An exciting format for the final Aquathlon of the summer with everyone leaving individually based on their handicap time. It made for a frantic swim leg with some getting a little carried away and not leaving enough for the run.

There was great racing across the whole field with 14 of the 26 competitors setting series PBs. Of the 23 members racing, 11 beat their Handicap Time, 5 by over 1 minute.

First home and the winner on Handicap was Thys, beating both his Handicap Time and Series PB by at least 2:30. He was followed home by Sarah C, Emiel, Laurel and Michelle S who all beat their Handicap Time by over a minute. The first of the contenders for the Series victory was Dane who was 7th home.

The outright winner with a scorching 14:11 run split was Stewart with Emiel second by 27 seconds. Wally rounded out the podium places, beating Andrew J by just 4 seconds. Laurel was first of the females home, holding onto her strong lead out of the pool with Lisa beating Michelle for second by just 9 seconds.

Series Points: As mentioned above, there were 23 members, 11 of whom beat their Handicap time. Going into this Grand Finale the Top 8 were separated by just 10 points and with double points on the line there were 12 members with a mathematical chance of winning the series. Dane was the first of them home and with a number of the contenders failing to beat their handicap time, things get interesting.

Exclusively for hornsbytriclub.org.au I can announce that the 2008-09 HTC Aquathlon Series Champion is ... ... ... to be announced at the 2009 Presentation Night Spectacular. Keep an eye on your emails and on the forum for details of this year's Annual Celebration.

Well done to everyone and a big thanks to all the volunteers especially Claire who was timekeeper for all 12 rounds and managed to keep it together with everyone finishing at once in the Grand Finale and also to Wally for timing the Juniors each round, usually before rushing back to the pool to make his own scheduled race start. Here are the full results.