Achievable Triathlon back for the seventh time
Competitors in the Junior Tinbum Triathlon 2008
The seventh annual Tinbum Triathlon will take place on Sunday 8 March.
The highly achievable triathlon based at the Pohara Beach Top Ten Holiday Park has become a fixture for serious athletes and once-a-year wannabes from Golden Bay and beyond.
Individuals and teams of two or three line up to compete against each other and themselves and there is a grade for everyone. There are trophies for business and family teams.
No great prizes are at stake because every prize is a spot prize, but the original tin bum trophies are highly sought after. Grade winners are allowed to keep these very eye-catching trophies for a year.
The Tinbum consists of a 300 metre swim, a 7.5 kilometre bike ride and a 4.5 kilometre run.
“It’s all pretty do-able,” said event organiser Mark Allinson. “The swim is in chest-deep water so no-one should feel they’re too far from land to stand up if they need to. We used to have the swim in even shallower water but we found that some people ran instead of swimming. The bike ride is pretty hilly and a bit gnarly in places but it’s not too long. The run is very flat going along the beach at Pohara and back down the lovely walkway to the camp.”
Mark explained that the organisers do not pester businesses or individuals for prizes.
“We decided that we’d give out whatever people felt happy about donating,” he said. “Businesses and people in general around here are incredibly generous and they do get hammered at times, so we just accept what people send along. So far we’ve always had plenty of spot prizes to give out.”
So that younger triathletes don’t feel left out, the Junior Tinbum happens on the same day, just after the big people’s event. The Motupipi School community takes responsibility for the Junior Tinbum and it always draws a large field.
Entries for both the Tinbums are taken on the day and people who want to donate prizes can contact the organisers on 525 8226 or 525 7369.
Neil Wilson
