Lewington who won the Gumnuts Gifted Male and Female prizes.
The annual triathlon event, which signalled the start of this year’s Australia Day celebrations on Sunday, attracted a field of eight competitors.
The scratch event of a 300m swim, 10km ride and 2km run, was hosted by the Cobar Athletics & Triathlon Squad (CATS).
The race was hotly contested and ended in a thrilling sprint for the finish line with Chad Buckman finishing as a very narrow winner over Anthony Wrigley. Buckman was named the Gumnut Gifted Male winner after crossing the line with a time of 39 minutes 40 seconds.
Wrigley, with 39.41, won the second place Red Earth Real Man prize.
Cheryl Lewington, the only female competitor on the day, gave the boys a good run for their money. She finished 5th overall with a time of 46.27 and collected the Gumnuts Gifted Female winner’s prize.
Khan Fugar, with a quick swim leg of 5.39 was first out of the water to be an early contender and Buckman was not far behind him on 5.45.
The “old boys” proved to be the quickest on the bike leg with Chris Powell recording the quickest ride time of 21.28 for the 10km ride and Wrigley was just behind on 21.48.
(Both riders’ times included a quick stop for a maintenance repair to Powell’s bike.)
Powell and Wrigley had a two minute head start on the rest of the field for the final 2km run leg. Buckman, with the fastest run time of 9.34, chased them down and snatched the overall win from Wrigley on the finish line.
Zac Broughton also had a fast run leg with 9.57 to improve his final placing to 3rd overall with a time of 40.03. Powell held on for 4th place with 42.13. Tommy Bryan completed the course in 50.34 and Axel Fairfull clocked 51.23. Fugar finished with an unofficial time of 41.46, which included an incomplete ride leg due to a flat tyre.
