Following the success of Race 1 back in March this year, Race 2 hosted by the newly-formed Apia Triathlon Club last Saturday at the Mulinu’u peninsula attracted 36 participants. 

They were ready and willing participants, many of them new to the sport, were greeted by near perfect conditions for the early morning start.

The children were challenged with a 200 meter shallow water swim, 1km bike and 1km run. Some chose to scooter instead of bike and one even had a skateboarder just to be part of the event. 

In the end, Tyreece Collins was too strong, finishing in a time of 16:16 with Filipo Mulitalo,  less than a minute behind in second place. 

Club spokesperson Bernard Poort said they are looking forward to both these boys graduating to the EnTri event at the next race.

Next up was the EnTri event designed for individuals and teams who just want to be part of and try multi-sport racing. With a 200m swim, 10km bike and 2km run, it was a challenge for newcomers to the sport.

Laura McIlhenny from the Australian High Commission took overall line honors with a super impressive race time of 39:21. 

Anything sub 40 minutes is really quick and the organisers said they look forward to seeing Laura step up to the big race in coming months. Second place went to local athlete Urlin Mulitalo who just couldn’t hold out the fast finishing McIlhenny.

First timer who is new to the island, Beth Evans was also very impressive with a blistering swim and overall time of 40:41 in third place.

Two corporate teams Young Steel and GY Electrical faced off with the team from Young Steel (Nevo, Otoata and Falaniko) building on their Race 1 experience to finish with a winning time of 39.51. 

Poort said they are looking for more corporate teams participating in their next event.

The Sprint Race is the most common setup of triathlon globally. With a 750m swim, 20km bike and a 5km run you need to be very fit and good at all components if you are to be competitive at this level of the triathlon. 

According to Poort they were blessed to have a world class and 12-time Ironman in Darren Young competing in this race and showing class, comfortably winning Race 2 in a time of 1:12:01.

The second place went to Matt Howden (Laura’s husband) in a time of 1:19:50 with Poort (ANZ Bank) limping over the line in third in a time of 1:23:27. 

Gideon Mulitalo and Wally Collins fought out line honours in the teams event for the full course, both using substitutes for the run and swims respectively. 

Newcomers Porpoise Club (Holly, Derek and Vaimo’oi’a) took out third place in the teams event with a time of 1:27.53.

The next event from ATC will be held on Saturday 29 May starting from the Mulinu’u Boat Ramp. 

Poort added that they have plenty of gear and training tips available though the biggest challenge with a triathlon is just committing to make the start line! 

“Events are free to enter and if you need any assistance please contact us through our Facebook site (Apia Triathlon Club),” he said.