Our tri-ers gunning for Port Macquarie ironman

And Brett Mundie, Brayden Walsh and Thomas Healey know they’ve got a long weekend ahead of them – 1418km to get there so they can swim 3.8km in the Hastings River, transition to 180km on a bike course along the Pacific Ocean and wrap it up with a full 42.2km marathon.

Walsh admitted he was mostly nervous about the weekend ahead.

The 32-year-old has only been doing triathlons for two years and joined the Echuca-Moama Triathlon Club just 12 months ago.

“I have already done two half ironmans – at Geelong and Melbourne – and I reckon cycling is my best leg,” Walsh said.

“But a full ironman two years in is a pretty ambitious goal,” he said.

“So yeah, with the race this close I am starting to get pretty nervous.”

Bamawm’s Brett Mundie is another ironman rookie and said he was a bit amazed to be fronting his first major event this weekend.

The 40-year-old has gone from his first triathlon in January – the annual EM Tri Club event – to now tackling the big one barely nine months later.

“I was a runner originally, and I really enjoy the distance thing which comes with triathlon,” Mundie explained.

“But what I get most out of it is the team spirit with the tri people here in Echuca-Moama,” he said.

“In a lot of ways, we are just a crazy group looking for something to do together and this seemed like the best idea, and I am looking forward to it.”

At the other end of the scale is Darren McKemmish, at 58 one of the club veterans, who first did Port Macquarie four years ago.

Setting a time of 14.37:00 in 2022 he is “looking to smash that” this year.

He joined the EM tri club a decade ago and since then has been at the forefront of competition – maybe not the fastest but definitely one of the keenest.

“I have done a lot of short events, a half ironman at Cairns, Geelong and Melbourne and two Olympic distance events at Mulwala and Melbourne,” McKemmish said.

“Originally I played soccer, but the triathlons all started with a mate and I taking up bike riding a fair while ago, and then we added running and next thing was triathlons,” he said.

“The club is a great environment with a fantastic team spirit and we’re looking forward to the weekend.”

Another veteran, Andy Rogers, has had a remarkably interrupted career of triathlon firsts, lasts and almosts.

He started triathlons in 2015, and his first full ironman was in Melbourne 11 years ago – which turned out to be the last one held there.

“I was meant to do another one six years ago, in Port Macquarie, but it was cancelled because of Covid, so I have had a big gap between my first one and now my second,” Rogers explained.

“In fact, after the Covid cancellation I sort of fell out of love with triathlons for a while but some of the guys in the club helped drag me back into it,” he said.

The Birmingham, UK, native moved to Cohuna 16 years ago after meeting his wife Lisa, also from Cohuna but living in the UK, where their son Alex (now 17 and learning to drive) was born.

“Lisa did the first club one with me as well – Alex isn’t into it, but he is a good runner.”

Mulkearns, who was AusTriathlons 2024 Victorian coach of the year, is also originally from Cohuna, but was based in Melbourne for 15 years before returning home where she continues to work as a triathlon coach, with athletes on her roster not just in northern Victoria but across the country.

While she is only doing the half ironman this weekend while also helping her athletes prepare and compete, Mulkearns has done the big Cohuna after qualifying for Kona, the legendary Hawaiian ironman, and has also completed one in Las Vegas as well as events in Australia.

“The squad looks really good, and with the weather forecast we are expecting some rain and challenges, but it looks as though the wind will be with us, which really helps,” Mulkearns said.

“We have a good mix of full, and half distance competitors and they are all in good shape and raring to go,” she added.

Jason Collins, who will do the 70.3 event this year had been hoping to go the whole hog, but a few setbacks played havoc with his training schedule.

It is the second half for the 39-year-old – he did his first in Geelong in March.

“I have been doing triathlon for two years and while my plan was to go all the way this weekend, my body had other ideas,” Collins explained.

“I had a bulging disc in my neck and then a separate hip problem, so I was never going to get the training done,” he said.

“But we will get this one in the bank and go from there.”