Small field but competition was still fierce

 

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Mayor Jarrod Marsden (at rear) presented prizes to the winners of the Cobar Athletics & Triathlon Squad Australia Day triathlon event at the Cobar Memorial Swimming Pool on Sunday.

The field for this year’s Australia Day Triathlon event on Sunday may have only been a small one however the results were on par with previous years.

 Michael Howell, who was coaxed out of retirement and talked into competing on Sunday, returned to the sport with a vengeance.

Howell was the first finisher to collect the Gumnut Gifts First Male prize.

He completed the 300m swim/10km ride/2km run in 35 minutes and 14 seconds.

Howell’s time was just shy of Tom Summerhayes’ win last year (31min 21sec); Axel Fairfull’s 34.42 winning time from 2023 and Luke Caldwell’s 34.06 victory in 2022.

Making up a bit of time on Howell on the run leg, Caleb Theakston finished second on 36.15 to collect the BRilliams Male runner-up prize.

The ‘Ghost and I’ team of Dakota Tatchell and Greg McKervey were third across the line to collect the Harvey Norman First Team award. They finished with a time of 40.31 with the ‘Slow But Tri-ing’ team of Tom Jones and Isabelle Gillette not far behind in 4th place with a time of 41.51.

Angela Francisco, competing for the first time as an individual, was the winner of the women’s division with a time of 50.21.

First time triathlon competitors Vincent Willis and Aravinth Naguleswarampillai and his son Sheyone, collected prizes sponsored by JKM Dynamic Fitness.