Update & Reminder – Race Calendar

Thank you to everyone who has used and added to the Race Calendar so far, and for promptly asking for additional events to be added. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive so far.

This post is in part a reminder that the Race Calendar is there (for those who have yet to view or add to it), and an overview of what’s coming up in the year so far. As I said in the AGM and Thursday shout-out: the purpose of the Calendar is mainly to help us, as an inclusive Club, race and celebrate together. The fact that it also helps me track results is merely a side benefit.

How the Race Calendar is being used so far

As of today, we have 50 club members that have stated they are racing, and this covers 81 different events.

However, when I say 50… only 24 of those individuals have added every race they are doing… AND 22 are Facebook hermits that have not yet used the Calendar.

I would expect this number to increase dramatically, given we had had 90 individuals racing across the 7 cross country events this season. I suspect that at least half the club will do at least 1 race. So, we should be expecting a little over 160 different names on the race calendar.

There are definitely at least 31 individuals, who regularly race, that are completely absent from the Calendar so far. I won’t name names just now. The 31 does however cover some of the committee, coaches, notorious Ironman racers and prominent Facebook commentators – and surely the latter category can spare a couple of minutes to visit the Club Website?

Who’s racing what

Based on the available info (Calendar and a brief trawl of Facebook), nearly a third of the events people say they are doing are Middle Distance (70.3) triathlons. These account for 28 known race entries – 25% of all race entries so far.

Although it’s likely these numbers will shift, it’s looking like Middle Distance will be the most popular race of choice for the club this season.

In terms of actual race entries, the longer triathlons (Middle and Full) and Sportives are currently the races of choice – a potential opening for those wishing to hone their Sprint and Standard distance success rates.

There are 12 races where we know we have at least 3 entrants. Of these, the biggest club representation is at Roth, where we have at least 12 racers taking on this Full Distance triathlon in July. The other 11 races are: Ride London; London Marathon; Crystal Palace Triathlon; Aix en Provence 70.3; both Hampton Court half marathons; Brighton Marathon; Staffordshire 70.3; Haugesund 70.3; Thorpe Park Standard Tri; and, Cascais 70.3.

Again, I would expect these numbers to shift, with the bulk of our race entries covering triathlons of all distances.

Aside from sharing what we’re up to, it seems we do need to have a bit of a marketing drive about the London League races (Ed Challes and Rob Argles will continue to remind you about these), and the Club Champs races (sprint at Eton Dorney in May, and standard at Thorpe Park in July). Currently, all these races appear very undersubscribed.

Who to watch out for this weekend

We have 3 races on the cards this weekend.

First, Sophie Kirk will be taking on Challenge Wanaka. This is a middle distance triathlon run on the same course as the former Full Distance champs, and takes place on New Zealand’s South Island. Kick off is 7:15am local time this Saturday. That means any avid fans can follow progress from 6:15pm Friday evening.

Then on Sunday we have a couple of half marathons. Currently, injuries etc permitting, we have Richard Harper, Brain Canty and Trin Head lined up for the Hampton Court Half Marathon, and Phil Smith and James Ogilvy running the Richmond Half.

Best of luck to all!