Western Sydney Triathlon Clubs Easter Charity Sprint

Easter Monday saw the inaugural running of a fundraising triathlon at the Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, hosted by an alliance of the Hawkesbury, Hills, Panthers and LAPD triathlon clubs, the intention being to establish a fund to support the members and families of any of these clubs’ members who are injured or killed while training for a triathlon.

 

The HTC was represented by Carla Horwood, Sue Hastings, Lars Kopplehuber, Chris Cameron, Grant Leslie, Ron, Beth and Jo Simpson with Claire Gauld and Chris Horwood along in support. Race conditions were perfect – cool, overcast and the water temperature such that it was a ‘wetsuit optional’ race.

 

Around 100 competitors began the race with a massed swim start and while the water quality was described by some as a little ‘suspect’, our members all seemed quite pleased with their times. As indicated by their split and finish times below, there were some good old tussles between our competitors with the lead changing a few times as the race unfolded, but a couple of efforts were worthy of particular note:

Lars for backing up only a week after competing in the Port Macquarie Ironman to show support for this most worthy cause, and that of the mother, father and daughter combination of “Team Simpson” as they temporarily set aside the old “blood is thicker than water” adage while engaging in good-willed, yet cut-throat combat out on the course! How wonderful to see three members of one family undertaking an event such as this together, along with their friends, and having a great time in the process!

 

Well done to all concerned, thank you for the wonderful spectacle and we’ll hope to see as many of our members as possible participating when these most worthy fundraising races are held again in the future!