Race Results W/E 14th October

It was yet another thrilling week of racing for Ful-on Tri.

First up, on Wednesday, Xavier Faux took on the Civil Service National Championship Cross Country at Hampstead Heath, and managed to “destroy” himself along the way. Well done Xav!

On Saturday, in balmy London, the first club Cross Country of the season took place, with the women taking Wimbledon Common by storm, while the men ventured down to Croydon for a run around Roundshaw Park. On the women’s side, we had an outstanding team of 29 runners. Well done to Claire Claracq, Ursula Hankinson, Sophie Kirk, Cheryl Boshi, Stephanie Wise, Ceri Ruzzi, Sybille Schorm, Katie Good, Julia May, Emma Swinnerton, Sally Benton, Jessie Spivey, Holly Hardy, Christina Archer, Nell Kenny, Alice Honnywill, Eimear Toomey, Emma O’Neile, Eszter Szadeczky-Kardoss, Theo Robinson, Helen Fagan, Jane Osborne, Suzie Rylatt, Sarah Odell, Sally Hotchkin, Eleanor Doody, Gina Siebler, Sapna Sekhri and Paula Botha for excellent running. Shout out to the team for nabbing 2nd overall for the A team, and 8th overall for the B team – an excellent start to our season, positioning us well to take the league by storm! Also a shout out to everyone who raced for the first time: Katie, Jessie, Holly, Eszter, Helen, Eleanor, Gina, Sapna and Paula.

Ful-on Tri Women out in force on Wimbledon Common for the first race of Surrey League Cross Country

On the men’s side, there was a hardy group of 18 who made their way down to Croydon. Well done to John Borton, Euan Lees, Alexie Calvert, Xavier Faux, Tom Scott, Mark Betnon, Guido Hakkenberg, Jamie McCanny, Jose Lopez, Cyril Deleuze, Adrian Gahan, Jonty Bloomfield, Richard Bridger, Pierre Guilpain, Peter Moore, Colin McCaffrey and Walt Rothon for some strong racing. Richard Harper had a difficult start to the XC season, damaging his calf somewhere along the way, but nevertheless got some excellent photos of the rest of the team. The team placed 6th on the day in a tough division.

Ful-on Tri Men out at Roundshaw Park for Surrey League Cross Country Race 1

Cross country really is for everyone in the club, and it was great to see so many runners out there on Saturday!

Later on Saturday, all eyes turned to the other side of the world where three Ful-on Tri members set out to race the Ironman World Championships in Kona. Personally, I was glued to my computer all night and utterly thrilled to see the fantastic races our members posted. Ruth Purbrook, Rich Curling and Jon Green all took on the race on the Big Island with great success. Ruth finished in an incredible 9:33, a PB for her over the distance and fast enough to take first place in her age group to become the Age Group World Champion, and third place overall for amateurs. Rich had a very strong race as well on his first trip to Kona, coming in in 9:37. Jon had a tougher day out there, but still posted an fantastic result of 10:48 for his first trip to Kona. Truly inspirational stuff from all three FoTers, and really fantastic to see hard work pay off in such style.

Ruth (centre) upgrades her fruit bowl, having been crowned World Champion at Kona

On Sunday, Membership Secretary Colin Frew braved his first race of the season (having had his other races cancelled due to a broken wrist!) at a very wet and windy Bedford Duathlon. Colin told me it was a complete disaster, and when asked to specify the disaster, he said everything. Nevertheless, he accomplished his goal by finishing the race without crashing!

Finally, on Sunday a number of Ful-on Triers took on some running races. Well done to Jane Dwyer and Andy Hoyle for completing the York Marathon, to Brian Canty for running the Wimbledon Common Half, to Sam Roberts for racing the the Munich Half, to Katie Holmes and Holly Hardy for the Royal Parks Hal, and to Stu Archer, Ceri Ruzzi and Rob Argles at the Cabbage Patch 10.

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