IN his first major triathlon event since his return from injury Nick North showed he’s back better than ever with a top 10 overall finish at the Huskisson Long Course event on Sunday.
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The Bathurst triathlete had one of the strongest performances in his career, completing the two kilometre swim, 83km ride and 20km run in three hours, 56 minutes and 35 seconds.
That result saw him finish eighth overall and first in the 25 to 29 years age category.
North had been featuring prominently in the Central West’s Inter-club series but at the ‘Husky’ event he tested himself against some of the nation’s top talent.
The Bathurst competitor surprised himself with how well he handled the race.
“I felt calm and ready. I was confident in the training that I had done. It was probably the most relaxed I’d been before a race,” he said.
“I picked a great line to start off with in the swim. I was first to the buoy and I continued to build my race up from there. I got out of the water with around a 30-second lead.
“I didn’t go out too hard on the bike and I managed to improve 30 seconds with every lap, and about a minute more on my last one. I honestly thought I might get caught though, because I felt fantastic but I didn’t feel like I was going too hard.
“The run was a bit worrying because I hadn’t raced at 20km for over a year but it went well. It was only at the 15km mark where the body went off a little bit.”
The race was a consistent one for North.
He emerged with the 11th (25:08 swim), eighth (2:04:40 bike) and 13th (1:23:43 run) fastest overall times in his three respective legs.
North set his sights high for Sunday’s race with a set of targets.
He met every one of them.
“I set myself four goals: I wanted to win my age group, be the first age group competitor home, finish inside the overall top 10 and finish in under four hours,” North said.
Everything had gone to plan. The 4am starts and the four weeks of hard, constant training had paid off."
- Nick North
“At 10km into the run I had a good idea that I’d win my age group, but I wasn’t sure about being the first age runner home because I knew there were some good runners behind me.
“I was pretty emotional at the end. Everything had gone to plan. The 4am starts and the four weeks of hard, constant training had paid off.
“To get this result in my first race back was amazing.”
North was one of several Bathurst competitors making the trip to the coast for the weekend’s racing.
Thomas Hanrahan finished 10th in the same age category as North, finishing the course in a time of 4:34:59.
Dennis Martin used a strong bike leg to catapult himself into the runner-up position for the 50-54 years category. He found the finish line after 4:33:28 to be 75th overall.
Danielle Patterson (5:50:55) had husband Luke’s (5:29:06) measure over the opening two legs before the latter produced a strong run to claim the bragging rights.
In Saturday’s Husky 25.75km sprint event Brooke Tuynman joined forces with former World and Asia-Pacific Champion Sally Taggart to claim the relay silver medal.
Taggart took on the swim (12:28) and run (23:28) legs while Tuynman (35:57) provided the pedal power.
Mark Windsor (1:07:13) was the first 55-59 years contender home in the race, and 26th overall.
