Race Report W/E 2nd June
A hot weekend, and we managed 5 triathlons and a couple of sportives!
Blenheim Triathlon
The now regular annual feature of the sprint triathlon races at scenic Blenheim palace was on this weekend. Perhaps not the best value for money race, it is certainly one that rivals most for the setting (including the Castle Tri series). Blenheim is Churchill’s ancestral home. Competitors take a dip in the former Dukes of Marlborough’s landscape garden pool, before trotting uphill and traversing the grounds on bike and foot. Our four racers this weekend were Lucy Ohrnial, Mark Parrett, Alex Courage, and Shaun Wood.
Shaun put down three blisteringly fast legs, landing a speedy time of just under 1hr 10min, 1st in his race category, and 3rd overall!
Mark offset his swim with a rapid bike and run leg to finish in the top 25% of his category, and within the top 10% overall!! Whilst, Lucy showed some great even pacing to finish in the top 50% of her category!
Alex also raced strongly, coming in under 1hr 30min, and 3 shy of a podium!
Great racing performances by all
Tour of Cambridgeshire UCI Grand Fondo
Racing on closed roads around the East of England Showground, in Cambridgeshire, Moira Brailsford took on Sunday’s UCI Grand Fondo Tour of Cambridgeshire.
Evans Woking Sportive
Regular racer Gina Siebler was out on her bike taking on the 136km in the Surrey Hills between Woking and Alton. Apparently it hurt more than Forestman.
ETU SD Championships Weert
This weekend we also had European Olympic Championship racing in Weert, Netherlands.
In the F25-29 category, we had Nicky and Katie racing. Both finishing well either side of the 2hr 30min mark.
In M30-34, John executed a quick race, finishing in 2hr 2min, and just missing out on a podium spot!
Pim and Alexie raced in the M40-44 category, Pim finishing in 2hr 2min (an age group time bettering John’s in normalised terms) and just missing on a podium by 3 places. Alexie was only 8 minutes and 6 places behind!
Meanwhile, in the M50-54 group, Rob Argles finished in 2hr 19min!
Fantastic championship racing!!!
Deva Middle Distance
Deva is one of the most popular UK middle distances and is rapidly becoming a favourite with the club too. Based out in Chester, the 1.9km swim takes place in the river Dee, before a 90km bike leg returns runners to the half marathon course in and around Chester town. This year we had 18 club racers in the event who had signed up using Ful-on Tri: James Ellis; Jon Green; Will Manns; Richard Harper; Martin Bruwer; Mark Sempers; Sybille Schorm; Alberto Lazaro Haro; Sian Morgan; Guido Hakkenberg; Lindsay Aqui; Juan Andres Martin Valdes; Brian Canty; Nell Kenny; Marija Lasauskaite; James Ogilvy; Peter Moore; and, Ed Challes. A great turn out (even though 50% of those racing flagged themselves on the Race Calendar…) Oh, and Membership Secretary Colin Frew was out racing the Olympic Distance tri!
James Ellis (who else) came in first for the club, coming 4th overall in a time of just under 4hr 3min, and winning his category! Jon was hot on his heels, and, although 4 minutes slower, gained silver in his category! Will Manns came in 3rd for the club in 4hr 20min, just missing out on a podium, whilst Rich finished 2 minutes after Will, technically (according to the official results) just missing out on a podium too, but claiming a bronze in National Championships. Martin completed our racers under the 4hr 30min mark! Mark and Sybille finished 13 minutes apart, completing racers under the 5hr mark, with Sybille just missing out on a podium place. Then we had Alberto and Sian finishing in just under 5hr 10min, with Sian also just shy of the bronze place. Guido, Lindsay, Juan, Brian, Nell and Marija all came in strongly under 5hr 30min, with Peter and James finishing well under 6hr!! Sadly, Ed did not finish the race, but hopefully will be back up and competing soon! Meanwhile, Colin was blazing a trail on the Standard course, and notched up a strong 10th category place, sealing his path back from injury! Well done to all, and great representation of the club!!
So… a small update. As Deva was also the venue for Triathlon England’s National Middle Distance championships, we had some parallel results. This means that, whilst the above results reflect the actual outcome of the race itself, when seen through the obscure filter of the BTF champs’ entry criteria, new and magical things happen. This explains why Richard got a bronze but missed a race podium. Similarly, in the parallel world of Nat Champs, we had: James also winning his Nationals category; Jon also winning silver in the Nationals; Sybille nailing a Nationals silver too; and, Sian grabbing a bronze in the champs. Great work! And perhaps a lesson in entering events that have a parallel scoring system too.
Ohio Games Triathlon and Multisport Festival
A weird and wonderful event in the good ol’ US of A – apparently a Ninja Challenge is set to arrive in the coming years – something we’d love to see spouse team Richard and Merilee Bridger take on next time (with photos of course). This year, the pair were racing more normal territory: an Olympic triathlon.
Richard came in first, in a respectable 2hr 28min 40 sec, and technical getting an M30-34 bronze (assuming they use the same categories in the Mid West). Meanwhile, Merilee, finishing 22 minutes later, was first in the F40-44 category – making here State champion (presumably within her age group) and qualifying for the US National Champs!!
Samorin, Slovakia Challenge Middle Distance Championships
Our very own superstar, Ruth Purbrook was racing this weekend in the Challenge Middle Distance Championships in Samorin, Slovakia. For the women, the overall race was one by rising British champ Lucy Charles-Barclay. In the Women’s 30-34 category, Ruth was the one to follow. Coming 6th out of the swim, a quick transition and bike had her sitting in 2nd position in her race category. Transition 2 converted this to 1st place, which Ruth held in combative style right up until the last 8km, having to settle for a silver podium place, in 4hr 30min. Fantastic racing, and only 30 minutes behind the overall female winner! In addition, Ruth had injured her tibia leading up to this race – so, even completing the run, let alone nearly clinching 1st is a huge achievement.
That’s a wrap for now. Email fixtures@fulontri.com if you have anything omitted, or you want to flag an upcoming race.