Mikhele Rundle TT Blog: Sparkle Helmore

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Hi my name is Mikhele I’m a 15 year old triathlete from Newcastle in NSW. I thought for my first Blog I’d write about the Sparke Helmore triathlon which was held on the 20^th of March in Newcastle, It’s the biggest triathlon held each year in my home town and it consists of 3 individual races and a team’s event.  This year there was 1100 individual competitors and 700 people registered in teams. The individual races include from longest to shortest the NSW Olympic distance championships, a diehards and a solo race which I competed in. I was using this race as part of my all-schools preparation in Brisbane at the end of the month.

NSW Olympic Distance Champs

First up was the Olympic Distance race and I arrived at the venue whilst the competitors were well into their cycling leg.  Due to large seas the swim was moved from Nobby’s surf beach into the Harbour. The course for this event has a tough cycle leg  which included 5 laps up  ‘King Edward Park’  which is a taxing couple of kilometres climb to do just once let alone 5 times ! In his first year of triathlon competition after switching from swimming Josh Hollard had a solid lead out of the swim and was very impressive to be still be second of the bike and will definitely be an athlete to watch over the next couple of years as he works on his run leg. First of the bike and eventual winner was local legend Nathan Stewart who won the event for the 5^th time in six years, he took a Narrow victory in a very slick 1hr53.48 from Finnbar Crennan and Darren Quarrell in third.  Storming home in the run for fifth place was Forster junior Grant Melzer who was having his Olympic Distance debut and he also managed to finish under the two hour barrier.  In the women’s race early leader Grace Macpherson punctured out of the race. This left what appeared to be Shannon Fulwood first of the bike closely followed by Juliane Lacroix who battled it out on the run , I was pretty excited to see my training partner Juliane crossing  the line first, however  Sarah Dunn who started in a later wave actually took out the race by just over a minute in 2hr15.22 ! Juliane took second and Shannon was a very close third.

Diehards

This race consisted of a 500m swim 25k ride (including 3 climbs up King Edward) and a 6klm run. Just like the Olympic distance it appeared fellow NSW Team member for all schools Shane Illgen who has been in sensational form of late had all but wrapped this race up as he had led from start to finish, however starting from a later wave Adam Conquest had managed to pip Shane by a mere 19 seconds to take the race with Paul Robinson in third. The winning time was a very slick 1hr 9.05. In the women’s race the winner was Wendy Walker in 1hr20.51. Nicky Weston was second with Vicky Voyez in third.

Solo Race

It was time for me to hit the start line for the last individual event which included a 500m swim, 15k ride and 4klm run which is pretty close to my All- Schools distance.  I started in the first wave which included all u30 males and females, I swam really strong and exited the water I think in around 4^th or 5^th place overall. Sam Daley the eventual winner and Tristan Hollard dominated the swim. Tristan the younger brother of Josh the early leader of the Olympic Distance will be one to watch for in the future if he takes the sport up with such a strong swim leg. I road quite well battling with an older male through the bike and exited the bike around 3^rd. I felt great running thanks to my Mizuno Wave Precisions and finished strong for 4^th out of 300 starters and 1^st female in around 54m27. Sam Dally was strong and dominated on all legs to win overall in 51m21 from Eugene Dodd and Ashley Ryan. Desiree Rodier and Lorena Sharrock were the 2^nd and third females

Teams Event

The team’s event each year is huge and this year there were well over 200 teams competing. The team’s event turned into a battle of between an open men’s team and an elite mixed team. The mixed team included one of my local hero’s  Regina Wright in the swim followed by Finbar Crennan backing up from his second in the Olympic distance on the bike. They were pretty competitive against the open men’s which had Australian University representative Matt Brady swimming and Jamie Van-Netton  who ride’s in the local ‘Waki’ Pro cycling team. It was pretty close going into the run but the boy’s had World Championship and Commonwealth Games Marathoner Scott Westcott bringing the baton home in what would have easily been the fastest run of the day. The ‘Waki Lexus’ team won in astonishingly quick 41m50.

All in all it was a great day with plenty of action to watch and a great course to race. I’d recommend putting this event on your calendar if you can next year and the organiser H-Events are also holding the Mizuno sponsored Hill to Harbour race next weekend the first Sunday in April.  

Full results of races can be found here http://www.sparkenbntriathlon.com.au/default.asp?PageID=5949

 

Mikhele