A record 1600 athletes took part in the event today, the largest field in the series history and continuing the trend of increased numbers across all triathlon events. Brisbane triathlete’s Dan Wilson and Ashley Finaughty put in solid performances to claim in race two of the Gatorade Queensland Tri Series at Robina this morning.

The Robina event has proven a happy hunting ground for Wilson previously winning on this course last series. Wilson established himself in the lead group on the 400m swim with Sam Betten, junior Reece Heald, Campbell Schmidt and Drew Box. Wilson was the first to exit transition on the bike and over the 3 lap cycle course a group of 8 formed. After a slow swim professional cyclist Deon Locke rode himself into contention. At the end of the 15km cycle all 8 athletes entered transition together, coming down to a foot race. The heat and high humidity was a telling factor over the 4km run with Locke the first casualty and fading to finish 6th. Wilson weathered the conditions best to finish just 8 seconds ahead of Betten backing up after a top ten finish at Noosa Triathlon and Heald, a product of the National Talent Identification Program for aspiring athletes.

In the Women’s field it was Junior QAS athlete Emma Jackson was the first to emerge from the swim with a 12 second lead over Finaughty, Courtney Dutton, Kym Jaenke with Courtney Gillfillan a further 10 seconds adrift. Gillfillan made up for the slow swim with a blistering bike leg putting her back into contact with Finaughty, Jackson and Dutton heading back into T2. However, it was Finaughty who showed a clean pair of heels on the run course, clocking 14:10 for the 4km, over a minute faster than Jackson who grabbed second from Gilfillan.

Next Race – 14th December at Raby Bay