Liam McCoach wins overall honours with ease at Albany’s Sprint Triathlon at Middleton Beach

Triathlete Liam McCoach produced a superb performance to win the 2022 Southern Ports Albany Sprint Triathlon held at Middleton Beach on Sunday morning. More than 30 individual competitors and four teams took part in the annual event run by the Albany Triathlon Club. McCoach smashed his rivals by more than six minutes in the sprint triathlon category, consisting of a 750m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run. After being the first competitor out of the water, McCoach consolidated his lead in the challenging cycle course, which included climbing the gruelling Marine Drive twice. He finished with a slick display in the run to stop the clock in an impressive overall time of 1hr 1min. 31sec. The Duncraig resident said he fell in love with the Albany course and praised the local club for their efforts in holding the event. “It was a really good day out,” McCoach said. “I’ve never raced in Albany before but I loved it. “I had a slow start in the swim and rode as hard as I could before setting a nice comfortable pace running, but there were some really technical parts in the bike leg and (it was) a bit undulating on the run which was great. “For a small, quiet event it was unreal and I’ll definitely be back next year. “The whole team down there did a great job putting the event on, it was just good to do a triathlon. “I’ve seen what it’s like to organise a race in Perth let alone Albany in these times, so big thanks to all the volunteers for making it happen.” Jarryd Heldt was second across the line in 1:07:32 and Albany’s Jackson Pitman was third in 1:07:33 while the top five was rounded out by Jackson Shaw (1:07:49) and John McCann (1:10:05). Sue Beattie was the first female to finish the course in a time of 1:21:53 and was closely followed by Jennie Halliman (1:22:55). Winners in the veteran category were McCann (male) and Erin Miller (female), who stopped the clock at 1:29:50, while the super veterans division was won by Darryl Harris in 1:15:06. The enticer race, made up of a 375m swim, 10km cycle and 2.5km run, was taken out by Melissa Collins in 45:58 and the duathlon (2.5km beach run, 20km cycle, 5km run) had one competitor in Ken Willis (1:23:32). Ellis Kerr won the teams event in 1:16:35 ahead of Have A Tri (1:27:43) and Team De Leo (1:28:10).