Sport
23 August, 2024
Local Jeff Beer puts in strong effort in Townsville duathlon, finishing 14th in group
It’s fair to say that Maryborough triathlete Jeff Beer is currently having a terrific time in the sport.
After claiming a top three finish in his age group of 45-49 across the 2023/24 Victorian State Series which saw him run with terrific consistency, Beer decided to challenge himself, and made his way to Townsville for the World Triathlon Sprint Duathlon Championships last Friday afternoon.
His recent result of 14th out of 25 runners for his age group, and a finish of 169th overall out of 544 runners, is a marker for how hard Beer has been working with his running and his cycling.
Beer believes the first running leg was the best he has ever run, keeping up with his Geelong-based coach, who was also participating in the event.
“It was a 5 km first run, 20 km bike ride and a 2.5 km run. I put in a better-than-fantastic effort for myself, really, as I ran under 19 minutes for the first leg, which is one of the quickest times that I’ve done. The bike leg, which is draft-legal, was 34 minutes, and the last run, I ran out of legs a little bit, but I ran 12 minutes,” he said.
“For me, my running leg was out of this world. The funny thing is, I’d been seeing my coach in Geelong, and I was competing against him. He did leave me for dead a bit in the bike leg, but I ran with him on the first leg, which was absolutely fantastic, and it’s been a great experience up here.”
The overall time of 1 hour, seven minutes and 13 seconds meant that Beer was able to enjoy a really strong performance — one which he believes can only be improved on, if recent form is anything to go by.
“My running has been getting quicker and quicker. We drove up to Townsville, and on the way, we did the Echuca parkrun, and that was a personal best over 5 km, and I ran even quicker up here,” he said.
“To go from winter conditions down there to the conditions up in Townsville, it was different. It was challenging, one could say.
Fourteenth for worlds is pretty good — I’m happy.”
Beer paid tribute to the Maryborough and District Triathlon Club, who has helped him get the best out of himself by constantly competing at a high level, while he also says the sport as a whole is as friendly as it gets.
“Marty Mark and a few of the others who have put in so much effort into the club over the last few years, they deserve a medal themselves,” he said.
“The thing I like about triathlon is that everyone is friendly and everyone wants to talk, especially when you put the suit on and the last name ‘Beer’ is written on it.
“What I’ve done up here, I guarantee a few of the younger ones [within the club] would love doing this. I mean, you do have to put the time in, but after doing the local ones, and stepping up to do other ones, being up in Townsville and seeing the crowd is absolutely fantastic.”
The duathlon won’t be the last event Beer participates in, as he’ll also take on an aquathon.
Beer is determined to do everything he can to improve his swimming through competing in these types of events.
“I’m doing one more event, but it’s more of an aquathon, which is a run-swim-run. I’m a good runner, I’m not a bad bike rider, but I’m not the best swimmer,” he said.
“I have done a swim course, but the biggest difference is between doing it in a swimming pool, and jumping in a lake, then the ocean.
“It’s very hard to replicate it at home, but I have a couple of sessions before the event, so I will see what happens.”
The recent closure of the swimming pool at the Maryborough Sports and Leisure Centre complicated matters, but Beer was able to problem-solve to continue his improvement.
“Since the pool closed, I asked myself where I’ve been swimming, and I have been travelling once a week to Ballarat, and as soon as I started doing that, I got hold of a swim coach there,” he said.
“I don’t see it as a bad thing. It was more of a positive, by going into a swim squad in Ballarat, and I got a lot of lessons and a lot of improvement that I wouldn’t have got otherwise.”
As for his exploits in triathlon, Beer believes there is still plenty more in him, taking inspiration from others who have also participated in Townsville.
“I don’t consider myself overly old yet, but there are people around here easily over 60 and they are running rings around me. There are people running at a pace above me, and it makes me think it is still possible at whatever age to still do something,” he said.