The Fresh Choice Women’s Bike, Ride, Tri held in cool but sunny conditions at Lake Hayes today attracted 78 individuals and 28 teams and the premier triathlon event was taken out by Marion Maxwell of Dunedin, racing in the Vet division in the time of 1:00:21.
Formerly the Southern Lakes Women's Duathlon and Triathlon the event has been re-branded to reflect its point of difference in the competitive local sports event market.
 Nineteen Years Of Womens Triathlon In The Wakatipu(Photo: Southern Traverse; click to enlarge) |
As well as the traditional duathlon and triathlon an 8.1km run around the Lake Hayes track was introduced for the first time this year which attracted 12 competitors.
The triathlon course included a 300m swim or 2km kayak on Lake Hayes followed by a 15km bike ride on the Lake Hayes/Arrowtown road into Speargrass Flat road and return followed by a 5km run/walk on the Lake Hayes track to finish line at the Lake Hayes pavilion.
The duathlon began with a 1.5km run on Lake Hayes track, followed the triathlon's 15km biking leg and concluded with a 5km run to the finish line.
The Bike Run Tri was held for the 19th consecutive year and attracted both elite and recreational sportswomen. The Dutch National team made their presence felt during the triathlon event as they used it as a simulated 'real race' training exercise. They did a double length of each discipline and were reported to really enjoy the opportunity to race on the Lakes Hayes course.
Race Director Geoff Hunt says there was the usual strong camaraderie amongst the competitors and a number of first time entrants keen to race in the all women environment.
Selena Metherell took first in the open swim triathlon. Second place went to Helen Seyb of Queenstown in 1:08:44 followed by Jodie Llewellyn of Arrowtown in a close third place in 1:08:52
Twenty one women competed in the individual open triathlon and eleven lined up for the individual veteran triathlon with Marion Maxwell taking out the title in followed by Helen Hanson of Dunedin in 1:15:26.
The Dutch National team made their presence felt during the triathlon event as they used it as a simulated 'real race' training exercise. They did a double length of each discipline and were reported to really enjoy the opportunity to race on the Lakes Hayes course.
The duathlon attracted 36 individual split evenly between open and veteran categories. In the open section the honours went to honours going to Brit Williams in 1:06:46
The individual veteran's duathlon title was won by Maree Waring in 1:03:59 followed by Viv Buchanan in 1:04:26.
The business team's section of the Triathlon was won by Remarkables Physios of Queenstown in 1:13:20, while Lakes Leisure Queenstown won the coverted Dan Kelly Trophy in a time of 1.13.40.
The open triathlon team's event was won by Team P a r a d i s e in 1:16:16 while the open duathlon team honours went to Team SMS in 1:06:44.
In the newly created run section Susan Finn from Waterford Ireland in 43:47 won from veteran competitor Carole Schuttleworth in 45:02.
A draw for a women's mountain bike, donated by Fresh Choice was held during the prizegiving and won by Louise Jennis from Queenstown, who was quite speechless as she came forward to receive the bike.
Hunt paid tribute to the ongoing strong support of Fresh Choice and to the main sponsors who supported the event celebrating 'women in sport' in the Southern Lakes.
