LAUNCESTON triathlete Jake Birtwhistle continued his winning form by taking out the ITU Triathlon Oceania Cup at Mooloolaba yesterday.
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One of Triathlon Australia's rising stars, Birtwhistle paced himself well during the race before unleashing his powerful running leg on the way to a convincing victory.
The former track and field star is now a full-time triathlete based in Wollongong under international coach Jamie Turner.
``I was feeling good today and I had to keep reminding myself not to go too hard too early,'' said the Australian Youth Olympic champion and OTU Oceania champion.
``I tried to stay away from the front, which is hard for me, but I was able to sit in the pack for a bit and put the pressure on in the second lap.''
Birtwhistle was able to time his run to perfection over the back end of the 1500-metre swim, 40km bike and 10km run and powered away to win it in 1 hour and 52.07 seconds.
Victorian Nathan Buschkuehl finished second (1:52.26), with Danny Coleman (1:52.35) nine seconds back in third in an all-Australian finish.
The race victory sets Birtwhistle up for his first major international escapade, starting with the Chengdu World Cup in China on March 23.
``This race was pretty important for me today as I am moving on to the World Cups now,'' he said.
``After Devonport (the Oceania Standard Distance Championships) a few weeks ago I was sore, I didn't pull up very well . . . `` I have only just managed to recover in the past couple of days.''