Bathurst Wallabies Triathlon Club will look to extend its buffer at the top of the leaderboard in Sunday's Central West Inter-Club Triathlon Series at Orange's Gosling Creek, where the host club will look to take back the lead from the reigning champions. Bathurst currently lead the Inter-Club points ladder with 14 points, two ahead of rivals Orange. Overall, Bathurst have the lead with 271, with Orange and Mudgee in second and third respectively with point tallies of 251 and 121 respectively. Wallabies secretary Luke Patterson said the new point system in use for this season is making for more competitive competition between the clubs. "I like the point scoring this year, because it is so close," he said. "In previous years, it was weighted on the size of the club or if people where at Triathlon Australia. "This year, you have an overall point score, which is the overall points your club is scoring. But in the first instance, it's worked off if you win the round or not. Participation is still a big part of it. This isn't just about sporting prowess and winning. It shows how healthy the club is at the moment." Patterson was kept busy before last weekends Bathurst triathlon, working out competitors' handicaps. He explained that each triathlete were handicapped based off their last three races. "What we did was we grabbed the last three races that people had done and got an average time for it. We had a look at what we thought was a reasonable time for people to finish, which was about an hour and twenty minutes for most people. We worked out the difference between your average and the hour and twenty and that was your start time," he said. Come Sunday, Patterson is hopeful of getting Kirsten Howard along to compete. "I'm trying my hardest to get Kirsten Howard to have a go in away race. She would go particularly well in the short course," he said. "For an outright win, Nick North and Hollee Simons are likely. Hollee is on fire at the moment. "Participation is such a big part, so if we can get the participation points up, that'll go a long way to get the points for the round. " For the host club once again the women will be gunning to continue their recent dominance with the likes of Jess Richards set to lead from the front, while Rory Thornhill has been in excellent form, taking out the Bathurst leg's race on Australia Day. The Orange Inter-Club Triathlon Series round will be held at Gosling Creek, from 8am.
CRUCIAL: Kirsten Howard's performance on Sunday will be vital if Bathurst are to hold on to the Inter-Club series lead.
Bathurst Wallabies Triathlon Club will look to extend its buffer at the top of the leaderboard in Sunday's Central West Inter-Club Triathlon Series at Orange's Gosling Creek, where the host club will look to take back the lead from the reigning champions.
Bathurst currently lead the Inter-Club points ladder with 14 points, two ahead of rivals Orange.
Overall, Bathurst have the lead with 271, with Orange and Mudgee in second and third respectively with point tallies of 251 and 121 respectively.
Wallabies secretary Luke Patterson said the new point system in use for this season is making for more competitive competition between the clubs.
"I like the point scoring this year, because it is so close," he said.
"In previous years, it was weighted on the size of the club or if people where at Triathlon Australia.
"This year, you have an overall point score, which is the overall points your club is scoring. But in the first instance, it's worked off if you win the round or not. Participation is still a big part of it. This isn't just about sporting prowess and winning. It shows how healthy the club is at the moment."
Patterson was kept busy before last weekends Bathurst triathlon, working out competitors' handicaps.
He explained that each triathlete were handicapped based off their last three races.
"What we did was we grabbed the last three races that people had done and got an average time for it. We had a look at what we thought was a reasonable time for people to finish, which was about an hour and twenty minutes for most people. We worked out the difference between your average and the hour and twenty and that was your start time," he said.
Come Sunday, Patterson is hopeful of getting Kirsten Howard along to compete.
"I'm trying my hardest to get Kirsten Howard to have a go in away race. She would go particularly well in the short course," he said.
"For an outright win, Nick North and Hollee Simons are likely. Hollee is on fire at the moment.
"Participation is such a big part, so if we can get the participation points up, that'll go a long way to get the points for the round. "
For the host club once again the women will be gunning to continue their recent dominance with the likes of Jess Richards set to lead from the front, while Rory Thornhill has been in excellent form, taking out the Bathurst leg's race on Australia Day.
The Orange Inter-Club Triathlon Series round will be held at Gosling Creek, from 8am.
