David Dellow, Melissa Rollison win Noosa
David Dellow and Melissa Rollison won the Noosa Triathlon in Australia on Sunday
Australia’s David Dellow upset a world class field to claim the Noosa Triathlon on Sunday, the race that had eluded him for over a decade, while World 70.3 champion Melissa Rollison continued her meteoric rise in the sport, claiming the women’s title from pre–race favourite Emma Jackson.
Olympic distance champion Clayton Fettell emerged from the swim in the lead followed by Courtney Atkinson with another group that contained all the contenders including David Dellow, Paul Matthews and James Seear.??Atkinson lead the pack in the first half of the 40km cycle leg up Garmin Hill but it was Dellow, Matthews and Seear who broke away and maintained their pace to extend their lead. Matthews went out of T2 with a 10s lead on Dellow who who, in turn, closely followed by Seear. It stayed close on the run, but Dellow eventually opened a 25s gap to take victory, with Matthews in second and Seear in third.
“It’s been a bit of a hoodoo because there have been plenty of good athletes from here and I’ve finished second twice which was frustrating,” he said.??”I have been coming to this race for more than two-thirds of my life, at first to watch my Dad race, so it’s great to win” said Dellow.
“I was checking over my shoulder during the last few hundred meters. I know Matthews is pretty tough and I knew he wouldn’t give up but with a couple hundred meters to go I knew I had it,”
In the women’s race, Rollison’s finish was anything but resplendent, stumbling and falling over the finish, then collapsing in a post race interview from her effort.
The 28-year-old athlete, had to overcome a two and half minute deficit after the 1.5km swim to early race leaders Emma Jackson and Kate McIlroy, but eventually took the victory, pushing the other two down to second and third place respectively.
“It was amazing. I knew my bike and run was really strong that’s why I started out in the longer distance,” said Rollison. “I knew I would come out behind in the swim and I was hoping it would just be by about 2 minutes but didn’t realise it would be such a hard task as I think it was about 7 minutes. I just gave it everything I could in the bike and the run. My aim was to just catch them all in the run and I did.”
RESULTS
MEN’S TOP 5
1 David Dellow 1:46:36
2 Paul Matthews 1:47:01
3 James Seear 1:47:42
4 Clayton Fettell 1:47:49
5 Ryan Fisher 1:48:14
WOMEN’S TOP 10
1 Melissa Rollison 2:00:25
2 Emma Jackson 2:01:09
3 Kate McIlroy 2:01:46
4 Felicity Sheedy–Ryan 2:04:03?
5 Matilda Reynolds 2:08:28
Matt Baird
Editor of Cycling Plus magazine 
