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Top
sport
Volume 11, No. 56, November 16, 2006
By
Barry Rollings
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Multi-talented:
Capt Jeremy Ross crosses the finish line to win the Snowy
Hydro Upper Murray Challenge at Corryong.
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CANBERRA’S
Capt Jeremy Ross has celebrated a big October with wins in two of
Australia’s major multi-sport titles.
In a lead-up to his first major multi-sports title, the Freycinet
Lodge Challenge at Coles Bay in Tasmania on October 14, Ross surged
home to triumph in the Snowy Hydro Upper Murray Challenge multi-sport
event on October 1 at Corryong.
Fired by his success in Tasmania this year, he wants to go head-to-head
in the race with his best mate and best man at his wedding, Jody Zerbst,
of NSW, who won Tasmania’s premier multi-sport endurance race
in 2006.
“I think I had tougher competition this year but Jo is a brilliant
athlete and I’d love to take him on in Tasmania,” Ross said.
Capt Ross, 32, who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, pocketed $4000
for coming first.
“I was fortunate enough, or not fortunate, to go to Afghanistan
for five months and got back in February,” Ross said.
“I came back with a fairly poor level of fitness, so I gave myself
30 weeks to train up for this race.
“I didn’t miss a beat, work was really good to me, and that’s
why it means so much to win. You train so hard for things like this
and it’s fantastic to win,” he said.
Ross began day two of the Tasmanian event trailing Launceston’s
John Gregory, who excelled on the run, road cycle and mountain-bike
stages on day one. Gregory fell out of contention on the paddle, the
opening stage on day two, setting up a tussle between Capt Ross and
Victorian Jarad Kohlar.
The two were neck-and-neck over the cycle and most of the mountain
bike section but a late surge allowed Capt Ross to build a gap of
3min and 22sec by the time he arrived at the transition to the 15km
run.
He then powered over the Saddle to Wine Glass Bay and return to the
finish at Freycinet Lodge.
“This race leaves anything I’ve done in Australia for dead,”
Capt Ross said. “I’ll go back and promote this race, it’s
fantastic. It’s a great place to race and to be allowed to race
through the national park is fantastic.
“Had Kohlar not been sidelined by a punctured tyre on Saturday,
it would have been a thrilling duel.”
At Corryong on October 1, Capt Ross led the field into the final 25km
run leg of the gruelling bike-paddle-and-run race and couldn’t
be caught despite valiant efforts from placegetters Stu Adams and
Jarrod Collier.
The challenge combines a 38km bike ride, 26km paddle and the run leg.
“It’s very rewarding to win it, that’s for sure,”
Capt Ross said.
“It’s one of the toughest races I’ve done and was certainly
a great challenge.
“I was told that the bike leg really took it out of you, which
is true, and the fact that it was extended made it even tougher again.
"There was a tough field out there today so I’m really happy". |
