Yass Valley Triathlon Club is continuing to grow and is proud to hold its first-ever club-run event. Coming up on January 29th 2023 will be the ‘Finish Lines not Finish Times’ event, which is a free women’s triathlon aimed at getting women who have never done a triathlon before to give it a go, with all expenses paid.
‘Finish Lines not Finish Times’ is a super sprint triathlon, so a very short event. It’s a 400m swim, a 10km ride, and a 2 ½ km run, which will be held at Victoria Park and the Yass Swimming Pool.
Club secretary AIex Apse said it will be a festival of triathlon, with barbecues and community events surrounding it as well.
“It’ll be free for any women who want to take part, they just need to reach out to us to get in contact for the registration process. We’ll also be offering free training sessions in the lead up to it, covering everything from bike maintenance to how to develop good swimming technique, how to do hill running sessions, how to safely ride in a bunch on the road,” she said.
“The ‘Finish Lines not Finish Times’ will also be able to be done as a team event, so if you’re not confident swimming, you can just do the ride and the run. It’s really a ‘choose your own adventure’ for whatever people are comfortable with.”
Alex explained that this event is a milestone for the Yass Valley Triathlon Club, as the other races they attend are organised by either other clubs or professional companies.
“This will be our first Yass Valley Triathlon Club event that we will have organised and run ourselves.”
“We want to thank the Yass community because we’ve had a lot of sponsors come forward. The Soldiers Club and the Yass Valley Council have agreed to provide grants to get people involved in triathlon and do things like purchase bikes. For those who don’t have the ability to purchase a bike, we can help in that regard and lend a bike to be able to train and learn how to ride,” said Alex.
With 18 official members from across Yass Valley, the Triathlon Club is continuing to grow and firmly root themselves as part of Yass Valley.
The majority of the club are racing members who are able to compete in NSW and ACT triathlons. Over the weekend, three team members just completed the Western Sydney Half Iron Man.
This was another milestone for the Yass Valley Triathlon Club as it was one of the first events that the club has been able to officially do. Team members were able to actually race as Yass Valley Triathlon Club— the newest Triathlon club in NSW.
As a club, members will be participating in more upcoming events in Canberra, including the the Jackie Fairweather Memorial Triathlon this October and the Canberra Sri Chimnoy Triple Triathlon in November. Alex encourages anyone interested in participating in these upcoming triathlons to join the club.
“We’ve got everyone from their mid 20s all the way to 60s. The majority of the club are women, but we’ve also got some amazing men who are members. We’re really looking to attract everyone and everyone who’s ever thought about wanting to swim, ride, or run,” she said.
While the club is currently for adults, Alex said they are interested in involving junior years and school groups in the future.
“Once we’re more established and we’ve figured out how to run it as an adults club, and we have enough volunteers. A big part of it is that we’re an entirely volunteer run club. Once we’ve figured out how to run these events and get some practice under our belt, in the future we’ll look to getting junior grades and the schools involved,” she said.
“We’re building this into a real community effort,” said Alex.
Southerly Jones
