The Sri Chinmoy Triple-Triathlon is many days within a single day, many dramas within an overarching drama, many races within one race. A race report can only offer a few glimpses of these days, random impressions of these dramas, some takeaway snapshots of these races…

THE SOLO ATHLETES

After the 2nd swim, Jonathan Grady had built an unassailable lead in the solo race and it seemed that Blake Fretwell had locked in a 2nd placed finish. Yet over the final triathlon, an intense and captivating tussle ensued, the energy of which saw the outright 2nd placing being juggled between 3 contenders like a hot potato, and propelled all 3 athletes to touching distance of Jonathan Grady’s outright lead.

What gripped onlookers most, what made this race more compelling than just a ‘race’, was revealed in the chatter around the finish line, which all revolved around whether Julie had actually passed David, and whether David might actually reel in Julie. There’s always tension and anticipation when an elite male athlete is racing head to head with an elite female athlete: when they happen to be wife and husband, two of the best known, loved and respected figures in Canberra’s multi-sport fraternity, the excitement level could not have been higher.

Jonathan Grady was possibly ‘cruising’ on the final run. After swapping the lead a few times with eventual 3rd placed Under 50 finisher Matt Shadwell, Jonathan had brought forward superior staying power to build a good buffer on the field, just enough to firewall his lead against the incursion, like a brewing storm coming from behind him. Crossing the line exultant in 12:51:36, Jonathan was at once a thrilled, exhausted and truly worthywinner.

Undisputed “Queen of the Triple-Tri”, many time winner and long-time course record holder, Julie Quinn was returning to her favourite arena after several years’ hiatus, now racing in the F50+ category. The epitome of poise, calm and consistency, Julie seems to be drawn around this course by an invisible thread that is pre-set, tracing an immutable, immaculate trajectory to the finish line. That her husband’s own trajectory intersected with hers a few times in the latter stages of the race possibly made no difference to her final result: Julie duly established a superb new course record for F50+ of 12:54:48.

David Baldwin, who already holds the M50+ course record from 2017, was also returning to Triple-Tri after several years ‘vacation’, racing in the M50-59 for the final time as he is just 2 months shy of his 60th. David’s race was somewhat more ‘up and down’ than his wife’s. An almost-20 minute lead over Julie after the 2nd swim was whittled down progressively as David slowed in the 2nd triathlon and battled with cramps in the Lake Tuggeranong swim. Heading out onto the final run with less than a minute’s lead, David also trailed 2nd place Blake Fretwell by 7 minutes. After watching Julie run past him over Red Hill, David channeled his inner train over the final 6km on the relatively flat cycle path from Curtin to not only leave Julie in his wake, but also to catch and pass Blake Fretwell with only one km to go, to run himself into 2nd outright and an amazing 12:52:21 finish, less than one minute behind Jonathan Grady’s outright win. Blake was thrilled with his own time of 12:52:52, for 2nd Male Under 50. With Julie’s arrival just around the corner, we had the unprecedented spectacle of witnessing 3 Triple-Tri solo finishers in 2 minutes, and Matt Shadwell breaking 13 hours at 12:59:16, brought the total to 5 finishers within the span of just 8 minutes – almost an overdose of heroism!

Multi-time finisher Aston Duncan started strongly and worked his way through some challenges along the way to finish well and claim 2nd in the M50+ in 13:20:00; while Loughlin Gould (14:42:43), James Oram (15:44:28) and Adam Knight (16:21:53) rounded out the Male Under 50 solo finishers.

A long day of applied focus, grit and grace saw Ashlee Innes’ 16:15:44 earn her 1st place Female Under 50 and a huge smile of satisfaction-pride.

TEAMS OF 3

Headline act of the All-Female Teams of 3 was the All-Over 50 grouping of Triple-Tri veterans Sam Reinhardt, Cristy Henderson and Susie Kluth, “Spring Chickens” whose finish time of 12:27:09 obliterated the previous course record for their category AND just like in the Open T3 competition, beat home all the teams in the Under 50s.

“Three little ducks went out one day” (Shannon Jones, Catherine Hogg and Belinda Allison) were the outstanding combination in the All-Female Teams of 3, performing well across all disciplines to win in 12:32:18. The next All-Female team featured a familiar face – Jodie Purcell won the Triple-Tri solo a mere 28 years ago … now Jodie Mielke, she returned to pair with her daughter Charlie (participating in her first ever race) in “Mielke madness” to claim the silver medal in 14:35:28. 3rd place went to “Domo blanco” (Ingrid Hatfield, Mica Hartfield and Caroline Christens) in 15:01:47.

“Stuffed Puffs” have done it again – the elite combo of Ben Buchler, David Osmond and Adrian Sheppard took home yet another T3 Open crown with their result of 10:18:26, winning the prestigious Open category despite qualifying for the 50+s, thus opening the way for the next-placed team, “Geriathletes” (Perry Blackmore, Richard Smyth and Glenn Paterson) to claim the T3 Open 50+ 1st place with 10:40:24.

2nd in the T3 Open was “The Diggers” pairing of Toby (The Fish) Burgess and Dan Chief of Digging in 11:05:46 from 3rd placed “3 Amigos” (Mark Mallinson, Anthony Butt and Tom Allen), with 11:17:37. 2nd place in the T3 Open 50+ went to “Chafing the Dream 1” (Fergus Black and Brad Roberts) in 12:59:45.

“Chafing Dreams” combination of Claire Fishpool, Nathan King and Keira Germech took 1st place in the T3 Mixed with 11:15:04; from 2nd placed “MEB” (Deb Hermanus, Seb Bland and Moss Thompson) in 11:30:15 and the bronze medallists, “Zone 2 Crew” (Raymond Wang, Nicholas Gailer and Suzanne Ashley) with 11:56:06 – just 6 seconds behind the 1st-placed T3 Open All Over 50 team of “Tri IP” (Ross Hamilton, Leanne Haupt and Graham Atkins) in 11:56:00. “Merlene Simon and Claire” (who curiously only featured 2 athletes – Merlene Dilger and Simon Christie) were 2nd placed T3 50+ in 12:26:03; from 3rd placed “Chafing the Dream 2” (Glen le Clerc, Teresa Kay and Kay Duckinson) in 14:52:01.

TEAMS OF 4 - 9

“Not all those who wander are lost” has become another legendary Triple-Tri team name, representing a cohort which has grown to 2 teams this year. Their premier combination of Jono Windsor, Aaron Farlow, Daniel Carson, Lauren Stumpf, Calvin Coombs, Craig Benson, Trent Cooper and Hayley Morris were the dominant team of the day, winning the outright line honours by a whopping 40 minutes with their impressive 9:38:08, and 1st place T9 Mixed.

The next 3 T9 teams all came from the Open division (the largest division in the race), and shared the lead between them throughout. Overall consistency proved the difference that saw 1st place going to “Triple Threat” (Llewellyn Davies, James Charlesworth, Ben Seaman, Steven Boyt, Ned Thomson, Alexander Skeffington, Jason Pattinson, Isaac Hogan and Jaemin Frazer) in 10:30:27. Next home was “Bilby Baggins” (Dale Drummond, Rob Craven, Josh Blatchford, David Binstock, Peter Bond, Richard Poire, Lachlan Dow and Glen Sturestep) with 10:36:01. Immortal Triple-Tri collective from Goulburn, “Giant 440 Woodys #4 Pete” (Rod Smith, Mick Beard, Nathan Frazer, Andy Dawes, Andrew Oberg, Keeto Muscat, Lori McWhirter, Rod McWhirter and Stefan Hese) even worked their way into the lead for a while, and closed the day with the bronze medal to add to their extensive Triple-Tri prize cabinet, with a finish credential of 10:40:30, just 10 minutes adrift of 1st place.

“Buzz Lightyears O-50s” (Tedwood Goad, John Groom, Bretto Storrier, Gav Moroney, Kerry Baxter, Rod Smith, Andy Dawes and Mark Stutchbury), also from Goulburn – and yes you did read Rod Smith’s name twice, running different legs in 2 different prize-winning Goulburn teams, which is how you can collect TWO medals for competing in the same race! – took 1st place in the T9 Open All Over 50 with a slick 12:06:21.

Jenny and Jessica Simpson, Jacqui Allen, Melinda Goad and Mikaela Rose combined under the banner of “Giant Wollongong” to win the T9 All-Female category in 11:58:44, ahead of “No Nuts Just Guts” (Virginia Lindenmayer, Sophie Clement, Tara Davda, Prue Gruest, Carol Hartley, Lina Shiels, Catherine Spratley and Rachel Dieckman) took home the 2nd place medals with their day’s work of 13:26:07.

Two teams of predominantly teenagers took out the 2nd and 3rd placings in the T9 Mixed category. “Majura Machines” (Ruby and Patrick Clark, Josie Lemm, Kiran Isbister, Lucy Blacker, Luca Hogg and George Covey) came home in an impressive 10:57:06; not far ahead of “We don’t want cramps” (Kate Kristiansen, Quentin Buchler, Tor Eveston, Louise Hayward, Aiden Berget, Zoe Schofield and Monty Lloyd) in 11:05:16. Featuring children of veteran Triple-Tri competitors, both teams showed enormous “next generation” potential and heart.

Massive thanks to Canberra for a day of near-perfect weather and conditions throughout … and to ALL helpers, volunteers, supporters, officials and participants in the 28th Sri Chinmoy Triple-Triathlon.

You are all legends.