SALTHOUSE AND TOBIN-WHITE EARN TOP BILLING IN CANBERRA

TRIATHLON, February 2, 2012: Round two winners from the 2012 Australian Junior Triathlon Series in Canberra last Saturday, Ellie Salthouse and Joel Tobin-White, both know there is no such thing as resting on their laurels.
 
Queensland’s Salthouse, the 2010 Youth Olympic silver medallist and defending Series champion, knew she had to improve her swim if she was going to maintain her positioning as one of Australia’s emerging triathlon stars.
 
While Tobin-White, from Victoria, was determined to turn around a frustrating end to 2011 if he too was to get his career back on track.
 
For Salthouse it was a marked increase in kilometres in the pool and regular stroke correction in the lead up to the 2012 season that has already seen a marked improvement in her swim leg.

She certainly showed the benefits of her increased pool sessions of up to 50km-a-week under coach Warwick Dalziel at the Clem Jones Centre at Carina.
 
There were immediate dividends when she was third out of the water after the 750m swim behind fellow Queenslander Brittany Forster and Laura Cook (NSW).
 
The 18-year-old quickly took her position in the front pack for the 20km bike leg to control her race before a dominant five kilometre run split of 17 minutes 13 seconds – easily the fastest of the day.
 
After by-passing the opening race of the Series at Runaway Bay, Salthouse was determined to start her season with a bang and she didn’t disappoint.
 
“I knew I had to improve my swim and at a recent 1000m time trial my time improved by over a minute to 12 minutes 44 seconds so all the hard work in the pool has certainly paid off,” said Salthouse.
 
“It gave me some confidence when I jumped on the bike and I was able to dictate the race and put myself in a strong position for the run.”
 
Queensland’s Emily Bevan, first off the bike, finished second ahead of Western Australian Jaz Hedgeland, who was well placed for the entire race after coming out of the water in fifth position.
 
After the opening two races of the three-race Australian Junior Triathlon Series, it is the consistent Hedgeland who leads the Series Pointscore on 17 points from Bevan (14), Forster and Holly Grice (13) with Salthouse, Bree Jones, who missed Canberra with a wrist injury and Cook all on 11.
 
The win in Canberra has set Salthouse up for a tilt at her next three events, the 2012 Kinloch OTU Sprint Triathlon Continental Cup in Lake Taupo, New Zealand this weekend; the 2012 Geelong ITU Sprint Triathlon (February 12) and the all-important 2012 Australian ITU Junior and Oceania OUT Junior Championships in Devonport, Tasmania (March 10).
 
Men’s race winner saw Tobin-White’s decision to spend three weeks at a Falls Creek training camp under Victorian coaching duo Jan Rehula and Jono Hall turned his season around.
 
“I knew I had to do something after a shocker in the first race at Runaway Bay – I wasn’t well, I wasn’t fit, I had come off a calf nerve injury and constant illness and I was really at a loose end,” said Tobin-White.
 
“I sat down with my coach Simon Knowles and we decided that come Boxing Day I would attend the high intensity, three sessions a day camp at Falls Creek with a lot of the VIS junior athletes.
 
“The coaches all agreed that I needed to get stronger in the pool and on the bike and swim sessions with paddles and with pool-boy, paddles and bands in the pool and to chalk up the miles on the bike to get myself back to where I needed to be.
 
“It was a great three weeks with Jan and Jono in constant contact with Simon and it certainly made all the difference in the lead up to the Canberra race that’s for sure.

“I needed to turn things around and it certainly did the trick.”
 
Tobin-White was 15th out of the water but within striking distance of the leaders after the 750m swim and with a strong 20km bike ride with Declan Wilson the pair then recorded the two fastest run five-km run splits of the day, 14 mins 47 and 15 mins 02 respectively.
 
Third home was Western Australian Kenji Nener who recorded the third fastest run of 15:25 and who has taken over the overall lead in the Australian Junior Championship after his second place at the Runaway Bay Super Sprint Round One race.
 
Nener sits on top of the points on 17 ahead of tightly-bunched next five of Tobin-White, Christian Wilson and Declan Wilson on 13 points, ahead of Braden Ludlow and Runaway Bay winner Marcel Walkington on 11.
 
The final race in the Series is the 2012 Australian Junior Championships and 2012 OTU Oceania Junior Triathlon Championships in Devonport on March 10 – a double points race.
 
The best two results will count towards the overall series pointscore with the winner of the Devonport round also receiving the opportunity of automatic selection into the Australian Junior Team for the 2012 ITU Auckland World Triathlon Championships in October.
 
Issued on behalf of Triathlon Australia