While most people were having a lazy Sunday morning at home yesterday, a handful of Essendon players competed in the Sandringham Triathlon. Mark Bolton, Marc Bullen, Justin Murphy and Adam McPhee represented Essendon Football Club in the individual event. The race kicked off at 8.30am at the Trevor Barker Oval at Sandringham and Bolton was the first Bomber to cross the finish line.

A record field of 1550 entrants competed in the triathlon, which included a 750m swim, 25km bike ride and a 5km run. Bolton finished the triathlon in 1 hour, 15 minutes and 46 seconds and came 16th in the 20-24 year-old category and 119th overall. Bullen wasn’t far behind Bolton – he finished 26th in the same age category as his teammate and 225 overall. Bullen’s overall time for the triathlon was 1:19:54.

McPhee also competed in the same age category as Bullen and Bolton and finished in 34th position. The 21-year-old completed the event in a time of 1:24:33 and came 384th overall. Murphy also competed in the triathlon and finished the event in a time of 1:48:18. Fitness coach John Quinn attended the triathlon and said Murphy had trouble with his bike. ""Justin’s bike had a few problems, which slowed him down. It took him just over one hour to cycle the 25km distance. It is fantastic that he persisted and still finished the triathlon - it showed good determination from him,"" Quinn said.

The players competed in the Sandringham Triathlon as part of the pre-season electives program. Players chose from five different activities – aikido, swimming, triathlon, running and canoeing – and have been training one session per week since last November.

Break-down of race times:

Bolton -
Swim time: 12.49
T1 time: 5.12
Cycle time: 36:37
T2 time: 1:05
Run time: 20:06
TOTAL: 1:15:46

Bullen –
Swim time: 14:12
T1 time: 5:36
Cycle time: 37:57
T2 time: 1:16
Run time: 20:55
TOTAL: 1:19:54

McPhee –
Swim time: 14:00
T1 time: 5:22
Cycle time: 42:32
T2 time: 1:19
Run time: 21:22
TOTAL: 1:24:33

Murphy -
Swim time: 14:33
T1 time: 5:46
Cycle time: 1:04:35
T2 time: 1:56
Run time: 21:29
TOTAL: 1:48:18

ESSENDON had further success at the 2004 Ringwood Gift yesterday. Draftee Ricky Dyson won the 70m novice event and then took the double when he won the open 70m event. Dyson had tough competition from rookie Andrew Lovett, who finished a close second in both races. Dyson follows in Joel Reynold’s footsteps, who won the 70m novice event in 2003.

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