A skydive onto an island followed by a gruelling swim to shore. Sounds like an episode of Survivor, right? Wrong.
The Jurien Bay Clouds 2 Coast Triathlon was held on Saturday 28 October and saw six elite triathletes – including former West Coast Eagle Beau Waters — skydiving onto Jurien Bay’s Boullanger Island in an action-packed world-first triathlon format.
After the adrenaline pumping 15,000ft skydive, the athletes swam 1100m across the channel to the mainland, took on a 24km cycle along the picturesque Turquoise Coast and ended with a 6km charge to the finish line at the end of the Jurien Bay jetty in front of a large crowd of spectators.
Team Ray White Jurien Bay were the eventual winners, powering through the race with a combined time of 2:22.25 from Jonney Sammut (winner SunSmart Triathlon Series 2016/17, 3rd place WA Triathlete of the Year 2017) and Rosie Farrell (5th Place WA Triathlete of the Year 2017).
Husband and wife pair Guy Crawford (multiple Ironman 70.3 winner) and Kate Bevilaqua (3 x Ironman Champion) representing Team WA Country Builders finished in second place with a combined time of 2:25.13. Both were feeling a little fatigued, having arrived home after a 25 hour trip from Houston, Texas on Thursday night.
After a small spill on the bike, Beau Waters (Premiership Player West Coast Eagles, 2 x finisher Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon) and Kerry Morris (2017 State Sprint and Olympic Distance Champion, 2017 WA Triathlete of the Year) from Team Skydive Jurien Bay came in third place with a combined time of 2:28.35.
The event, filmed by one of WA’s leading video production companies (Clip Media Motion), will be broadcast post-event and will show-off Jurien Bay’s breathtaking coastal scenery with an aim to boost tourism.
