Race Report W/E 30th June
Firstly, apologies for the delay in issuing the Race Report – I’ve been busy with bugs that help recycle rubber.
With indoor temperatures still falling, the dust is still settling from a hot weekend of great racing. And what a mix it was: one London League race; 8 triathlons (including 2 Full Ironman events); an Audax; 2 trail / mountain runs; and, an off-road sportive.
Windrush Aquathlon – LONDON LEAGUE
In the latest London League race, the Windrush Aquathlon, we had 5 club members out representing us and scoring important points: Rob Argles; Gina Siebler; Sarah Watts; CJ; and, Euan Lees.
In Rob’s words: “Close to home and a mere 500m swim / 5km run warm-up compared to some of the stuff on today but shout out to Euan for being first overall and Christina (CJ) for being 3rd overall woman. Sarah and Gina raced well taking full advantage of the glorious weather and venue. Next stop for the London League is your very own club championships at Thorpe Park in two weeks!! HAVE YOU ENTERED YET? DON’T MISS OUT”
Euan finished 1st overall (a double 1st) in just under 27 minutes and a clear 9 seconds ahead of 2nd. Rob wasn’t far behind in a little over 30 minutes, gaining a 2nd placed podium spot. CJ, in addition to finishing as 3rd woman, also bagged a silver podium spot, in a time of just under 32 minutes. Sarah and Gina completed the awesome results, finishing a minute apart and well in the middle of the field!
Banaman Triathlon
Up at tri favourite venue, Dorney Lake, 4 of the club were taking on Human Race’s latest event – the Banaman Triathlon – with various distances offered. Nicky Huskens, Charlie and Jane Muir-Sands, and (new member?) Freddie Skarbek were all out in the hot weekend sunshine.
In the Whole Banana, Freddie finished 3rd overall and 1st in his category in a time of just under 1hr 39min!
In the Jumbo Banana, Charlie finished in just over 2hr 39min, and sadly Nicky DNF’d – hopefully all ok.
In the Duathlon, Jane finished in 1hr 25min, and came 1st in her category!
JLL Property Duathlon
Not content with one event over the weekend, Jane Muir-Sands also raced the JLL Property Duathlon (also at Dorney Lake) the day before, finishing in a very respectable 1hr 29min, and in the top third of female finishers!
Leeds Castle Triathlon
In scenic Kent, Alistair Chappelle and Amanda Pirie were taking on the latest Castle Tri series race at Leeds Castle.
Both Alistair and Amanda were just pipped to the post for a podium place, racing fantastically well in the Standard distance event, finishing in 2hr 13min and just under 2hr 47min respectively!
Ditchling Devil Audax
This is probably one of the best value for money cycling races in the year, starting at Wimbledon Common windmill before winding through the Sussex countryside to Ditchling Beacon, kissing the edge of Brighton and climbing back through the South and North Downs to finish just outside Richmond. One of the main attractions, beyond the scenery, are the food stops.
The full extent of club members out on the course isn’t fully known, but we did have Richard Huntrods, Rob Carder and Sapna Sekhri all out testing their bike legs over the 200+km.
Mont Blanc Marathon
James Ellis and Sian Morgan left the relative tableland of the Thames Valley to go for an easy run around the spectacular Mont Blanc! The French trails are tough running, and, in addition to the altitude and ascent, the scorching weather would have made this a monster race.
Whilst full results aren’t yet up, I can report that James finished in 5hr 43min – in his own words: “Not the race I was hoping for but the race I got. Going pretty well till last 12km when the legs came off! Proud to have toughed it out and finished. Not sure if I finished MMB or MMB finished me – SCORCHING!”
The Centurion (100k) Triathlon
Taking part in the Centurion triathlon were Andrea Sala and Stewart Juroszek.
Andrea finished 5th overall in a time of just under 4hr 16min and claimed 3rd in his race category! Stewart also finished well within the top of the field in a time of 5hr 7min. Well done both!!
Midnight Mountain Marathon
Tom Heaton took part in Brutal Events’ latest tough race in the Brecon Beacons, and did incredibly well finishing the full marathon in a time of 6hr 50min! This race includes part of the route used to test the SAS!!
Cotsduro
Natalie Creswick was taking part in a 100km offroad cycling event through the Cotswolds.
Bowood Triathlon
Frankie Evans was racing this sprint triathlon – “hot and hilly” – and succeeded in coming 2nd in her age group!
Finland Ironman 70.3
Escaping the heat up in Lahti, Finland, 6 of the club were taking on Ironman’s Scandinavian middle distance triathlon: Emma O’Neile; Rob Gray; John Borton; Alfonso de Carre; Fiona Sander; and, Will Manns.
John absolutely smashed this race, finishing 15th overall in a time of 4hr 14min, winning his race category, and bagging a spot in the champs in Nice.
Next up were Will and Rob in 4hr 39min and 4hr 44min respectively, with Will also managing to win a spot in Nice.
Alfonso, Fiona and Emma finished within 15 minutes of each other just under and over 5 hours. With a silver podium spot, Fiona also succeeded in grabbing a championship place, whilst Emma was only 4 seconds off getting one too.
Those are some speedy 70.3 times!!
Frankfurt Ironman
Back in the furnace of the continent, 3 of the club were taking on a longer challenge – Ironman Frankfurt: Maria Lasauskaite; Haukur Heimisson; and, Joe Coleman.
Conditions would have been harsh for long distance racing, so it is a feat simply to have finished.
That said all three put in solid finishing times in spite of the heat.
Haukur finished first for the club in an awe inspiring time of 9hr 36min, coming 40th overall and winning a place for Kona. Joe and Maria both finished well under 14 hours – epic considering the temperature.
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Norway (Haugesund) Ironman 70.3
Further north again, things were a little cooler for our other 70.3 race, involving: Mark Parrett; Eimear Toomey; Karl Boehm; and Sybille Schorm.
Karl came in first for the club in a time of 4hr 40min and winning a championship spot! In just under 5hr 17min, Sybille was not far behind, narrowly missing out on a podium spot, and also bagging a spot in Nice!! 6 minutes later Mark crossed the finish line, and Eimear rounded things up beating over half of her race category!! Great racing all!
Nice Ironman
Finally, our last event was another full distance and back in the oven of Europe. Philip Haddleton and Filippo Conti were both out representing the club – a sort of Phil squared race.
Philip came in first in 9hr 59min – a fantastic performance on a tough course (the Nice bike route is not flat – and not particularly “nice”) and in the heat! Filipo also raced a great time of just under 12hr 30min. I don’t think either scored a Kona spot, but there is clear potential in future races!
As usual, please email me if you’ve raced and I’m missing you, or, just as importantly, if you’re racing soon – it’s the same email address as always: fixtures@fulontri.com.
I know there is a busy weekend of racing coming up – what with half the club doing Challenge Roth. However, I and a few others will be out in the Dolomites for a long weekend, so expect a double decker race report the following week, or at least a late one next week.