Perfect conditions greeted athletes at picturesque Yerrabi District Park: light cloud cover, cool temperatures and a pond that might have been in trance, a portrait of serenity.

The latest race in the Sri Chinmoy Multi-Sport Series featured both a long and short-course option. Both races commenced with a run around Yerrabi Pond. All athletes fronted the starting line at once, but the long and short course runners raced off in opposite directions as the long race demanded a complete 4 km lap of the Pond while the shorter event started with a 2.5 km P-shaped survey of the foreshores. Warmed up from the run, the short racers were the first into their paddle craft, pushing off from shore onto the inviting lake for one lap of the 2.5 km rectangular paddle course. The long paddlers followed soon after, completing two circuits of the same. While participants were doubtless striving to the full, the view from shore was surreal as a procession of paddlers glided by in silent cadence.

A few of the long course paddlers demonstrated fine technique to complete their two laps ahead of half of the one-lap field. Swapping paddles for mountain bikes, the next leg took all competitors once more around the lake, then under Horse Park Drive and a little way along Gundaroo Drive before heading into Mulligans Flat, a portion of Canberra Nature Park. The course followed 4-wheel drive maintenance trails through a variety of delightful woodlands with innumerable kangaroos and native birds also enjoying the Sunday morning tranquillity. The short (14 km) riders looped around at the edge of Mulligans Flat, while the long (27 km) riders continued into the more open and elevated reaches of Goorooyarroo Nature Reserve, enjoying sweeping views across the Canberra plain including most of North Canberra to Black Mountain and beyond. Both courses returned racers to the starting point for one final run on cycle paths around the pond, 4 kms for the long and 3 kms for the short course.

The day's stand-out performer was triathlete and multi-sport supremo Jeremy Ross (left) who shattered the standing record for the long race and became the first person to break the 2-hour barrier for the course.

View the complete results by category for both long and short races, and enjoy the photo gallery from Yerrabi.