With the 2024/5 triathlon season now at a close, it is time for us to celebrate our achievements over the year of training and racing by crowning our JTM Female & Male Performances of the Year.
Vote now for your 2024/5 men’s and women’s performances of the year.
Voting closes 11:59PM June 22nd. Winners to be announced at the JTM end of season gala on June 28th.
Congratulations to the following nominees.
FEMALE PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Demi Caldwell - Ultra Trail Australia 50k
Demi has seen steady improvement on the trail running scene since shifting focus from triathlon late in 2024. With UTAs addition as a world major, the 50k saw a stacked field fighting it out for a hefty prize purse. With the newfound confidence to take the race out and trust in her back end, Demi quickly found herself in third place trailing a couple of the world’s best trail runners. As quickly as the gap grew to the front of the race, much to the surprise of many, Demi’s back end saw her close to within striking distance of the leaders eventually settling for 3rd place as the only Aussie on the 50k podium and cementing herself as a force in the world of Australian trail running.
Ally Chambers - Husky Sprint Triathlon
Ally’s first year in triathlon was far from smooth. Having a history of injury, Ally spent a large period of the year working on laying the foundations for what we hoped would be a successful intro the racing at the back end of the year. Lining up at Husky in just her second triathlon, Ally exited T2 within striking distance of the front of the race. Squadmates watched the tracker with excitement as Ally shot to the front of the field riding away from her competitors and holding the gap on the run to win the 16-19 AG and grab the tape at one of the biggest races in the southern hemisphere.
Lara Dawson - Billigence Triathlon Series
Since 2021, the Billigence series has played a significant part of the development of many ACT & NSW triathletes. With a goal of taking part in the series to improve her skills and race craft, Lara showed she would be a force in the series, narrowly missing the overall win in the first race before grabbing the tape twice in Orange and Penrith to take the overall series win, kicking off an impressive year of podiums.
Margi Grant - Australian Super Sprint Championships
As one of her favourite races of the year, Margi targeted the Australian Super Sprint Championships as a key race for her season. After unleashing what has become known as one of the best swims for her AG in Australia, Margi took the lead of her AG and didn’t look back crossing the line as the back-to-back Australian super sprint champion, adding to a seriously impressive haul of medals collected over the last two seasons.
Georgie Hicks - World Sprint Distance Duathlon Championships
A regular in the green and gold, Georgie lined up in Townsville for the sprint distance duathlon as the first race of a busy schedule. After a great first run and a bike pack which moved well, Georgie dismounted just off the leaders before a lightning T2 saw her exit T2 in a lead she wouldn’t relinquish. Her first world championship win came in one of the tightest races of the week winning by 2 seconds - less than the difference made up in T2 - showing a masterclass in skills on the way to the top step.
Emily Kempson - Challenge Canberra Middle Distance
One of JTMs most experienced long course triathletes, it was fitting to have Em on the start line of our only local middle distance race. With low expectations on her swim following a decreased training load due to a shoulder niggle, Em shocked onlookers quickly taking the overall lead early on in the bike. With a field chasing eagerly on the run, Em was cheered on by her JTM squad on course supporting and volunteering as she held off all charges emotionally grabbing the tape as the overall Challenge Canberra Middle Distance Champion.
MALE PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Tom Driscoll - Ultra Trail Kosciuszko 50
Now known as one of Australia’s best 50k trail runners, Tom lined up at UTK50 in a new position as one of the favourites to podium at UTK. With experience mounting over the distance, Tom calmly let others set the pace backing his technical skills to work back through the field in the late stages. Timing his run to perfection Tom made the pass on third place in the final couple of kilometres descending to the finish line of his first UTK podium punching his ticket to OCC in the process.
Alec Morris - Geelong 70.3
Known as one of the best age group swimmers in triathlon, Alec spent the last year transforming his cycling to new levels. With a consistent winter of training comprising of many hours in sub 0 temperatures, Alec lined up at Geelong 70.3 facing one of the strongest age group 70.3 fields ever assembled in Australia.
As is accustomed, Alec exited the swim in a good spot after starting further back in the rolling start and got to work on the bike, exiting T2 towards the pointy end of the field closing beautifully to finish 2nd place and as the 25-29 Australian long distance national runner up.
Jarrod Osborne - Ironman 70.3 Melbourne
Returning to the site of his first professional race two years prior, Jarrod’s race at Melbourne 70.3 was the breakthrough he had been working for. With an improved swim exiting the water just off the back of the main group Jarrod went to work picking off athletes before finding himself at the head of the race half way through the bike. Known as one of the best middle distance runners in the world, Jarrod grabbed his opportunity with both hands running alongside Jake Birthwhistle through 19km before surging to grab the tape in what was one of the fastest times ever in a 70.3 for his maiden Ironman 70.3 professional victory.
Matt Ross - Noosa Triathlon
First sessions at JTM are usually memorable. Unfortunately for Matt Ross his was memorable for the wrong reasons, coming off second best with a car which neglected to give way as Matt descended down to the Cotter.
Sustaining serious injuries Matt’s road to recovery was long but filled with determination. Commencing by joining squad sessions for a weekly walk, Matt gradually progressed his return to swim, bike and run over winter - all with one huge goal of getting back on a start line in Noosa. True to form, Matt completed the Noosa triathlon in what was one of JTMs most inspirational performances of the 2024/5 season.
Andy Walton - Australian Standard Distance Championships Wollongong
Showing big progress across all three disciplines this year, Andy lined up in Wollongong facing a strong 30-34 AG. With an improved swim and beautifully navigating the wet, technical course on the bike, Andy laid down one of the quickest runs of the day splitting 34:18 on his way to claiming his second age group national title.
Mitch Westhuizen - U23 World Aquathlon Championships
In what turned out to be one of the races of the Townsville Multisport world championships, the U23/Elite aquathlon championships had some serious swim/run firepower on the start line. Laying down a 7:14 first 2.5km Mitch found himself in contention entering the water with the front group. A strong swim gave the crowd the battle it wanted with the top men racing for the podium. Narrowly edged for the win, Mitch crossed the line in second place as the world U23 aquathlon silver medalist.
