Brad Veneables is riding his way to the top of the triathlon mountain. He rode the cycle leg for his team as they came third in the under 19s team event at the recent Noosa Ironman. 73783
By David Nagel
MOST PEOPLE go to Noosa Heads in Queensland for a relaxing holiday, not to push their bodies and minds to the point of exhaustion… most people.
Berwick Secondary College student Brad Veneables, 16, is an exception to the rule and earlier this month travelled to the popular tourist destination to compete in the Noosa Ironman, Australia’s biggest and toughest event.
This year is the third year running that Veneables has teamed up with two other fitness fanatics to take part in the three-man team event. Each of the competitors takes care of one of the three disciplines, a 1500m swim, a 40-kilometre bicycle ride and finally a 10-kilometre run.
This year his three-man team combined for a third placing in the under-19s section and it was Veneables who got things rolling with a brilliant bike ride in the middle stage.
“That’s my strength, the bike ride, I did the 40 kilometres in one hour five seconds which is a pretty competitive time,” Veneables said.
“The top guys in the senior ranks do the same distance in 50 to 55 minutes so my times alright for a 16-year-old … I’ll get better as I get stronger.”
Veneables travels to Warragul for his bike training and has raced in road, track and mountain bike events. He recently won a mountain bike event at Nowa Nowa, about half an hour from Lakes Entrance, riding the 11-kilometre distance in three hours.
The Officer resident started cycling at the age of 10 and has a long-term goal of competing in the Geelong Triathlon as an 18 year old. He knows he has a lot of work to do to achieve that goal.
“My running and swimming need a lot of improvement. I’m a member of a surf club so the swimming’s coming along OK but the running still needs a bit of work,” he said.
Despite the high speed and danger that the sport brings with it, Veneables has managed to stay injury free but ironically it was in a car-park where the youngster faced his biggest hurdle.
“I got cleaned up by an elderly lady in the car-park at Aldi in Beaconsfield,” he said.
“She T-boned me and ruined an $8000 bike – lucky I swerved at the last second or I would of crushed my leg.”
Veneables works part-time at a commercial car dealership and hopes to start an engineering apprenticeship next year specialising in computerised machinery.
