Triathletes are gearing up for the April 18 event in Julia Creek which always draws a large contingent of Isa Rats.

Three different events were offered to competitors on Saturday – a 5km run, Enticer Triathlon (300m swim, 10km bike, 1.5km run) and the Sprint Triathlon (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run).  

All eyes were on the Sprint Distance Triathlon with 16 females and nine males battling it out in testing conditions. 

First out of the water was Mount Isa born and raised Mark Thinee, closely followed by Rachel Turnham with Nichole Knepprath, Lucy Richardson and Darryl Swift rounding out the top five out of the water.  

The 20km bike leg proved challenging with severe wind gusts testing competitors’ bike skills and willpower.  

The best bike split of the day went to new club member Craig Nicholson (55:32) who was making the other male competitors work hard as they hit the run leg.  Nicholson couldn’t hold onto the lead with Thinee reeling him in over the 5km run to take line honours in a time of 1:23:29. 

Second place went to Geoff March (1:27:32) with Nicholson (1:29:31) rounding out the top three.  

In the women’s race Vicki Nicholson proved she has been working hard on her cycling with an impressive bike split of 40:46 but that wasn’t enough to put her ahead of Knepprath who had the second faster bike split of the day of 43:24. 

 It was all down to the 5km run leg to see who had enough left in the tank.   

Knepprath proved too strong for the rest of the field coming home to take line honours in a time of 1:29:36 closely following by Lucy Richardson (1:29:38) who showed she has what it takes on the run leg to hunt down her fellow competitors posting the faster run split of the day (30:08) and an overall time of 1:29:38 with Merran Cowper coming home in third place in a time of 1:34:07.  

In the Enticer race Bruce Hume’s return to triathlon after recovering from an injury was quite sweet as he took line honours closely followed by 11-year-old Tristan Nicholson with Dale Rackham rounding out the top three places.

The 5km run saw Gary McIlroy cross the line first, followed by Felicity Morgan and Caitlin Hetherington. 

Triathletes are encouraged to come out and challenge themselves, meet some great people and just enjoy being surrounded by people who love to swim, ride and run.  

There really is something for everyone at these events regardless of your level.

The three race series to prepare for Julia Creek’s Dirt n Dust are specifically designed as a lead up to get ready for what’s known as the toughest triathlon in the Outback.   

The second Race to the Creek event will be held on Saturday, February 28 at 4pm for a 4.30pm start.  All registrations need to be completed online at  www.isarats

.com.au by 6pm Friday, February 27.