The club is well into the 2016 race season, so race reports will begin to appear weekly rather than monthly. This report has a special account from one of our level 2 coaches Dan Halladay, who made his annual pilgrimage to Scotland, to participate in the Loch Lomand Standard Triathlon.
‘All week organisers and competitors were worried about air and water temperatures but thankfully on the day the weather was beautiful and the water was a tropical 11 degrees. This meant a full length swim of 1500m which I was thankful for, as swimming is my strength. After a rough start, I managed to finish the swim in first place, and after a quick transition, I was out on the bike course with people still in the water. The bike course was brutal with 2 assents of Glen Fruin, full of twisty switch backs and a highest gradient of 19%. I didn’t get caught by the chasing group until half way up the first climb. The faster cyclists passed me on the uphill sections but I held my then 8th place on the flat and downhill into transition. Out on the run I pushed my pace to keep up with the 7th placed athlete until the half way point, when I let the elastic snap and they ran away, but I was holding a very good pace to make sure I was going to finish strong and retain 8th position. So overall a very good result taking into account I bettered my bike time from last year by 4 mins and run by 7 mins. 8th overall and 3rd in the senior age cat. ‘
A couple of late race results from last month for you next. On May 27th Michelle Scott began her challenge for the Open Water Swimming Series with a 1st place in the female category, finishing the 1500m distance in 21.10, a personal best. She ranks 5th overall. While in Lisbon, Susan Brown finished an amazing 4th overall in her age category at the European Triathlon Championships, crossing the line in 1.21.31 in the sprint distance.
On June 4th in Hartlepool, four of our regular competitors participated in the Big Lime Aquathlon, a sea swim and run race. In tough conditions they donned their wet suits and braved the cold North Sea with Michelle Scott finishing 6th overall, 1st in age group, in a time of 33.41. Graham Atkins was next, just two places behind Michelle, finishing 8th overall, 1st in his age group, in a time of 36.15. Just beating across the line, Michael Casey finished ahead of James Wilson in a time of 47.27, 18th overall, 3rd in age group with James 19th overall, 4th in his age group, in a time of 47.48.
And finally, it was a huge cheer for Nicola Darragh, representing her country for the first time in the World Duathlon Championships, held in Aviles, Spain, where she finished 26th overall in her age group, breaking the finish tape in 1.21.21; a brilliant result.
In the next report, we’ll have all the results from Leeds, where our athletes shared the water, roads and streets with the Brownlee Brothers, and all the other elite triathletes from around the world.