Algae in Yarralumla Bay turned the annual Women's and Girls Triathlon into a duathlon on Saturday. The 100 competitors were urged to ''find their inner runner'' as the swim leg was swapped for another run leg.
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The ''WAG Tri,'' now in its 12th year, is the culmination of a six-week Females In Training (FIT) course, which introduces novices to triathlons but the event, which had women from age 12 to over 70, boasted a number of experienced triathletes too.
''There were five women racing who had just come back from the world triathlon championships in New Zealand,'' co-ordinator Di Evans said.
Unsurprisingly, two of them, Jodie Barker and Michelle Burns, were the first home in the longer course, which involved a two-kilometre run, 16km bike ride and 4km run to finish, with Jasmine Foxlee rounding out the places.
In the shorter course, which involved a 1km run, 8km bike ride and 2km run, Melissa McClusky took line honours, with teenager Georgia Hardy second and Yaeli Liebowitz in third.
On Sunday, the 9km Sri Chinmoy National Capital Swim, had better luck with the lake water than the WAGs
''Yarralumla Bay beach was one of our transition areas, so we had to move that transition area but the body of the lake was fine,'' organiser Prachar Stegemann said.
Oliver Bourne won the event for the fourth time, this year in a wetsuit. The 18-year-old now holds the race record with and without the suit.
He was the only competitor to break two hours this year, completing the course in just over one hour 58 minutes.
Warren Keegan was the first to cross the line without the aid of a wetsuit.
Brooke James was the first woman home, in fifth place overall, also without a wetsuit, in a time just shy of 2:22:00.
Relay teams also competed, with ''4 Mates'' winning that category in 2:26:00