While I couldn’t have been any further away from the Gold Coast and the Luke Harrop Memorial Triathlon I thought it was still worthy of a short blog entry for a few reasons. Firstly, it is a race that means so much to so many people and had extra significance being the 10th anniversary. Secondly, with some special performances from many of our DAT athletes I just couldn't let this race slip by without a mention.
Rumors and speculation were rife throughout the week with the possibility of certain members of the DAT family coming out of retirement for only the second time since the 2009 world championship race on the Gold Coast. The trash talk that followed when the rumors were confirmed that the one and only Dan Atkins would toe the start line were nothing more than entertaining to say the least! Dan wasn’t the only person making a comeback to racing, with Emily Bevan making her return following a lengthy layoff with a stress fracture to team up with Katie Atkins. Needless to say the stakes were high and the winner of this battle would have bragging rights for some time in the Atkins household.
The winner of the battle was somewhat divided with Dan’s overall time beating that of Katie and Emily but Emily’s swim and bike times combined were faster than that of Dan’s and it is a sure sign that Emily’s recovery is well and truly on track and it won’t be long before she is lining up to complete the full race herself and I’ll go out on a limb and say beating Dan as well! Together Katie and Emily also claimed the title of the fastest female team of the day so I'll leave it up to everyone else to decide on the winner of this battle...
Moving on to the main event, Ryan Fisher was representing DAT in a large open men’s field and although he was pushed all the way on the swim and bike by some of the strongest in the sport, he showed his class once on the run to win in convincing fashion and in doing so also claimed the Luke Harrop Bursary for the second year running. Also in the open men’s field was Angus Gibson who raced strongly to finish in 14th position and will surely enjoy his weeks off training after a very long season in the junior elite national series.
Similar strong performances occurred in the open women’s field with none other than Maddi Allan leading the swim out in her normal fashion and holding strong throughout the bike and run to finish the race in second position. Following closely behind her was Holly Grice and besides her third place was probably more proud that her overall time was faster than that of Dan and has given her bragging rights for the time being.
In other results, Brittany Dutton claimed a familiar victory in her age group and being the 10th anniversary of the race picked herself up $100 for her troubles. Dave Sangster just missed out on the prize money to finish in 2nd position and a very impressive 36th overall. Robbie Mullins again managed to better Dave's result to finish 25th overall in a super quick time and 4th in his age-group. Similar to Robbie, Rob Murdoch is on the improve with every race he enters and is probably on the hunt for more races to continue this trend after finishing 8th in his category. Dave Kelly added an impressive 5th place to his seasons results.
It was a great day for DAT down at the Luke Harrop Memorial Triathlon and one that will surely be on the calendar for years to come but unfortunately for myself it was one that I had to give a miss this year, instead choosing to make the journey up to Hervey Bay to compete in the Olympic Distance race on offer that will have its own story up for viewing very shortly. :)
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