, as the support personnel on the lake were still assisting competitors from the earlier race.
The winds also caused significant disruption on the bike leg, with a similar number of competitors being eliminated due to crashes and difficulties from the headwinds.
“That is the hardest Ironman race I have done,” said Cox. “The weather in the week before the race had been great, but on race day the wind came up and affected everyone. It made a hard race really difficult; the attrition rate is testament to that”.
Closer to home, Eurocoast Triathlon Club members again figured prominently in the results at the Wollongong Triathlon Festival held last weekend.
Most noteworthy was Sally Jeffrey, who won her age group in the standard (Olympic) triathlon distance. This race consists of a 1.5km swim, 40km bike ride, and 10km run.
Sally completed this race in 2:37:07, winning her category by more than 20 minutes. Also competing in this distance was Dan Lloyd Jones, who placed 4th in his age group in a time of 2:08:51. Ivo Ahlquist was placed 9th in the same age category, in a time of 2:19:14, and Adrian Connor finished in 18th position, again in the same age category, in a time of 2:27:46.
In the shorter Sprint distance triathlon (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run) there were three Eurocoast competitors. At the front of these was Stephen Phipps, who completed the distance in 1:27:49 and was placed 9th in his age group. Harvey Doberer came 24th in his age group with a time of 1:39:00, while Kim Young came 11th in her age division, in a time of 1:46:28.
The club can be contacted through secretary Ray Davidson, via email at aztec@southernphone.com.au.
