IT’S not every day you get to see an Australian cycling champion’s jersey racing both with and without pedal power but Mark Windsor made that happen on Sunday in the opening King Cain Wallabies Triathlon Club round.
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Sporting his recently acquired jersey from the Australian Road Masters Cycling Championships, Windsor did the national colours proud as he took out the opening long course event of the Bathurst series.
Despite carrying a few injuries Windsor was dominant over the 500 metre swim, 16km bike leg and 5km run.
Windsor appreciated getting back into a triathlon race again after much of his recent time being spent on the bike.
“It’s the first one of the season so everyone’s looking to ease back into it and it’s actually quite cold. Everyone was a bit nervy before the start about what to wear and how long it was going to take in transition,” he said.
The bike set it up and I didn’t have to push myself in the run because I’m carting all sorts of injuries there so I just took it nice and easy."
- Mark Windsor
“We’ve had a couple of injuries as well, and I’ve had one myself. Nick North’s had a fall and a lot of our leading guys have had a bit of bad luck. Josh [Stapley] is still recovering from his injury as well. He did the teams event today, which is good to see, because’s it has been a long process for him.
“I appreciated the run since I’ve been battling a bit of a back and hip injury. It’s really nice to be back out there again.”
Windsor said Sunday’s race was good to see where his body was at, and gave him an opportunity to plan for the season to come.
“You underestimate the bike on this course and I didn’t do that flash of a swim. The bike set it up and I didn’t have to push myself in the run because I’m carting all sorts of injuries there so I just took it nice and easy,” he said.
“The injury has sort of thrown everything out. I was going to do the long course nationals in a month or so. I can’t see myself being ready for that now so I’m going to have to look at adjusting my season.”
Wallabies president James Kelly said it was excellent to see a good turnout at Sunday’s race despite the chilly weather.
“It was fantastic to see so many people turning out early on a Sunday morning in those conditions. Most impressive was seeing so many new faces out there giving triathlon a go,” he said.
Those new faces won’t have long to wait to give the race another go. The Bathurst Wallabies’ second round of the series will take place on November 6.
