The Lake Hayes sprint triathlon has been running since 1983, and more recently has been run concurrently with a multisport option. In 2003 the same course with some modifications, was used for the olympic distance World Championships.

With barely a day for the Xmas festivities to pass, a good keen group made it along to this local fun event. That said the prizes at this years event exceeded those of the past, with return trips to the Noosa sprint Triathlon for the first two male and female open placegetters.

The current World champion in the mens 18-19 year category, Tony Dodds(above) took out the Open mens race. Bobby Douglas and Eddie Smith both challenged hard and were in close contention for the races duration.

Nicky Samuels(above) who recently took out third for a podium finish in the Elite under 23's at the world champs took out the womans open title in a fast time, and looks set to continue her good form.

Race director Tom Pryde in the safety vest giving the pre-race rules and course details.

The kayakers started just prior to the triathlon race.

The water temperature is around 14 degrees, so it takes bit of courage to swim without a wetsuit. Note there are no colour co-ordinated swim caps or race numbers. The race fee is modest and the prizes are decent making for a good event in my view.

	Jamie Whyte challenging hard early on, and placed a respectable 4th on the day.

	Eddie Smith has dominated this race over recent years, but today was beaten by two young aspiring athletes.
	Sid Cummings has also been a leading force in the local events in recent years.
	Breaking the tape to claim 1st place.
Congratulations on getting second place in a quick time.

Below is a few shots covering the Lake Hayes multisport race. Locally multisport and mountain bike races are much bigger than triathlon, and this race was no doubt being used for training for the upcoming 'Coast to Coast multisport' race.

And the hooter has sounded.

This guy takes the prize for the best work out of the day. He was paddling hard out in this little white water boat. Resistance training is something I don't see much written about but it is a technique used at the elite end in some sports.                                 Richard Matheson was first in the open mens race.                                     Eric Billoud was first in the veteran mens race and also had the fastest time on the day. Eric has featured in three of the four events covered so far on this site, and looks to be one of the best performing multisporters.   Geoff Hunt, the man behind the Southern Traverse and many other events. Geoff also did the age group 2003 World Champs on this course, however he did the multisport event this time.

Please note there are no click to enlargements on this event page, however the format of click to enlargements will be used again in upcoming events.

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