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. 

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.