TRAINING in the heat paid dividends for Rory Thornhill on Saturday as he came from fifth place to clinch victory in the long course event in round three of the Central West Inter Club Triathlon Series.
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Before the competitors even set off from the start for the Bathurst round of the series, the mercury was nudging 30 degrees.
It only got hotter as the hopefuls in the grand prix format event tackled a 2.5 kilometre run, 200 metres swim, 16km cycle, second 200m swim then a 2.5km run to the finish.
But Thornhill was able to peel off the quickest split in the run home – his effort 12 seconds faster than any of his rivals – to take the win in a time of 50 minutes, four seconds.
T4 Bondi’s James Byrne (50.17) claimed second, while Bathurst’s Nick North (50.41) crossed the line in third.
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Orange teenager Thornhill credited spending time training in hot conditions with a squad from Sydney in the build-up as a key to his success.
“I got back from Jindabyne yesterday, so I’m used to the heat really. I was out in the heat doing 100 kays every day, it was really good prep for this actually,” he said.
There was little separating the leaders after the opening run leg and while Thornhill was first out of the pool, North was quick through transition and they hit the cycle together.
Following the cycle leg it was North who led the way in the battle for long course honours thanks to a 23:01 split. The Bathurst talent went into the event undefeated for the season and was looking to make it three inter club round victories in succession.
Dean Windsor, Byrne and Josh Stapley had all overtaken Thornhill on the bike leg as well, leaving him with work to do over the final swim and run legs.
But Thornhill paced himself well and not only clawed back time, but finished 13 seconds in the clear.
“Nick was pretty smart on the bike, he made me go in front of him and when I was dead he just zoomed past me. Fortunately enough there was a breeze I could ride with,” he said.
“If you get too caught up with where you can be, you can start to go backwards. So I just did my own race and tried to get used to the pace.
“I got the lead probably a kilometre in to the run, but Nick held me off really well.”
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The talented 16-year-old is now looking ahead to the New South Wales All Schools Triathlon in Penrith on February 28, an event in which he placed third in the intermediate division last year.
“I’ve just come my Australian Junior Series. So I had a race at Runaway Bay and last weekend in Canberra and now I’m prepping for the next month which is New South Wales All Schools and then if I qualify for nationals, that will be the next event,” he said.