Portarlington Long Course Race Report 18March2012

Long Course Race – 2km/80km/20km: 17 athletes, 17 finishers and 1 podium 

Traditional ‘Long Course’ races don’t tend to have as much profile as their counter part the Half Ironman Distance, but that does not take away from the hard training, dedication and determination during the race for our athletes that take on this distance.

This race is new to the racing calendar and was a sell out 3 days out from the event which just shows how popular long course/Half Ironman racing is in this country.

We had 16 athletes racing the event and 16 impressive results and inspirational stories.

• Bob van Zuiden 4:39.05 – Had the fastest Tri Alliance time with a strong bike/run combo Bob looked great all race and was very happy with his result with his grand plan Busselton in December.
• Nathan Fay 4:49.58 – couldn’t have been happier with his race and now wonders how much faster he can go! More long course on the horizon for Nath.
• Sarah Grove 4:51.09 – had a race to remember putting her body through things you shouldn’t (or wouldn’t want to!) and managed to walk away earning some great respect amongst her fellow athletes and scooped 2nd Elite as a token prize.
• Jody Biddle 4:53.35 – stepped out at this distance for the first time and boy did he have a great race. Asked would he do it again? Hell yeah!
• Adam Murone 4:54.17 – had his 2nd long course race for the year and had a solid race all round, finishing with a great run split
• Peter Hinrichsen 5:01.48 – a great hit out for his main race in May IronmanPort Macquarie. Great work Peter.
• David Nealon 5:02.32 – race of the year, what an amazing effort to told off his 16kg weight loss in the last 3 months!
• Ian Renouf 5:10.39 – puts another long course race under his belt and didn’t get chicked either! Not a bad effort after 4+ hours in the surf the day before!
• Chris Mutimer 5:15.40 – clocking up another long course for the season and had a great race, another winter season will do wonders.
• Brianna Scarlett 5:17.14 – super impressive and continues to improve
• Kathryn Procotor 5:23.36 – after getting dumped from the Torquay long course picked up this race and trained solidly to get pretty damn close to her goal time. Great effort.
• Kerri Whitney 5:24.01 – 3rd long course for the season and made up some great time on the run to finsih super strong.
• Andy Wood-rich 5:28.19 – just keeps going and going. Top work Andy with a great swim bike to match.
• Karyn ‘Rowdy’ Winterton 5:39.02 – add another nothc to her long course belt with a consistant race all round.
• Stuart Wood 5:43.50 – first Long Course Race as Stu sets his sights on ironman Busselton in December.
• Michelle Grocock 5:49.46 – First Long Course and an inspirational effort after coming off her bike only 2 weeks ago.
• Lucas Riley – not sure where Lukes time has disappeared to, but used this race as a training run for his A grade race in the Busso Half in May. Looking great too.

CLICK HERE to check out full Tri Alliance athlete race results

Great work team – everyone as inspirational as ever and each with their own story to tell. If you are thinking about doing your first Half Ironman/Long Course next Season then why not speak to others who have done their first (or many) as you can definately learn from their experences.

CLICK HERE to read our race report from the Gatorade/Active Feet races at Portarlington