It’s been a busy month for Aycliffe Tri Club beginning on the 12th May at the Richmond Sprint Triathlon with some great achievements for ATC members. This event saw the sun shine for the 400m pool swim, 15 mile bike and 5k run. Lots of members took on their first ever triathlon today so a special mention and well done to them.Today’s triathlon was quite a challenge, especially taking on the challenging bike route. ATC had 4 (yes FOUR) age category podiums which are listed alongside all of the other achievements in age category order. First up our Veteran male V60 category saw Mick Casey come in 4th in the category with a time of 1:36:47.5, then Jim Wilson with a time of 1:41:09.4 in 6th place closely followed in 8th place by Kevin Greenall with a time of 1:43:49.0. All of them showing the younger generations how it’s done. Next up the V50 male category saw a really strong podium finish by Graham Atkins in 2nd place with a time of 1:16:44.4 and coming in 14th place was Den Dale with a time of 1:46:29.8. The female V40 category saw another strong podium finish in 2nd place from Michelle Dixon who finished in an impressive time of 1:34:05. The V40 male category saw the most competitors from ATC. Again another podium finish for Andy Sedgewick with a time of 1:10:48.9 saw him pick up 3rd place. Ian Readman came in at 1:16:25.3 in 4th place. Brett Lambert finished 10th with a time of 1:21:18.2. Next was Danny Shoulder with 1.23:44.2 who was 11th with a really strong, close finish on the run. Dan Lewis, 1:35:02.0, gave a great performance in 16th place and John Heywood, again another strong performance knocking off 9 minutes from his estimated swim came in 17th with a time of 1:35:11.7. The Senior Female category saw Susan Rees finish in an impressive 6th place with a time of 1:38:31.8, Susan logged the fastest swim time from the club today. Last, but by no way least, were the Senior Males with Trevor Dixon finishing on the podium in 2nd place with a time of 1:13:16.5, Chris Burtenshaw came home with a time of 1:21:56.1 in 6th place and Ryan Pearson in 10th place with a time of 1:31:36.3.
Also in May was the Keswick Mountain Festival Duathlon. A 5km run, 18km bike, 5km run which saw Trevor Dixon competing for the club. Trevor was 9th overall, and 5th in his age category (Senior Male).
Other highlights from a training perspective in May saw the return of our open water swimming sessions as well as a club social training day in Buttermere in the Lake District. These are alongside our regular swim, bike and run coached sessions.
Coming up in June is our first GoTri aquathlon event, this is to be held from 6pm on Wednesday 19th June at Woodham Academy and is a 200m pool swim followed by a 2km run around the grounds at the school. This event is aimed at complete beginners as an introduction to multi-sport. Prizes are available for first male and female as well as spot prizes on the night. Not to be missed. Details can be found at www.gotri.org