Competitors from Port Fairy and Hamilton claim Killarney triathlon honours

Hamilton's Gabrielle Lanman won the women's section, completing the 500-metre swim, 16km ride and 4km run in one hour and four minutes.

Port Fairy's Ruben De Silva-Smith made it back-to-back wins in the men's section, storming through the picturesque course in 52 minutes.

Gabrielle, 34, said she loved Warrnambool Tri Club events because they were inclusive of all ages and abilities.

Her mother, Lyn Lanman, accepted the Killarney challenge too, tackling ride and bike legs.

"She's the winner of this race today," her proud daughter said.

Gabrielle, who is mum to Alex, Kai and Nyah Ham, said her children took part in Saturday's Couch to Coast Family Triathlon too.

"I've come to this race for many years and it's always so well run," she said.

"The tri club do such a good job in making it safe and accessible for everyone who wants to have a go."

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Gabrielle won from Australian representative Jenny Dowie (second) and Penny Mather (third).

She said the result was a bonus after taking up the sport a decade ago.

"I tried to be pretty competitive then and then had the kids and have come along just to be active," Gabrielle said. "Now I have been able to do a little bit of extra training here and there and it feels a little bit easier to do each of the legs again.

"I've had a good race today, it was nice and calm. It's usually a windy ride but today was much better.

"I always enjoy the swim. It's beautiful to be in the water even though it's always cold getting in."

Ruben, 16, took out the March edition of the twice-yearly Killarney race and said "winning twice in a year is really nice".

The Emmanuel College student, who finished ahead of Andy Ryan (second) and Greg Pudney (third), said Sunday's race was dealt warmer conditions.

"The sun is out so obviously there's sweat in the eyes and running on the sand is always hard," he said.

De Silva is training for longer and bigger events and said the Killarney challenge was "good to get a feel for the racing environment".

Luke Taylor, Sam Edney and Travis Greening won the team's event.

Race director Dave McIntyre was pleased with all three distances - the Couch to Coast, main triathlon and shorter come-and-tri circuit.

"We had people today who had never done a triathlon until they did Couch to Coast last year and they've come back for some more," he said.

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