Iron not steel for our man Clarke

By CPL Simone Liebelt
Volume 48, No. 3, March 9, 2006

WGCDR Colin Clarke in action.

IN the best win of his career, WGCDR Colin Clarke, Commanding Officer Training Aircraft Systems Program Office at RAAF Base East Sale, took out the 50-54 age group at Ironman Western Australia, held at Busselton late last year.

In poor conditions, 700 competitors headed to the Busselton Jetty for the swim start, the water warmer than the windy 15 C ambient temperature.

The 3.8km swim consisted of a clockwise lap of the Busselton Jetty, approx 1.9km long.

The outward leg was quite good but at the turn competitors were faced with a half to one metre swell coming across them, this made for a very tough home leg.

Most competitors dropped 5-6 minutes on their normal swim time.

Clarke finished with a 1hr 7min in the front third of the field.

On the bike leg which consisted of 3 x 60km loops, riders immediately rode into a strong easterly for approximately the first 25km of each lap.

This wind picked up as the morning progressed, with Clarke dropping down to 25kph at one stage of lap three when the wind was up to 40kph.

Clarke consolidated his age group lead and moved into the top 100 with a 5hr 31min cycle leg.

The run was 2 x 21km loops along the Busselton foreshore with one small section covered by shade with the rest open to the elements.

As the afternoon progressed the wind dropped and the temperature rose to 29 C, making a tough marathon. A 3hr 52min marathon put Clarke into 90th outright and a 1hr 30 min winning age group margin.

Post race, WGCDR Clarke accepted his invitation to race at the World Ironman Championship at Kona, Hawaii on October 14 this year. This will be Clarke’s second race at Hawaii.

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