TRIATHLON
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WINS don’t come much harder earned than the one Josh Stapley claimed in Sunday’s Bathurst Wallabies Triathlon Club long course race.
Stapley made it three straight wins in the Bathurst series as he held off Nick North and first-time long course competitor Mark Windsor in a tight finish, crossing the line in a time of 51 minutes and 10 seconds.
The trio finished within 35 seconds of each other in the round six event staged in hot and windy conditions.
North was 28 seconds behind Stapley and Windsor a further seven seconds off the pace.
The three all led the race at different stages, with North first to complete the 500 metre swim while Windsor was just clear after the bike leg before Stapley took the advantage in the run.
Stapley couldn’t have been happier to win under such pressure.
“It’s so much fun racing like that when we’re all that close. When Nick wasn’t ahead by too far out of the water, I just buried myself to catch him. Then Mark came together with us. It makes it really exciting and fun for us as well,” he said.
“It’s the first time I’ve got Nick and I was ecstatic to go three in a row as well. To do it with Nick and Mark so close makes it even better.”
Stapley’s strong effort down Hereford Street on the 16.5 kilometre bike leg saw him quickly catch North after giving him a 30-second head start out of the water.
After that the pair stayed in touch with each other through Eglinton and onto Durham Street. Windsor made contact at All Saints’ College before building a small lead into the closing stages of the leg.
But Stapley shook off the pair on the 5km run leg, opening up his advantage on the second lap around Peace Park to record a memorable result.
He wasn’t surprised to see Windsor hang around on the run.
“After the race he had at Huskisson last year he was only a minute behind me. I was worried with the shorter swim that he would be able to get me. A 250 metre shorter swim than last weekend, that was the danger zone for me,” Stapley said.
“Here when he was so close on the run I tried to go early and not let him get into a rhythm, because I knew once he’d hit his stride, he’d be hard to bring in.”
The Carroll-Scott Memorial race, the seventh and final round of the Bathurst series, takes place on March 22.
Stapley will be looking forward to what he hopes will be another exciting affair.
“I’d say Luke [Gillmer] will be back for that. It could be a nice four-way battle similar to what we saw four years ago with Nick and Nathan Bankovic. I’m looking forward to that and hopefully I’m up to the challenge,” Stapley said.