Cruising                                                25-07-2010

Malc Davies breezed through a sea of althetes to a top ten age group finish in a time of 4:20:07 at Ironman 70.3 Antwerp.  Malc showed his pedegree by finishing amoungst many of the best age groupers, and only just over half an hour behind the overall winner!  

Despite a minor mishap with a timing chip, Malc was the man with the plan and cruised through a two lap bike in a time of 2:15:59 and smacked the run with a 1:28:25 over 21 km!  The picturesque scenery on the run would have gone past in a flash, with Malc having jets on his heels, he swifly covered the run, and ran down the finishing chute on the promenade. 

Congratulations on your race Malc.  Now.  Where are those speculoos????

Ironman Switzerland

Matt Winn-Smith, Keith Sanders, Steve Walker and Bruno Mahsoudi-You Are Ironmen!! Zurich is not a course for the faint hearted and our 4 Tritons drew a line in the sand and went for it, bringing home 4 PB's!

The swim was a case of survival of the fittest, with punching fists, goggle hogs and human buoys just a few of the things that an Ironman must endure, at the START of the race.  Though this prooved to be a bit of an energy drainer, the boys rallied and sailed through T1 and onto the bike.

Early on, it was clear that these four were on form to do great times, despite the scorching heat burning their backs and a two lap bike course that took them up the infamous 'beast.'  Our quartet finished in 5:07:21 (MWS), 5:13:42 (KS), 5:29:05 (SW) and 5:47:22 (BM) to the shouts of a well rounded support crew of Walkers, Sanders and Winn-Smiths.  Shoes off and through T2 to the searing heat of the run and our 4 were off.

Yet again, pedal to the metal and making tracks Matt set the pace for the run with a fantastic 3:09:15, Keith and Bruno following suit by finishing well under the 4 hour mark and Steve in 4:00:06!  Hot temperatures and an unforgiving run course over 4 loops  didn't make an easy day for the Tritons, but they perservered, with Matt, Keith, Steve and Bruno charging home to the screams of supporters and a varitable wall of colour and noise in 9:25:32, 10:00:53, 10:49:06 and 11:11:19 respectively.

An incredible day for the boys, and a well earned glass or two of vino!  Congratulations.  

Two for Two!!                                                           18-07-2010

Rob Baker is on a roll!!!  Two straight second place finishes:  One at Leybourne Lakes and the other this weekend at the 3rd race in the National Rankings Series, Worthing Triathlon!  Joining him in a dual 2nd place age group win was Vernon Thomas, with our International Man of Mystery, Will Smart placing 9th in his AG!

A rough sea swim with shipwrecked swimmers right and left was no hindrance for Rob.  Hands like paddles and outboard motor kicking, the choppy swells calmed and the sea parted with Rob finishing in 21:39.  Always unpredictable, the sea swims make a testing challenge for the start of a tri, and certainly 'Team 229' were the taskmasters with Will finishing in 29:41 and Vern in 35:43.

A 43 km undulating bike was assisted by a nice tail wind on the way out, and some wicked downhills on the way back.  Rob led our crew with a time of 1:05:00, with Vern screaming through on a 1:14:11 and Will in 1:28:35.

Along the promanade obstacle course of dogs, pedestrians and early morning joggers, Team 229 finished in a flourish with a seasons best time for Rob in 2:05:48, 2:42:20 for Vernon and a dramatic 6 and half minute improvement on last year for Will in 2:47:18.

Congrats!

White Oak Washout!                                        11-07-2010

The strength of Tritons force was felt 'en mass' at The 21st Annual White Oak Triathlon this weekend.  6 Tritons took part, with three top 5 finshes in age group, and Louise Johnson's first tri of the season! 

A local race, run in Kent, entry fees aren't too dear and the race is good value with lots of marshals and a nice off road run in the park.  The pool swim can get a bit conjested but that certainly didn't stop Matt Winn-Smith and Steve Wand from smashing out a 6:50 and 6:41 swim! 

Finishing just behind Matt in 9th position overall, Ed Simpson was on form also claiming the 6th fastest bike split of the day in 42:09!  Steve claimed a bronze medal in MV50 finishing in fine form.

Onto the run where Simon Sayer and Gary Shaw cruised through the 8km park run to 1:36:34 and 1:40:29 fininshes. Congratulations to Louise Johnson on completing your first tri of the year! 

Just a little Refresher...

A great race discovery at Black Sheep Ripon Olympic Tri this weekend- fantastic organization, great goody bags, post race food, a very family friendly race where it seems that its all in the small details!

Peppi-Marie Holder was our Tritoness with the mostest this weekend, fighting her way through the jam packed swim, led our Pep to a 29 min swim-her fastest split so far this season over 1500m! 

A searing hot day meant extra attention to fluids, and alot of extra effort.  Peppi emptied the tank on the undulating and rolling course, finishing in the top quarter of her age group.

With visions of ice lollies and £2 pints dancing in her head, our Peppi screamed along the country lanes, down the canal, running to the home straight. 

A very tough day but a good value race to put on your calendar for next year.  'Ba ba black ....'

Gatorade Big Half

Coralie Glaunes was a whirling dervish with her sights on a high finish.  This weekend at Trentham Gardens Coz bagged a hard earned 2nd place overall finish in the ladies category prooving that yes, she is on form for Budapest!  Not too far behind in my first race in too many moons was yours truely, Lorie Penner, sporting a suprising 9th place overall finish in the ladies category. 

After a smash up in the punch bowl swim that lasted an arduous 1900m over 4 laps, Coz and Loz came out of the swim neck and neck. Through the shoe transition and onto the neverending run to T2 made for a grand opportunity to shake out the cobwebs from the swim.

The bike course was a undulating mixture of long drags and climbs to fast descents.  On an extremely hot weekend we were fortunate to get a fairly good temperature to race in, but this still meant battling humidity and cycling directly into a headwind!  After one last tip of her Aero helmet, Coralie put her head down and was off and I was not to see her again until the run.  Fortunately, with three different races going on there were lots of shouts of encouragement from fellow racers: 'Do you come here often?', enthusiastic marshalls:  'Yarrrrrrrrrr!!' and excited spectators:  'Well done!'  The cycle was a great experience of tarmac and athlete with the hum of rolling wheels and the beautiful countryside in the background.  

After nearly 92 km of racing and a 5 lap bike, the idea of a 21 km run was enough to make your head spin.  However, with the 4 lap run taking place alongside the lake inside Trentham Gardens, there was plenty to distract your mind from the task at hand.  Coralie had a stunning run bringing her home to the finish in 5:37:54 over the 'flat' course, and Lorie in 6:13:34.  Though visions of Wendy Ingram's 'Ironman crawl' were floating through my mind, I managed to finish strongly with some left in the tank.

A great opportunity to get back in the saddle, great weather and great company.  A race you might like to put in your calendar for next season.  Congratulations to Coralie on her 2nd place addition to her silverware collection!!

The forecast for the weekend seemed to be hot, hot, hot, with a little humidity and rain tossed in.  In various parts of the world, our Tritons have battled the change to some impressive results.  Read on......

Ironman Germany                                       04-07-2010 

Ironlady Fee completed her penultimate race of the season in a fabulouso 12:15:52!!  A stunning result, especially considering the scorching heat which resulted in a non wetsuit swim where Fiona smashed a 1:17:43! 

Onto the bike-traffic free, German countryside roads lined with specators encouraging all the athletes up the worst climb of the day, Bad Vibel.  Again, at odds with the burning rays smouldering her back, Fiona nailed the two loop bike course in 6:03:01. 

'Neet' salt was the order of the day over the flat, fast marathon course.  Ironman?  Ironlady?  They are one in the same, with the feeling of accomplishment something that stays etched in your mind-and your body? for months and years to come!

Congratulations on an impressive result! 

'Moo'ving on Up!!

Keith Sanders, Steve Walker and Bruno Mahsoudi creamed the Cowman Half Ironman at Emberton Park this weekend.  After nearly 115 km of swimming, cycling and running and a punch up in the 2 lap swim leg, Bruno and Steve both finished 7th overall in their age groups! 

A rough swim, followed by an even tougher bike, due to the strong headwinds and scorching heat, brought Keith, Steve and Bruno through T2 in 2:36, 2:38 and 2:53 respectively. 

Despite incredible humidity, our triton powerhouse managed a 4 lap x country run through Emberton Park finishing in fine form. Looks like Ironman Switzerland is going to be a walk in the park for these 3, as it looks like they are well and truely ready.  Well done guys. 

European Championships

Neal O'Grady, Vernon Thomas and Ciara Fitzpatrick took a walk down the Emerald Isle to Athlone, Ireland this weekend for European Standard Distance Championships.  Though Neal and Ciara were competing for Ireland and Vernon for England, all 3 represented a united front as Greenwich Tritons!

It seems the tougher the race, the faster and harder our Tritons become.  Battling the horrendous weather conditions, our 3 prooved their tenacity and determination for our sport.

Yet again, Vernon made himself, his team and his country proud, bringing home a bronze medal in his age group!  Off the back of two top 3 finishes in the last two weeks, Neal had another great race, going under the hour on the bike in 54:59.  This earned Neal a 4th place finish in his age group and 23rd overall.  Though the weather was a major factor on finishing times this weekend, you wouldn't know it based on the time of the top age group male coming through in 1:45.  Competition was quite fierce. 

Ciara Fitzpatrick had a strong performance but unfortunately had to pull out of the race on the run.   

We wish all 3 of you well on the rest of your season!

O'Grady and Sanders Take the Bridge!!                  27-06-2010

It was a landslide victory for Neal and Katie at the first annual Dartford Bridge Triathlon this weekend, with Neal taking first overall and Katie second overall lady. 

On a hot and sticky Sunday morning, 10 Tritons lined up for the start.  Recovery? Pah!  Despite having raced Dambuster a week before where he placed 3rd overall, Neal was on form from the start with a 16:59 swim split.  Following suit in her first tri of the season, Katie motored through the lake taking the 6th fastest swim overall in 17:13!  Steve Wand was on form finishing 5th place in AG, as well as creaming the swim in 17:25!

Onto the bike, where again, Neal led our troupe of Tritons with the fastest bike split of the day in 56:10.  Leading our 40-44's, in 59:44, was our resident Duathlon champ Ed Simpson, earning him 8th place in AG! On the back of a successful Ironman 70.3 in Austria, Arvid Tage put in a solid peformance in 2:16:43 with a new PB of 1:07:38, followed by Dave Walker in 2:29:13.  Sean Hannan had a fantastic race, putting in a stunning performance where he placed 3rd in MV 60!  Despite the fact that it was an absolute scorcher, our athletes keep on raising the bar again and again and are gaining confidence and experience with every race.

The battle of the Queen of Cakes vs. Carl Botten was won by only mere seconds, with Carl taking the lead over our Peppi-Marie Holder.  The girls are no exception in terms of fantastic times and following suit with Katie in her blitz on  the Fuji, Peppi creamed the course (not the cake) in a time of 2:24:57.  Ciara Fitzpatrick had a fabulous bike split, 1:09:08-must be that all that time trialling is doing the trick-and finished in 2:27:00. 

Despite minor teething problems, as all new races tend to have, this will be a great local race to set on your calendar.  Well done all.