The Bike Run Tri was held for the 20th consecutive year and attracted both regular and recreational sportswomen, as first timers and triathletes competed side by side.
The Fresh Choice Women's Bike, Ride, Tri held in cool but sunny conditions at Lake Hayes today attracted 89 individuals and 14 teams and the premier triathlon event was taken out by Team Pinnacle Physio & Training of Queenstown, racing in the Team Veteran Triathlon division in the time of 54:19.
Race Director Geoff Hunt says there was the usual strong camaraderie amongst the competitors and a number of beginner level entrants keen to race in the all women environment.
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 run covered 8.1km run around the Lake Hayes track.
Andy Lowrie of Queenstown took first in the open swim triathlon in the time of 54:50. Second place went to Tamsin Browne of Queenstown in 1:00:14 followed by Kylese Zaiger,also of Queenstown, in third place in 1:03:56.
Twenty one women competed in the individual open triathlon and ten lined up for the individual veteran triathlon with Helen Hanson of Dunedin taking out the title in 1:05:58, followed by Chrissi Pettit of Wanaka in 1.06.28, and Jill Barr of Queenstown a close third in 1:06:45.
A few competed in the multisport version of the event, where competitors kayak rather than swim in the first leg of the Triathlon, and Hayley Stevenson of Queenstown won first place in the veteran division in a time of 1:11:24, and Louise Parkers of Queenstown first place in the Open divison in 1:08:40.
The open triathlon team's event was won by Team Quickforce, Paula Shaughnessy and Sarah Clayfield of Queenstown in 1:02:42, and they took home the coveted Dan Kelly Trophy for a year.
The duathlon attracted 54 individual split evenly between open and veteran categories. In the open section the honours went to Sarah Anderson of Dunedin in 1:04:06.
The individual veteran's duathlon title, and the overall individual duathlon title, was won by Viv Buchanan of Queenston in 56:49 followed by Bresita Patun of Arrowtown in 59:21.
The Veteran team's section of the Duathlon was won by Team QRM of Queenstown in 1:05:09, while The Scissor Sisters of Queenstown won the Open Team division in 59:52, and the Remarkable Physios team of Queenstown won the Business division in 1:05:40.
In the run section Sarah Cole of Queenstown won the overall title in 35:52, while Karen Gallagher of Cromwell won the open division in 38:33.
A draw for a Giant women's mountain bike, donated by Fresh Choice, was held during the prizegiving and won by Vikki Paddon from Arrowtown, who intend to keep it as a spare for the many triathlons she will partake in in the future.
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.
