Although Orange Cycle and Triathlon Club president David Hunter was super proud of his Piranhas’ effort in Saturday’s Triathlon NSW Club Championships at Gosling Creek, he did admit he wasn’t confident they’d done enough to defend any of their three 2017 titles.
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So you can imagine his surprise when he was called on to receive not one, but two crowns at Saturday night’s presentation night, after the Piranhas successfully defended their division two and country championship gongs.
“We put in a great effort, some really honest racing, so we were genuinely very surprised when we found out we’d won the division two and country titles again,” an absolutely stoked Hunter said.
“What a great result. We really covered off that breadth across the age divisions and races I spoke about before Saturday, which made a difference for us I think.”
The Piranhas won the division two title by just 11 points from Concord and edged out Central Coast for the country gong. Although they just missed out on defending their junior title too, Hunter said there’s no shame in finishing second to The Hills, also the division one champions.
“They’re a big club, The Hills, and we’re still really pleased with the second finish in the juniors. You know, The Hills have worked really hard toward this and in particular the division one title, which they’ve won two years in a row,” Hunter said.
“That small a margin also shows how important all our volunteers were, because they all received a point toward the overall total as well.”
Kiama was the other overall winner, taking home the division three title.
On a slightly different course to 2017, Adam Rudgley from TC3 Triathlon in Canberra proved the fastest in a time of a 1.24.25. He finished 48 seconds in front of last year’s winner Sam Douglas (1.25.13) with a Conor Sproule (1.25.59) another 46 seconds back in third.
Jack Bilton was the best of the Piranhas’ men, finishing 17th in 1.33.35.
Australian representative Phoebe Fear was the best of the women, clocking 1.39.15 to win by almost two minutes from Jacinta Worland (1.41.11), with Suzanne Chandler (1.41.27) just 16 seconds further back.
Jess Richards won the Piranhas best female, she finished 16th in 1.49.27.
“I think everyone felt the course was quite challenging, it had been improved from last year in all three of the legs. It was quite undulating which makes us a bit unique, the last two years are the first time it’s been held off the coast and a lot of those courses are quite flat,” Hunter said.
“Orange City Council did a lot of work in the lead-up which we need to thank them for that. It was just another really great day.”
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
