Athletes brave elements at Barwon Heads

THE Barwon Heads Triathlon’s return to the Bellarine for its eighth year has been hailed “a great success” and “a big relief” with record numbers turning out for the event.

Event director Lincoln Beckworth was extremely pleased with how the day panned out.

“Once again we’ve had an amazing event down here in Barwon Heads,” he said.

“We had nearly 1,000 competitors in total, which is our biggest turnout in our eight-year history.”

Participants took on the 400m swim in the Barwon River, a 14km cycle along 13th Beach Road, and a 4km run along the trail path into Ocean Grove.

In a fiercely-contested men’s field, Geelong local David Fawkes took home his first Barwon Heads Triathlon with a blistering time of 39:05.

Lachlan Wright (40:01) placed second, meanwhile four time winner Adam Conquest (40:24) took out third place on the podium.

In the women’s field, Johanna Clark blitzed the field to set a new record time of 45:29, securing her first Barwon Heads Triathlon in the process.

Second place went to Gemma Berry (47:29) with Katie Cross taking out third overall (47:54).

Mr Beckworth said the Barwon Heads Triathlon attracted some of the state’s best triathletes, but also saw a lot of first-timers take part.

“More than a third of the field were competing in their first triathlon ever,” he added.

“One of the best things about our event is the excitement from the ‘first timers’; so many big smiles as they crossed the finish line.

“It was a real family friendly atmosphere, there were probably 1,000 spectators down lining the course, all cheering on their family and friends or just coming out from the local community to show support.”

Mr Beckworth thanked major sponsor 13th Beach Health Services, and all of the other local sponsors and volunteers.

“Their time, effort and support is key to the event running each year.”