TRIATHLON
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NICK North surged to his third consecutive victory in the annual Dave Carroll/Dave Scott Memorial Triathlon after a brilliant performance in the cycle leg of Sunday’s Bathurst Wallabies Tri Club event.
While the finish of this year’s race wasn’t quite as dramatic as the 2013 edition that saw North staging a brilliant battle with fellow Bathurst triathlon star Richard Hobson who then collapsed in the run leg, it was every bit as memorable for the winner.
By the end of the race he had surged out to a lead of almost three minutes, having finished the 400 metre swim neck and neck with eventual runner-up Josh Stapley.
The pair hit the 16 kilometre bike leg with North boasting a marginal advantage, but that soon grew into a decisive edge against the consistent Stapley.
“I had a really good bike leg today, though it did take me a while to get going,” North said.
“I had a little bit of a gap as we hit the road, just enough for me to be on my own, and after I took a while to find my rhythm I really put the hammer down and started to get away.
“The run leg felt a lot faster today too because of a different course. Because of the way it was set out it really gave you the chance to see where the other competitors were and you could pace yourself and there were less hills.”
After their close battle in the pool, North turned his small lead over Stapley into a gap of one minute, 15 seconds as they came into the last transition.
Tom Hanrahan was their nearest rival, but he was more than 90 seconds behind Stapley when he began his 5km run leg, which had been moved to an ‘out-and-back’ course towards Trinity Heights rather than around the Macquarie River.
Hanrahan was unable to take any ground from Stapley, who in turn fell further behind North.
By the time the race had finished, North’s lead had stretched to two minutes, 48 seconds.
Though he is no stranger to winning the event, North said it was no less special to do it once again given the esteem in which Carroll and Scott were held by the Bathurst Tri Club.
He will now turn his focus to a couple of specialist events before preparing for the 2014-15 season.
“It is fabulous to do it again, it means so much to all the regular racers and to have my name on that trophy again with people like Richard Hobson and others, and to make it three out of three now is a very special feeling,” he said.
“That’s it now as far as triathlons go for the time being, but I’ve got the Blayney2Bathurst bike race coming up in a few weeks’ time which is something I always look forward to.
“I’ll also probably be doing the Bathurst Half Marathon as well which follows it, and then look to get started again towards September or October.”