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| RUNNING MAN: LSPT Luke Morris during the gruelling triathlon event held at Port Macquarie on the NSW north coast.
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| STRONG: LCDR Griffiths produced a great effort to finish in second place.
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LCDR Doug Griffiths of Fleet Headquarters finished a gallant second to CPL Geoff Hanckel (Air Force) and Jodie Barker (HMAS Cerberus) was an all-the-way women’s winner at the Australian Defence Triathlon Sports Association’s (ADSTA) Ironman Championships at Port Macquarie on the NSW North Coast recently.
The competition was contested in conjunction with Australia’s National Ironman with 25 Defence triathletes accepting the Ironman challenge and competing for their Service, as well as an elusive starting position in this year’s Hawaiian Ironman triathlon.
The Ironman triathlon is a gruelling event that comprises a 3.8km swim, 180.2km ride and a 42.1km marathon run.
About 1600 triathletes jostled for position along the start line to the swim in the mouth of the Hastings River at 6am on race day.
CPL Hanckel completed the swim in 48min and 54sec, the cycle section in 5hr 11min and 44sec and the marathon in 3hr 10min and 17sec as the RAAF emerged as the Champion Ironman Triathlon Service for 2007.
Second in the individual honours was LCDR Griffiths (58.24 swim, 5:25.51 cycle and 3:53.01 marathon) followed by Air Force’s SGT Craig Ewen-Crawford (59.44 swim, 5:36.38 cycle and 3:59.00 marathon).
Among the women, Jodie Barker led from start to finish, producing a strong swim and a 3 hour 40 minute marathon which simply outclassed the ADSTA women’s field.
CAPT Dell Madge (Army) found the crush of the swim a challenge, exiting the water 10 minutes slower than expected.
Showing the resolve of a professional athlete, CAPT Madge recovered to finish second behind Jodie and place fifth in her 35 – 39 age group.
Reaping the rewards of her consistency across all three disciplines, ACW Wendy Holt rounded out the female ADSTA placegetters in third.
CPL Hanckel was the standout performer among the ADSTA competitors.
In addition to being awarded champion ADSTA male, CPL Hanckel finished 15th overall and second in his 30 – 34 year old age group and also qualified for the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon.
After a clean start, CPL Hanckel led the field of ADSTA competitors out of the water and into the ride, in pursuit were OFFCDT Monaghan, WGCDR McKinlay and LCDR Griffiths.
CPL Hanckel extended his lead during the ride and began the marathon 21 minutes ahead of the ADSTA field.
WGCDR McKinlay and LCDR Griffiths each produced strong rides but MAJ Mike Johannes and SGT Ewen-Crawford remained in contention for second after passing OFFCDT Monaghan in the hills.
Showing little regard for the 30-degree heat, LCDR Griffiths caught WGCDR McKinlay by the 5km mark and the two pushed each other as they worked together to maintain a fast pace.
By the halfway mark in the run LCDR Griffiths had pulled away from WGCDR McKinlay and was fighting to hold off challenges from SGT Ewen-Crawford, the persistent MAJ Johannes and Air Force’s CPL Dean Cook.
A late surge from SGT Ewen-Crawford kept MAJ Johannes in fourth but was not enough to catch LCDR Griffiths who held on for second. |
