AFTER coming second three times in national youth triathlons, Camperdown’s Kurt McDonald finally snared a national title with his win at the Australian Youth Triathlon Championships yesterday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
On a day when temperatures on the Sunshine Coast course reached the mid-30s, Kurt, 15, took out the 15-16 year old age championship with a time of 36 minutes, 29 seconds.
Kurt said several competitors collapsed in the hot conditions that were not eased with any breeze.
Organisers shortened the bike leg of the course from 16 kilometres to 12km and the run from 4km to 3km because of the heat.
The length of the swim leg remained at 600 metres.
Kurt said he was happy with his time given the wilting conditions. “It (the heat) was not something I was used to but I kept putting water over myself.”
He was pleased he was able to maintain a high performance across all three legs of the event.
“I was in the top five in the swim, third on the bike and first on the run.”
In the final run leg, he had a rival chasing only 10 metres behind for about two kilometres before he surged ahead to win by about 100 metres.
“There was no time to slow down,” he said.
The national championship comes after a huge training commitment by the teenager that includes 4.30am rises four times a week to travel to Warrnambool for swimming coaching with Jayson Lamb.
His father Dieter McDonald, an accomplished triathlete himself, trains Kurt in the other disciplines.
The swimming coaching is part of a 20-hour-a-week training regime that the year 11 Camperdown College student undertakes for most of the year.
Kurt placed second in his age division in last year’s Australian Youth Triathlon and has also been runner-up twice in the Australian All Schools Triathlon.
He said he expected to next take on triathlons in the Gatorade series in Melbourne as well as any Warrnambool Triathlon Club races.
Then he said he might have a short rest before tackling the next triathlon season.
