Last weekend up north saw the Noosa Summer swim and Tweed Coast Enduro which doubled as the 1st qualifying race for the Long Course / Aquabike race for 2024 Townsville multisport world champs. In country Victoria we were at Swan Hill sprint tri and Ballarat cycling classic. Also In Bendigo we had the 2022 Sports star of the year awards.
Saturday night saw the finals for Bendigo sports start of the year awards. Markcus Brown was the winner for the month of may after his epic results taking out overall win at Ultraman Australia. This year's event was made for Markcus with horrendous weather conditions on day 3 which include torrential rain all day and having to wade through flash flooding on the course. Congratulations Markcus on being recognized on the big stage for your achievement against all the other local bendigo superstars off mainstream sports.
Up north at Tweed Enduro those weather gods turned up the temperature dial which made for a tough day out for those doing the full long course. The so called downstream tidal swim did not eventuate which made for a slow tough swim for all. Brad Mitchell made his debut at the long course distance and was having a great day out until the sweltering conditions got to him around 5 km from home. In true Thrive spirit he pushed on and came home in 5 hours flat for his 1st attempt. In the aquabike we had Coach Chris tear up the bike course winning AG and 2nd place overall picking up maximum qualification points for WC. Felicity also raced strong finishing in 8th. Sarah Pye did the Sprint race as a race practice as she approaches Mooloolaba in a few weeks. At Noosa summer swim our very own Ian Crump
Back in country Victoria on Sunday the weather cools down after a few crazy hot days. We had Swan hill sprint tri which saw a great turn out for a small local community race. The Thrive community was strong as we saw Super mum Bek Cladingboels not only take out overall line honors she has been such a role model her oldest daughter Isla joined in on the fun. Blake just keeps showing consistent work overtime and will still keep achieving results finishing only 1 step of the podium. One of new members and a local to swan hill Bayley Forbes took for his 1st race back after a few years away from the sports and set down a smoking 20 min flat run split. Not only did he do the race but out helped out the event providing free post race massage.
Three Thrive athletes took on the Ballarat cycle classic last Sunday. Bailey Tuddenham used a weekend off from racing to bank 100km in the legs. Brett O'neill also took the opportunity to keep building up after a recent ankle injury by completing the 80km ride. While Kylie Smith left the comfort of the flatland home to challenge herself with the hilly 60km course finishing strong
