Nick Thompson (UWA Tri Club) and Rachael Wales (Exceed Tri Club) were crowned the WA State Standard Distance Triathlon champions on Sunday morning at Koombana Bay in Bunbury. Presented by the Bunbury Triathlon Club, the LGM Industries Bunbury City Classic saw a 500 strong competitor field for the 2020 event.

The Open Womens event saw a mix of experienced long course athletes and the up and coming junior elites battle it out over the 1.5km swim, 40km cycle and 10km run.  The young guns took the lead early with Cassia Boglio and Maddison Toovey out swimming the rest of the field and giving themselves a 30 second lead. The chase pack consisted of Anthea Stacey, Kate Bevilaqua and Brooke Mccoy.

A strong cycle from Rachael Wales saw her take the lead which set her up to take the State Championship Title in a time of 2:11:39. Bevilaqua (2:12:15) was able to hold off a fast finishing Helen Morgan, who showed her strength as a bike/runner with the fastest female bike split and run split of the day and rounded out the podium in 2:13:18.  

“I was happy to stay away, holding out to win my first state title.” Wales said post-race. “I saw an opportunity as we hit the incline during the bike to attack and that paid off”

Bevilaqua, who specializes in long course racing, said that she felt “a little rusty” but was “overall really happy with how the day went”.

Nick Thompson led the Open Mens field from the starting gun. Thompson along with 2016 Rio Olympian and Bunbury local Ryan Bailie led out of the water, 30 seconds ahead of last year’s State Champion Guy Crawford. Thompson showed his class gaining a 17 second lead over Bailie out of transition which helped to set up his win for the day.  “He (Bailie) was wearing speed suit and realised this was my chance to take the lead, I got out of transition and just put the pedal down” said Thompson.

Thompson managed to hold his lead over Bailie and Crawford over the 40km cycle but stepped up the pace on the 10km run that couldn’t be matched. Thompson crossed in the line in 1:50:27 with Bailie taking silver (1:54:51) and holding off Crawford by less than 20 seconds.

With a huge increase on last year’s field, the day was bound to be a busy and exciting one. Even the kids got involved, with 50 smiling faces diving in as part of the SunSmart Kids Triathlon Series. The lucky participants were also visited by Louie, the Dolphin Discovery Centre’s resident dolphin.

Congratulations to the 500 plus athletes that took part in the various distances on offer over the weekend. A fantastic event put on by the Bunbury Tri Club that will no doubt be a feature on next years calendar.

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JUNIOR TOTY WINNERS