Club Championship Races & End-of-Season Honours
by Heather Mayer
Ful-on Tri has often been described as the friendliest triathlon club in London, and we do take real pride in being a social club with a triathlon problem. Nevertheless, we can take our triathlon problem seriously when we want to, and as such each season we put on three club races as well as recognising those among us who have achieved particular success in triathlon racing.
The three club races are the Club Sprint Championships, Club Olympic Championships, and the Club Relays. These are highlights of the racing calendar, as they are the three events where members get to pit themselves against each other for ultimate triathlon glory.
At the Club Sprint and Olympic Championships, we crown the Club Kings and Queens of the Sprint and Olympic distances. Anyone in the club can sign up and take on the challenge. Whether you’re an experienced racer vying for the crown or a newbie just looking to get around your first tri, it’s always a fun day out. You get to race on a course teeming with your club mates to motivation. And of course, in the true spirit of the club, the day finishes with a social back home in SW London. Details listed at the end of this blog.
The Club Relays are the final event of the season and provide an excellent opportunity to show off your season’s worth of training while having a laugh with your club mates. Teams of three are randomly selected, and each team member completes a sprint race on the day (swim, swim, swim, bike, bike, bike, run, run, run). The first team home takes the top honours for the day. It’s a great way to wrap up the season as a club.
In addition to the club races, we also keep track of individual races throughout the year, which we use to crown the top performing athletes in middle and long distance triathlons. We gather race results over the course of the season and take each athlete’s relative performance and the level of competition at the race into account in order to produce a ranking for each member.
Of course, we are a club that also encourages those who new to the sport who take it on with zeal and speed, and as such we recognise the achievements of the strongest new-comer. These rankings are similar to the middle distance and long course rankings, although it includes all races throughout the season.
Finally, as triathletes tend to have a long-term outlook on performance, putting in the training year after year after year often pays big dividends. We recognise this sort of commitment with our Most Improved award, which looks at improvement across seasons based on performance at all races.
If you want to be up for a chance of winning any of these awards, make sure to sign up for the two club races. You can also make my job easier by telling me when and where you’re racing throughout the season. This not only ensures that you’ll feature in the weekly race reports, but also that we capture your results for club honours.
CLUB SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIPS
When: Sunday 20 May
Race: Human Race Eton Sprints Weekend
Where: Dorney Lake, off Court Lane, Dorney, Windsor, Berkshire, SL4 6QP
Registration: Sprint Championships
Discount: 25% – enter code fulontri25 at the checkout
Key details you need to know:
1. It’s the non-ITU Sprint race (750m / 21.2km / 5km)
2. Enter your club as “Ful-on Tri”
3. We are Mates Wave Z
4. Timing is most probably the afternoon which gives you more recovery time if you are intending to race the Tooting Bec Aquathlon the day before
CLUB STANDARD DISTANCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
When: Sunday 15 July
Race: “London League” Thorpe Park Standard Distance Triathlon
Where: Thorpe Park, Staines Road, Chertsey, Surrey KT16 8PN
Registration: Standard Championships
Discount: Early-Bird rate – enter code FULLON2018 at the checkout
Key details you need to know:
1 – Standard distance race (1500m / 39.5km / 10km)
2. Enter your club as “Ful-on Tri”
3 – Start time 7am
4 – You get free entry to Thorpe Park for the remainder of the day – and if your friends/partners are spectating, they also receive the free entry!