Orange Cycle and Triathlon Club's Central West Inter-Club Series title defence begins at Mudgee on Sunday, the Piranhas will be searching for their second consecutive title after reclaiming the throne from Bathurst last summer.
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This year's title race will be different too, for the time since the series' inception Triathlon NSW has stepped in to administer the competition, alleviating some pressure on the competing clubs and their hard-working volunteers.
The format remains the same, with each club hosting a round, however there point-scoring system has once again been revamped in a bid to equalise the competition, leveling the playing field between the bigger clubs like Orange and Bathurst and their smaller counterparts.
The Dubbo triathlon Club has often battled for numbers in the Inter-Club series but hopes are for a stronger showing this year after a number of new members signed on for the 2019/20 season.
The clubs taking part this season are Orange, Bathurst, Dubbo, Mudgee, and Cowra.
This season will see clubs be able to earn a maximum of 25 points at any one event to ensure one race won't necessarily result in a club winning a division, and at this weekend's Mudgee leg Inter-Club points will be awarded for both the super sprint and main race.
Performance points will also be awarded in the latter.
This weekend's series-opening leg will feature a unique, five-pronged race format, with the main, enduro race to be run over a two-kilometre run, 250-metre pool swim and 18km cycle leg, before athletes return to the pool for another 250m swim and another 2km run.
The opening race of the Mudgee leg is the Little Devils race that starts at 8am, before the Big Devils, super sprint and enduro races begin at 8.15am, 8.45am and 9.25am respectively.
The afternoon will also include a newly-established award named after Soolan Clifford, who tragically died while on a training ride in August. The award will be presented to the first female finisher over the age of 50.
Triathlon NSW spoke to Mudgee committee member Giselle Denley ahead of the start of the season, in which the Red Devils will look to claim their 13th title. Although Orange has been the recent powerhouse, Mudgee is actually the most successful club in the series' history.
She said her club's excited to host the opening leg and predicted both Orange and Bathurst would come out firing on Sunday.
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Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
