Club Champions at Dambuster!                        19-06-2010

What a great weekend for champions!  Congratulations to Coralie Glaunes and Neal O'Grady who took female and male Olympic Club Champions titles this past weekend!  In addition to these fantastic results, Coralie, Malcolm Davies, Rob Baker and Jane Hinne all qualified for the GB Team squad to World Championships in Budapest!!

In the finest of days that we have seen in many years at Dambuster, the swim started, cold and brisk.  Neal and Rob were the first out of the water in under 23 minutes, followed closely by Gavin Rand annd Mitchell Dann.  No rain!

After a teeth chattering swim, our crew of tritons careered around the bike course in phenomenally fast splits!  Neal and Malcolm sped over the undulating course, head down into the fierce winds, finishing only 3 seconds apart.  Not far behind were Rob, Gavin and Keith Sanders, finishing in 1:06:36, 1:07:14 and 1:09:12.  On such a windy day, these ferocious winds could have spelled disaster for disk wheels but Malc and Jane used them to their advantage!

Through T2, over the dam and into the run, brought Keith and Gavin racing home head to head to finish in 2:10:08 and 2:10:26 respectively-amid shouts of 'Go Daddy!'  Mitchell Dann, in a fantastic show of effort, finished in a time of 2:18:34-despite the hours of intense training the week before in Lanzarote!  Ed Simpson, in his second olympic of the season, had an outstanding result, finishing in a time of 2:20:36. 

Spectacular times and placings brought our lovely ladies, Cozza and Jane, home in 4th and 5th place, securing their places on Team GB.  Despite severe cold, the multi talented female team produced amazing results.  Highlights include a sub 40 minute run for Cozza to finish only 20s behind 3rd place and a seasons best bike split for Jane-creaming some of her long time rivals!

Some absolutely stunning results with Neal, Malcolm, Rob, Coralie and Jane all finishing in the top ten in their age groups, Neal finishing 12th overall.  Congratulations to you all. 

A Cut Above the Rest!!                                          12-06-2010

Fiona Boxall showed her metal at the BCDA 100 mile time trial in Leicestershire on Saturday, screaming through the finish line in 4:55:36. 

In a strong field of mostly male riders, comprised of only 11 females, Chairman Fe came 9th female overall showing that she is indeed ready for Ironman!  Trudging up the A50 into a headwind is probably not most people's idea of a lovely Saturday morning, but a TT a necessity of Ironman preparation.  For this TT there is a minimum finishing time of 4:20:00 for the men, so the field was very strong, and very fast.  

Congrats Fe!

Bala Middle Distance                               

On a blustery Saturday morning, 628 competitors donned their wetsuits and jumped into the cold water of Lyn Tegid to compete in the British National Middle Distance Championships.  Though the weather was churlish, the beautiful surroundings of Snowdonia National Park take away a bit of the sting and give reprieve from the hard day.

Jon and Sue Godsell were our two brave Tritons who powered their way across the undulating 90 km bike course in 2 hours 33 min and 2 hours 39 respectively.  Bala's technical bike course offers no respite from the pain, with no real opportunity to get into any kind of a rhythm, so a good result at this race is fine proof of good form!!

The testing 21 km run was not much different from the bike course with similar undulations and a massive climb.  However, what goes up must come down, and down our athletes did to finish only five minutes apart with Jon in the lead in 4:46:49 and Sue in 4:51:53.  Sue only just missed out on a top ten finish, completing the race in 11th place over all the women.  Jon had an impressive race, placing in the top quarter of the field, with lots left in the tank. 

A 'High Five!' on a race well done.

Nokia Windsor Triathlon                                           

The Human Race always puts on a good event and 2010 was no different!  Windsor is a popular event that fills quickly sporting a good show of AG and elite athletes. 2010 marks the 20th year of the Royal Windsor Triathlon, race 3 in the British Triathlon Superseries, where elites this year are competing for a £10, 000 prize purse. 

An early start brought 3 Tritons to the line:  Simon Carter, Carl Botten and Richard Woods.  After pushing through the throng of swimmers against the current, Simon led the boys out of T1 on the bike bringing home the fastest bike split of the day in 1:12:00, with Simon not far behind in 1:17:00.

T2 saw a similar beginning, with Carl and Richard finishing the run less than a minute apart on a scenic route that takes you up a steep hill past Windsor Castle.

An impressive race for all three athletes!  Congratulations to all 3 of you!

Burnham-on-Sea                                           06-06-2010

Steve Walker took a break from his IM training to race over the 750m/20km/5km distance on the West Somerset coast this weekend.

Burnham encorporates a pool swim, then a bike on a picturesque course that is half flat out TT with a technical twisting circuit along country lanes.   Follow that by a leg draining, energy sapping run on the soft sandy beach in a 1km circuit halfway over the sand dunes and you have Burnham Tri.

After a frustratingly congested swim, Steve got his head down and showed that his bike work is paying off (or is it just the new bike?) speeding his way to the 7th fastest bike split of the day in 31:28. Steve followed it up with a solid run to cover the course in 1:05:05.  Despite the blustery conditions, steve claimed 12th spot overall and 6th in the M40-44 category.

A really well orgainized local race attracting some high profile age groupers.   If you are ever down Somerset way, put this race on your to do list!  Well done Steve.

Little Beaver Triathlon                                          29-05-2010

It was a very grim day up north at the first of the three World Championship qualifiers.  Blustery winds, torrential rain and freezing temperatures made for a long day, made even longer with the run almost 12km!

Just as the swim started, the sky opened and the rain poured down.  Despite this, the Tritons showed true grit and determination.  Rob Baker led our troupe of weary warriors in the 40-44 category with a 12th place AG finish in 2:23:23, followed by Steve Walker in 2:33:26 and less than a minute behind, Ed Simpson, finishing his first olympic distance triathlon in a time of 2:34:24. All three finished in the top 30 in their AG, an impressive feat considering the level of competition in that AG!

After paddling through the muddy swim, Steve Woods, Mark Cook and Will Smart cruised over the undulating 2 lap bike course to finish in 2:29:30, 2:49:06 and 2:59:19 respectively.  On a very tough course with a severe bike climb, in horrid weather, the times that all our athletes achieved were phenomenal.

The girls performance was nothing short of spectacular, with both Jane Hinne and Coralie Glaunes finishing top ten in their AG, 6th and 9th place respectively!  After battling rain, wind and cold, the results on this day speak for themselves and certainly show the high calibre of athletes that we have in the club.

Well done to all who competed.

Please note that starting tomorrow night (Tuesday 11th May), the club run session will move inside Greenwich Park.

Please meet at the Bandstand near the Tea House for a 7:30pm start