Hello readers, Here is Aycliffe Tri Club’s race report for early September, with five events to cover.  Alongside triathlon, many of our club athletes enter specific events depending on their strengths: swimming, cycling or running. Dan Halladay is one such person, an extremely strong swimmer, which he showed recently in the Coniston Open Water Challenge. This was held on 21st August, where he exited the beautiful Lakeland water in a brilliant 2nd place in a time of 56:40, 1st in his age group; a solid performance leading up to his 10k swim at Kielder in two weeks time. On Saturday 27th August, the iconic rolling hills and Yorkshire Dales of Emmerdale opened for one day hosting two family friendly duathlons (run-cycle-run) across the morning and afternoon in the Emmerdale Village. The duathlons were for ages 14+ and suitable for all off road bikes and the start line for the event was directly outside the Woolpack. It was a father and daughter affair in the glorious morning sunshine, with Gareth and Danielle Elkin participating in the event alongside cast members of the soap, and both got the chance to meet none other than Alistair Brownlee, hot off the plane from Rio with his Olympic Gold Medal, just in time to start the race. We also had six other club members present, all volunteering to support the event. At the Bamburgh Castle Sprint Tri, held on Saturday 3rd September, Susan Brown had a great day finishing 3rd female overall, 1st in her age group, in a time of 1:20:03. Joining Susan in Northumberland, Graham Atkins entered the Boarders and Bridges Sprint Triathlon at Berwick-upon-Tweed on Sunday 4th, finishing the race in an excellent 3rd position, 1st in his age group, in a time of 1:16:20. Farther South that Saturday, on the outskirts of York, three if our athletes competed in the Sundowner triathlon. Tracey Warrior and Michael Casey entered the sprint distance race, with Michael finishing the race a superb 2nd in his age group in 1:23:53, 85th overall and Tracey also finishing 2nd in her age group, 107th overall, in a time of 01:27:11. At the same venue, Penny Johnson competed in the middle distance race. She crossed the line in a ‘whooping’ 4th position in her age group in a time of 05:44:59, 24th female and 199th overall.