Dean takes line honours at Coffs Harbour triathlon a minute ahead of nearest rival

CLOVELLY'S Mitch Dean won the inaugural Coffs Harbour triathlon earlier this month in impressive time.

Mitch Dean

CLOVELLY'S Mitch Dean won the inaugural Coffs Harbour triathlon earlier this month, beating his nearest rival by more than a minute.

Dean finished the March 10 Olympic distance race (1.5km swim, 40km cycle and 10km run) in a time of 1:55.26, collecting $1000 in prize money for his efforts.

Dean had to chase down runner-up Scott Llewellyn after the swim leg and showed great speed on the bike to reel him in and take the lead.

"It was a bit of a time trial for me and I came out of the water about 20 seconds down on the first guy," Dean said.

"I caught him about 5km later and had to make the decision whether to stay with him or keep going.

"So I just kept going in my rhythm and evenly paced it, which is what you really want to do in each leg.

"A lot of people start out too hard and then die in the second half.

"But I think that I evenly paced it pretty well overall."