The Australian Defence Force Academy

The Academy Triathlon started in 2005 and puts cadets to the test with a 200m indoor swim, 3km ride over a cross country dirt track and 2.7km run up and down Mount (not very) Pleasant - all this not just once, but three times.

Cadets can compete as a team, where each team member takes one nine legs of the race or individually for the ultimate challenge of endurance.

This year, Midshipmen Luke Marconi from 1Bravo Squadron (SQN ) took the honours for the solo males in 1:38:05, closely followed by Office Cadet Andrew Seymour from 2Alpha SQN and Officer Cadet Dale O’Shannessy from 3Alpha SQN rounding out the top three. For the females, 3Bravo SQN claimed first place honours thanks to exchange student 2LT Lise Giganon, from the Saint-Cyr Military Academy in France, in a time of 1:52:25. In second place Officer Cadet Julia Nikolic from 3Alpha SQN and third was Officer Cadet Lara Ivey, from 2Bravo SQN.

Teams consisted of 6 men and 3 women per team with two teams per squadron. This year 3Alpha SQN took first place in the team challenge with a time of 1:27:35, 3Bravo SQN came in second and 1Bravo SQN in third.

The day belonged to the third years with 3Alpha SQN taking overall first place, 3Bravo SQN in overall second place and 1Bravo SQN in overall third place.

All points received from the event go toward the Lancaster Shield, the annual Academy competition to crown the highest performing squadron in a year. The Lancaster Shield has been run annually since 1986.