HOLLEE Simons used an exceptional bike leg to put distance on Orange's Dean sisters and claim the spoils in Sunday's opening round of the Central West Inter Club triathlon series.
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The Bathurst triathlete, fresh off the previous weekend's victory in her local series, beating the Dean duo over the grand prix format.
Simons completed the course in a time of 57 minutes and five seconds, seeing off the challenge from Abby (58:19) and Molly Dean (59:38).
With only one bike leg but twice the normal number of swim and run legs in Sunday's race it meant Simons was determined to make the most of every kilometre she spent on two wheels.
And that's exactly what she did.
Simons left her rivals behind her on the bike but was still able to maintain the gap over the chasers over the closing two legs to continue her strong preparation for her Ironman bid.
Simons said she had to work hard to keep her young challengers behind her.
"It was really good to race people from outside the club. There's some really talented juniors in the Orange club and it's always exciting racing against them," she said.
"It was fairly close the whole way and it came down to around two minutes in the end, but the first half of the race was very close. Up until the middle of the ride we were all within 90 seconds of each other.
- READ MORE: Bathurst Wallabies Triathlon Club: Hollee Simons narrowly beats Tom Hanrahan for second overall in opening round
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"But at that point I could use my cycling strength to my advantage and pull away."
The last swim and run legs went better than Simons expected, in regards to maintaining the gap, and said that's a great sign for the rest of the season.
"I don't think they reeled back too much time, which I was surprised about, and it was a big highlight for me to not give away too much time," she said.
"My focus is more towards long course racing, given I've got an Ironman coming up in 15 weeks time, so to still be competitive in this shorter course racing is good as well.
"I'd say it's harder for me to jump down to short course, because going fast over a short period of time can be a struggle but it's coming along well."
Meanwhile, the men's race was taken out by Orange's Rory Thornhill in a time of 49:45.
Bathurst's Nick North (50:47) and Josh Stapley (52:01) came up just short in their pursuit.
The next event on the Bathurst Wallabies Triahtlon Club calendar will be the women's-only event on December 6.
Bathurst will be playing host to the second round of the Central West Inter Club Series on January 26.