Mandurah Triathlon Club History
The Mandurah Triathlon Club has an emphasis on enjoyment and the encouragement of a healthy lifestyle through multi sport training and competition for those keen to step up to the line. The club caters for everyone from the seasoned triathlete to those yet to enter a race. This is reflected in our diverse member base, with people of all ages and fitness levels.
All members of the Mandurah Triathlon Club share the same desire to push the boundaries that we set ourselves, to push their fitness to new levels, to gain out of the challenge and most of all… to look forward to the social coffee at the end of a long cycle or a Sunday morning triathlon.
Our club is made up of a number of dedicated volunteers and enthusiastic members. Thank you to the dedicated helpers who assist the committee to set up and run each race meeting.
Putting out signs in the dark for the cycle leg.
Placing cones for the run and cycle legs.
Building bike racks.
Finishing line, poles, flags.
Water safety.
Registrations.
Members who go out riding with the trystars to keep them safe.
The valuable timekeepers.
And the Water station children
Then there is the jobs after the race:
Packing away the signs, cones, bikes, racks, table, finish line and then finally the trailer driving it back down to the sea container.
But it doesn’t stop there:
The job of downloading and formatting the results and uploading to the internet so that members can check results that morning and Ted can write an article for the local papers.
Richard Garnsworthy, Clive Choate and Doug Ray established the Mandurah Triathlon Club on July 1st, 1988.
Prior to that date, these three with a handful of other local endurance enthusiasts participated in team events like the Blackwood Marathon from 1980, the first triathlon held in WA at Katanning Triathlon in 1983, and numerous events like the Bunbury Triathlon and Perth Triathlon series.
Richard Garnsworthy, Clive Choate and Ian Wookey competed in the first World Triathlon Olympic race held at Fremantle in 1987.
Triathlon interest grew in the WA sporting community. The South-West games was the catalyst to form a Mandurah Triathlon Club. A number of members competed in the inaugural South-West Games at Bunbury where the swim leg was replaced by a canoe leg, which incidentally was held in pouring rain and hailstones.
Mandurah was the next Shire to host the games three years later in 1988. It was decided to form the Club before this event which enhanced interest, promoted the Games and participation, and provided a platform for organisation.
From humble beginnings of a dozen participants, the Club now under President Alan Clark, boasts a strong membership base.
Early days of triathlon saw members Richard Garnsworthy, Clive Choate, Doug Ray, Gavin Coles, David Redfern, Clyde England, Les Machin, Shane Colum, Ian Crane, Ian Wookey, Grant Orr and Laurie Longworth race in local events like the Falcon Thunderdome, Madora Bay Massacre, Halls Head Horror and the Barragup Gutbuster.
Technology soon changed the sport with advanced timing systems, specific training programmes, aerodynamic and lighter bikes, specific nutrition demands and slicker changes between the three disciplines of the sport.
Clyde England and Graham Maier were to the forefront is writing triathlon programmes and maintaining data bases and results. The Club had a regular newsletter and everyone was very well informed.
The Mandurah Triathlon Club was to the forefront in conducting State events and introduced the first “bike- cam” commentary during the South-West Games event at Riverside Gardens.
The WA State Interclub race was the brainchild of Clive Choate and this very popular event has been hosted at Doddies’ Beach for almost 20 years. Along with the State Town and Country event, these two races have raised many thousands of dollars for Club funds.
The Club has supported beginners of all ages to the sport and is heavily involved through the efforts of Jo-Kelly Wilson, in a huge juniors’ programme. The foundations were set in the early years by Lynne Choate, Matt Ritikis and Laurie Longworth through the junior Fruit and Veg programmes.
From the early years there have been many local and international successes. Peter Ware was the Club’s first to race overseas and completed the Canadian and famous Hawaiin Ironman – a race of 3.8 km swim, 180 km cycle and 42.2 km run.
Barbara Prince was the first local female to race in Hawaii after many State and Australian successes.
Dave Boyes and Michelle Boyes (nee Clinton) have competed with exceptional success in the Hawaiin
Ironman after outstanding events at the Australian Championships. They have both been crowned State Champions in Triathlon WA series competitions.
Neil Hall and Marcel Weijers have raced many Ironman events internationally, while Gavin Coles and Steven Brown have been successful in the Australian Ironman. Many club members have completed the Western Australian Busselton Ironman race.
Richard Garnsworthy has been a winner in the Northern Territory State Championship race. Clive Choate has raced in most States in Australia, including a second place in the Northern Territory Long Course.
Katrina Burnett has come through the junior system to be one of WA’s elite female competitors and has finished 5th in Canada at the World Olympic distance championships.
Gabbi Miller represented WA in Canberra, while Gabrielle Workman was an elite junior competitor and pushed for Australian selection at the elite under 23 age group. Robert Whiteway, Danielle Longworth, Farren Ray and Jayden Veljacich were talented juniors.
In the early years of the club, Richard Garnsworthy, with Clive and Lynne Choate, combined to win gold at a World Championship Masters’ team’s event, while Linda Ray has been State Champion and won silver at the World Masters’ games in a team event with Clive Choate in Queensland.
David Whiteley, more recently, has been a State Champion and an outstanding competitor. Ivan and Pauline Wiltshire have been exceptional competitors at World Olympic distance Championships and both have been State Champions on many occasions.
A number of Mandurah Triathletes have been selected to represent Australia at World Championships with Ivan and Pauline Wiltshire, Andrew Luraschi, Clive Choate, David Whiteley and Darryl Harris lining up in various competitions.
Club members Julia Norris, Treana Jones, Clive Choate, Matthew Ritikis and Steven Brown who have all won the Blackwood Ironman race, while David Berglund has excelled in many multi-discipline events and also trialled for the Olympic Games.
The Club has a regular eight race summer series as well as winter duathlon races. A feature of summer events has been the popular “Splash & Dash” every Friday night at Doddies’ Beach – a promotion of family fun and fitness, open to everyone.
There has been a wonderful link and friendly rivalry with the neighbouring Rockingham Triathlon Club with many participants enjoying “The Smelly Shoe” interclub splash and dash events and duathlons.
Country links with Wheatbelt Clubs has seen grass roots triathlon supported by the Mandurah Club with Darryl Harris, Rohan Wozniuk, Peter Boyce, Steven Choate and Steven Wiseman winning in these series.
Many triathletes have put back into the sport through their coaching expertise. Graham Maier has coached at State level, while Matthew Ritikis, Grant Orr, Laurie Longworth and Clayton Bennett have been very active.
Similarly, the Club has never had difficulty finding Committee members and none have worked harder than Mark Hookway, Grant Tomlinson, Julie Harris, Graham Hall, Brent Burton, Kathryn Hookham, Elliott Combes and Bill Dunn.
Popular Club President, Brian Whiteway and wonderful clubman Steve Batty, both of whom were killed in training accidents, will be fondly remembered.
The Mandurah Triathlon Club is one of the oldest Clubs in WA and has been a wonderful organisation for triathlon in the Peel District.