A decade on and once again the Capricorn Resort Half Ironman saw new faces; if not an entirely new set of names, grace the podium as South Australia’s Matty White and NSW’s Lisa Marangon stormed to victory.
For Lisa it was an all the way victory from whistle to finish line, ahead of the northern beaches Nicole Ward and new comer Carrie Lester, Kirsten Molloy and Rebecca Eveleigh; for Matty, who found himself leading only in the run the day wasn’t simple; a sprint finish saw him best Port Macquarie’s’ Tim Berkel on the day only after a friendly Age Grouper reminded him to check over his shoulder with metres to run!
The men’s race also saw a sprint finish for third, with Tim Reed taking the podium ahead of New Zealand’s James Bowstead and Jason Crowther.
This race is all about more than the front runners however and there were many fine age group performances on what turned out to be a tougher day at the office than is the norm at Yeppoon. One outstanding story is that of Bob Southwell; see below!
A full story and pic can be found on the front page of the event website at www.capricornhalf.com
To all those who made the journey on race day, (and indeed the journey to Yeppoon!) and raced the first step on the road to Ironman we say congratulations, regardless of the outcome, and to the first timers, welcome to the Ironman family.
For those who witnessed 80 year old Bob Southwell cross the line at 4:14pm, I’m sure, like me, the moment is seared in my memory. From the youngest finisher, to Bob, our age group winners and the two magnificent decade long performances of ten time finishers in Toowoomba’s Clynton Barnes and Mackay’s Adrian Ellul; and the team efforts in the Aussie Ultimate Team Challenge it was a very full and wondrous day.
I’d like to very much thank the wonderful team, who gathered from all around Australia, to assist us to make the day and the race happen; and also a huge vote of thanks to our fantastic volunteers.
I also extend a very special thank you to them on behalf of my team and on behalf of you the competitors. I’d like to thank the very many participants who’ve written in to also thank the team and the ‘vollies’ for making their day a little easier and a lot more fun than it might have been otherwise...
I’d also like to thank Justin, Teddy and Jen and their incredible crew at the Capricorn Resort – Yeppoon; the crew from Enervit, Rod from Tri Travel, Nic and Craig from the Aqua Shop, Larisa from Tri Shave, James from Triahtlon Photos, Grant from Aeromax, Len from Tropical Auto, Sue from Worths Motorcyles, and Russell and the team from Tuckers Cycles (have you paid them for what you used race day yet??).
Also a huge thank you to Bruce and Anthony from Velotrans and also the crew from Velosure and Avis too...
There’s also a very special thank you to Eddie and the members of the SES (rescue, safety and medical!), Jason and the SLSA for Swim Safety and Travis, Anna and Nicole, and our entire medical crew
Also a thanks to our supplier team including Tony and the Wizards, Alwyn at ATF, Mick at Active Hire, Aaron at Victory and there’s almost too many more to remember.
It takes an incredible crew of organisers, volunteers, suppliers and supporters to grow the race that we have at Yeppoon; and here’s to them – and new decade ahead.
I’d also like to address a couple of issues raised by a few.
TOWELS: It seems that the contents of the competitor’s kit sometimes outweighs the reason for the day; that of racing a personal challenge; of going the distance, and of completing the course proper on your own and making the journey that is Half and full Ironman.
A very late decision by the Half Ironman Series coordinators meant that we would not have towels at Yeppoon for the tenth anniversary. We are the first such race in each new season and following the decision we simply had no time to order and make the towels available.
We know it’s something that has become part of the series in the last two years; but we put that budget into increasing medical to three times the norm on this course given the weather forecast; to increasing ‘volunteer’ numbers and to growing our team to meet the challenge of a field some 40% more than seen in Yeppoon previously.
They rose to the occasion.
We also went back to the premium style hoodie; and I’m glad most were happy with what they received.
MEDALS: Given the minimum quantity required for a premium medal as would have befitted the tenth anniversary; we could simply not proceed with this initiative given final entries.
FINISHER’S SHIRT: Many competitors have requested that we could put out a finisher’s shirt based on that used by our volunteers. This we can do; we’ll take orders on-line until September 4th and then order and post them out. We will further subsidise this shirt (it will be a generic cotton tee; male and female sizing) and it will be $25-00 GST and postage paid for males and $27.50 GST and postage paid for females (ladies – all tee shirts cut to women’s shapes are more expensive than for the men!)
Final design will incorporate similar colours
Remember when you order to scroll down the page and mark deliver at event to waive the normal postage charges...
This will be a one-time order only and no further orders will be taken post September 4th.
FACTS AND FIGURES:
In 2006 we finished more athletes in this race than we started in 2005. In 2008 we raced 50% more than that again! Thank you to you the competitors for making that possible.
Conditions in 2009 were quiet to a little breezy in the swim; breezy to windy on the bike and a warm to hot in the run as the sun gripped the Capricorn Coast firmly on the day. There were some who found the going hard; others who did it easy; such is the progress of a race such as this.
Right now we've posted the provisional results to the front page of the web site at www.capricornhalf.com and we'll up-date those results to ‘official’ within a few days now...and list under the results tab on doing so.
SURVEY:
To allow you the competitor; our customer, to advise us on what you want and how you want it we’ll be following this newsletter with a very comprehensive survey based on gaining information from the 10th Anniversary Capricorn Resort Half Ironman to achieve the following:
Shape the race for the second decade by fine tuning or indeed changing facets of what we do now to better cater for the wants of the athlete in 2010.
Address feedback for the Resort to better cater for athletes in EVERY area of Resort operations.
Address the general needs of competitors so we can better work with Yeppoon and Yeppoon tourism to make available more facilities for you around the Capricorn Coast.
Gain information on product usage to better fine tune Expo exhibitors etc.
General tourism information from which we can develop a visitation strategy for the Capricorn Coast area.
And to show reward for effort, we’ll put up one free entry to the 2010 Capricorn Resort Half Ironman for one lucky respondent to the survey also!
LOST AND FOUND:
We have some items of value still unclaimed and others not yet found. One local resident has found a Polar watch on the road side; we have the odd wetsuit... and other things, but sadly there’s a sleeveless wetsuit out there still looking for its real owner; It was accidently left in the carpark near the resort so if you have rescued it please advise us so we may inform the owner how to collect it from you. The owner is a long time competitor and veteran of the sport – it would be neat to find the suit and reunite the duo!
NEXT:
On December 13th, it's the Crowne Plaza Canberra City Half Ironman (and yes – there’s a towel!) and the Canberra leg of the Ultimate Aussie Team Challenge. Check out details of this great challenge and all our races (including the 2010 Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore (March 21st 2010 – early bird entry closes August 31st!) via the X-Tri portal at www.x-tri.com.au
We hope to shortly confirm, ratify and announce the date for the 2010 Capricorn Resort Half Ironman. You can be sure it will retain its mid-August slot however, and it will happen!
Safe training and travels and may the rest of the 2009/2010 season bring you much success!
