Burgh Babes Abroad - part 1
Friday 4th January
Helensburgh Athletics Club in Australia.
In Australia, Mary Connolly
joined more than 4000 people to complete the run and swim in Lorne which is on the Great Ocean Road,
a fantastic tourist attraction!
The run started an hour late at 7pm due to the heat. The temperature was still 30 degrees centigrade at the start. The course was varied with some steep hills following local streets before cutting off into the bush where people were falling over tree roots. The track was narrow and crowded but Mary pulled away and passed quite a few runners in the shade on the bush path as it was much cooler and her training with the Helensburgh running club paid off.
Finishing along a coastal path to the finish wearing her Helensburgh running vest, Mary, a veteran runner was 6th in her category doing an excellent time of 44 minutes and 9 seconds.
Undaunted, Mary turned up for the open water swim the next day
and found it hard doing the swim on her own as she usually trained with Emma Cummings, a fellow triathlete.
Mary had done very little training in open waters; people who spent December in Rhu will appreciate this! The temperature in Lorne was 40 degrees centigrade when the swim started at 1 pm. The shark helicopter had been out the day before but there were no casualties.
The water was cool but competitors were
allowed to wear wetsuits. The veteran females wore a bright green swim hat
and started in a wave together. The distance of 1.2 kilometres equated to 48 laps of the Helensburgh pool, where Mary
completed her training.
The shore came into sight and Mary ran along the beach to the end. The family was there to cheer her on and take a few photos.
Arthur had come down to support as well as her son Paul and his girlfriend Anna who stay in Melbourne. Missing were her daughter
Jill and her boyfriend Chuck, both at home in Glasgow.
Mary took a time of 30 minutes and 44 seconds and was 69th place out of 120 women in her category, a very respectable time. Hopefully this is only the start of her races in Australia this year.