Richard, a former World Cross (off road) Triathlon title holder, and his wife Sally - an Australian representative in last year's ITU World Championships in both the Olympic and Sprint Distance - competed in the half Ironman distance (1.9km swim, 90km bike, 21.1km run). 

This was Richard’s second race at this distance and Sally’s first attempt at this length.

Richard raced in the 65-69 year age group, and won his category by an amazing 15 minutes. Richard’s splits for the disciplines were 35:45 for the swim, 2:37:23 (an impressive average speed of more than 34km/h) for the bike and 1:38:36 for the half marathon run. Richard stopped the clock in 4:57:14, where any time under five hours is impressive, regardless of the age group.

He was sixth after the swim leg and took the lead in the run leg. Out of 1018 overall finishers, Richard was 203rd.

Sally’s finished third in her age group (60-64), with individual splits of 35:58 for the swim, 2:59:40 for the bike, and 1:49:56 for the run, for a total time of 5:32:19. Like Richard, she ran the fastest final leg, more than five minutes ahead of the closest time. Sally beat half of the overall field home, finishing in 513th position overall.

Next event on the local calendar is Husky Long course, a traditional warm-up for Ironman Australia in May.

The Eurocoast Triathlon Club was formed in 2015. Details: email aztec@southernphone.com.au.