Teams turn out in force for triathlon club's Christmas celebration

The club's Christmas round saw a higher-than-average turnout of team entries, ranging from high level groups to those giving competitive triathlon racing a go for the first time.

With only the short course event being offered on the weekend it meant that the emphasis was being put on having fun and generating plenty of family involvement.

The total of 15 teams who completed the course is thought to be the biggest numbers of entries in that category at a Bathurst event.

Among the teams who had a successful day out were the group of Dan Watson, his daughter Chloe, and Jack Murray.

Watson said it was great to see so many people opting to team up for the third round of the season.

"It's really great to see. My daughter and I had only done one of these together before," he said.

"I coach her at basketball, and Jack plays in her D2F basketball club as well. I thought it would be great to get a team in with them. Chloe's a very handy runner and has been doing well at parkrun.

"Jack's quite the handy basketball player as well, and it's always cool when they transition over to something new."

Watson believes triathlon is great to try out for anyone interested in a summer activity to keep up fitness.

"I've done a few of the rounds this year. I've been doing triathlon for a little while now. I race mountain bikes, and I just love dabbling in a bit of everything," he said.

"It all crosses over fitness wise. It's great for cross training. I'm out there chasing all the other guys who are on tri bikes and road bikes so that drags the most out of me."

Team Hobbo and Team North Pole shared the spoils after the 300m swim, 17km bike and 2.5km run.

They crossed the line together in a time of 46 minutes and one second.

D2F Racing (46:45) and Windsor Automotive (46:53) weren't far behind the two front-running teams.

Orange athlete Samuel Bayada comfortably won the open short course individual event with a time of 43:50, beating Tom Hanrahan (46:20) and Tim Miller (46:22).

Mercede Cornelius-Feltus was once again at the top of the women's individual standings with her time of 45:04 - second fastest overall on the day.

The next round on the Bathurst calendar will be the Central West Inter Club race on January 26.