8 PBs at Battle of Hastings

9 hardy athletes braved the cold morning start at the Hastings Centenary Marathon. James and Loz flew off at the start with 'push it till I die' race strategies. Judging by their inability to walk afterwards they squeezed every ounce of performance out of tired muscles to finish in 3h10m and 3h13m respectively - both PBs.
There were 2 other mini-races going on. Jon, Rob and Steve have always been quite evenly matched. Steve is well known for his late pace in marathons so the race strategy for Jon was to break him if he could, while Rob held on for as long as possible. I can vouch for the fact that Jon gave it everything, pulling away at 17miles, being caught and passed by 20miles, but popping up again on Steve's shoulder at 22miles, before Steve's marginally less tired legs gave him a 40 second edge by the finish. Steve finished in 3h19m, Jon 3h20m (PB) and Rob 3h26m (PB).
The other mini-race was Rachel and Tamsin, who finished 2 minutes apart without realising how close the other was. Final times were Tamsin 3h49m (PB) and Rachel 3h51m (PB), both real quality times, only just outside the automatic qualifying times for London but on a significantly hilly course. Lucy also gained a PB with a time just outside 4hrs, and then tried to convince us all that she hadn't really trained for the race. What could she do if she did train ??
The special mention of the day has to go to Dave Lashbrook. After giving exclusive TV interviews - bigging up the club! - he started the race with a dodgy knee, which gave up on him at about 15miles. This left just a modest 11 mile stroll back to the finish, after his support team provided a change of clothes. He still finished comfortably under 5 hours, without any fuss. And a PB. What a legend!!!

And finally - the mens team (First 4 scoring) came 5th out of 57 teams - a remarkable achievement.

BAR scores after 11 events

MEN

1st James DEAR 97pts
2nd Rob HOODLESS 78
Dave JONES 78
4th Steve ALDEN 58
5th Dave LASHBROOK 53
6th Stu NISBETT 51
Jon WEBSTER 51
8th Lawrence WINTERGOLD 37
9th Callum MURRAY 12
10th Andy HEATH 10
11th Mike McLoughlin 9
Steve McMenamin 9
13th Howard PICKETT 8
14th Phil COUCH 6
15th David RICKETTS 4
16th Matt RECORD 3
17th Chris DURRANT 1
John LARDNER 1


WOMEN

1st Rachel BAKER 85pts
2nd Claire CRESSWELL 57
3rd Lucy WILLIAMS 36
4th Margaret HOLLAMBY 30
5th Tamsin DOUGLAS-SMITH 29
6th Debbie NISBETT 16
7th Katherine PREEDY 8
8th Emma ALDEN 7
Kay McMENAMIN 7
10th Julie WILLIAMS 6
Alice WINTERGOLD 6

Dave Jones makes it two in a row at Brighton

16 MSTC athletes completed the Brooks Brighton 10K last Sunday. First 4 home were in the same order as at Barns Green, with Phil Couch getting 5th spot ahead of Steve Alden. Phil is getting back into it after the twins so probably has a lot more to come next year. Callum was next home again showing how well he is running and cruising away from Dave Lashbrook in the closing stages. Our first 8 athletes were all inside 42m03s, which shows how good our thursday night running sessions really are as so many have improved. Steve Mac coped will with his leg problems to stay inside 50 minutes.

Rachel led the girls home, overhauling Lucy late on. It was good to see Debbie Nisbett out running again, and not far of her PB and under 50 minutes. Alice was also out running again, clocking 56.55, but well beaten by a competitive first run by Kay McMenamin. Claire kept under 61mins for a creditable performance again.

It was nice to see some old friends in the field with Jamie Goodhead and Paul Hedger both spotted.

MEN

Dave Jones 54th 35.47 10pts
James Dear 82nd 36.53 9
Rob Hoodless 182nd 39.28 8
Jon Webster 234th 40.21 7
Phil Couch 257th 40.26 6
Steve Alden 275th 41.17 5
Callum Murray 303rd 41.31 4
Dave Lashbrook 338th 42.03 3
Steve McMenamin 1121st 49.43 2
Lawrence Wintergold Time not available 1

WOMEN

Rachel Baker 592nd 45.28 10pts
Lucy Williams 601st 45.39 9
Debbie Nisbett 1136th 49.51 8
Kay McMenamin 1528th 54.48 7
Alice Wintergold 1678th 56.55 6
Claire Cresswell 1971st 60.59 5

Dave Jones gets top 20 at Barns Green

13 athletes took part in the Barns Green Half Marathon. Dreadful weather the day before put some people off, but those who raced had virtually perfect conditions - except for the unexpected cross country section at 5 miles!!

Dave Jones blitzed the field finishing in 17th out of 1283 finishers. The top 3 men finished as 8th team (of 41) with strong back up performances from James Dear and Rob Hoodless. The girls came 18th team of 23.

Dave Lashbrook and Callum Murray can now be considered as 'out of the closet' as far as running goes, with PBs both well under 1h40m.

One or two runners were overheard suggesting they could have run faster if they hadn't run a 20 mile road run the previous weekend, and others were bemoaning poor choice of 'gel strategy' - clearly the excuses were coming thick and fast from some quarters.

No excuses from the girls. PB for Rachel - again, as the girls were headed home by Margaret in an impressive 1h41m53s

RESULTS

MEN
Dave Jones 17th 1h20m56s 10pts
James Dear 39th 1h23m48s 9
Rob Hoodless 115th 1h31m13s 8
Jon Webster 125th 1h31m30s 7
Steve Alden 147th 1h33m18s 6
Dave Lashbrook 243rd 1h37m50s 5
Callum Murray 283rd 1h39m14s 4
Lawrence Wintergold 1h45m33s 3
Howard Pickett 2h00m21s 2

WOMEN
Margaret Hollamby 347th 1h41m53s 10pts
Rachel Baker 451st 1h46m04s 9
Katherine Preedy 970th 2h03m59s 8
Claire Cresswell 1186th 2h21m27s 7

BAR POSITIONS AFTER 10 RACES

MEN

1st James DEAR 88pts
2nd Rob HOODLESS 70
3rd Dave JONES 68
4th Steve ALDEN 53
5th Stuart NISBETT 51
6th Dave LASHBROOK 50
7th Jon WEBSTER 44
8th Loz WINTERGOLD 36
9th Andy HEATH 10
10th Mike McLOUGHLIN 9
11th Howard Pickett 8
Callum MURRAY 8
13th Steve MacMENEMIN 7
David RICKETTS 4
15th Mat RECORD 3
16th Chris DURRANT 1
John LARDNER 1

WOMEN

1st Rachel BAKER 75pts
2nd Claire CRESSWELL 52
3rd Margaret HOLLAMBY 30
4th Tamsin DOUGLAS-SMITH 29
5th Lucy WILLIAMS 27
6th Debbie NISBETT 8
7th Katherine PREEDY 8
8th Emma ALDEN 7
9th Julie WILLIAMS 6

Maltese Triathlon

Defiantly one I would recommend for next year, just as its getting freezing here pop over there to the perfect conditions with the temp at about 20c. The local triathletes and sports club could not do enough for us, ferrying us all over the place, meals and barby’s around their houses and generally making sure we were well looked after, they also got us massively reduced rates in the hotel, £35 a night per room.

Unfortunately I was unable to race in my planed Olympic distance, the dreaded man flu had knocked me about a bit, so as it was paid for we would still go and I would get a few beers in and show my support….

Anyway I got roped into doing the swim section of a sprint relay and Kay did the run section, the swim was great although my time of 15.20 was not so great. I would love to blame the conditions but it was like swimming in your bath, that is if you had a 750 meter salt water bath. Kay came in rather hot with a 29 min 5 km a few litres of water later and she stopped steaming.

The BTA were there and did a better reporting job than me http://www.tri247.com/article_4144_ChooseMalta.com+Triathlon+Championships+report.html?region_id=&category=

Results at
http://www.maltatriathlon.org/

Six Wusses in Search of an Easy Life

While the Half Ironman nutters were enduring a world of self-inflicted pain in the New Forest, six MSTC wusses (and extras) found an easier way to spend a glorious Sunday morning at the Crawley Tri Club’s Late Summer Tri at K2.

After a delayed start – organisation not quite up to the high standard established by the Mid Sussex Triathlon – Lawrence Wintergold gave his usual strong performances on the bike and run to finish first of the six, with a time of 01:11.40, coming second in the Veterans 1/2 category out of 42 contestants.

But one triathlon wasn’t enough for Lawrence and he was last seen on a ‘warm-down’ that seemed set to cover the entire run course – a picturesque but hilly route through Tilgate Forest – for a second time. ‘This’ll confuse the marshals,’ were his parting words.

Next was Martin Hollamby, Margaret’s son, a ringer drafted in from BAD Tri in Bath.

Last seen in these parts falling off his mum’s bike on a muddy lane near Plumpton, Martin set the record straight with an impressive time of 01:15:23 and a seventh-place finish in the Senior category (60 contestants).

Mat Record and John Liebers finished together in a touching display of club esprit de corps, with Mat’s strong swim in the 50-metre pool propelling him to a time of 01:18:59 and a 12th-place finish in the Senior category. John also performed well to clock 01:23:13 and 12th place in the Veterans 1/2 race

Margaret, as is customary, was first woman home in the Veterans 3/4 category, in second place out of 13 contestants overall, with a time of 01:24:35 and an all-round strong performance across the three disciplines.

Callum Murray was fifth in the same category with a time of 01:27:11, after bike and run legs with which he/I was happy. His/my swimming could do with some work, though. He/I was still being overtaken by breast-strokers!

BAR update after 9 events

MEN

1st James DEAR 79pts
2nd Rob HOODLESS 62
3rd Dave JONES 58
4th Stu NISBETT 51
5th Steve ALDEN 47
6th Dave LASHBROOK 45
7th Jon WEBSTER 37
8th Loz WINTERGOLD 33
9th Andy HEATH 10
10th Mike McLOUGHLIN 9
11th Steve MacMENEMIN 7
12th Howard PICKETT 6
13th Callum MURRAY 4
David RICKETTS 4
15th Mat RECORD 3
16th Chris DURRANT 1
John LARDNER 1



WOMEN

1st Rachel BAKER 66pts
2nd Claire CRESSWELL 45
3rd Tamsin DOUGLAS-SMITH 29
4th Lucy WILLIAMS 27
5th Margaret HOLLAMBY 20
6th Debbie NISBETT 8
7th Emma ALDEN 7
8th Julie WILLIAMS 6

Super Hilly New Forest Race Tamed

A remarkable turnout of 10 athletetes at The New Forest Middle Distance Triathlon, made Mid Sussex Tri Club the most represented club in the race. With two 3rd places and one 4th place in the age groups and good performances across the board this was a race that will not be forgotten.
I can confidently say that no-one will forget that run route. Whether we were mountain climbing up the slopes, or abseiling down again, I doubt if there is a tougher half marathon leg in a middle distanc race in the country.
The honours went to James Dear and Tamsin, but there was alot of close racing. And surely the performance of the day went to Clare, who may not have been the quickest, but was rightly so pleased with her performance that she was buzzing for the rest of the day.
A huge well done to all 10 athletes, because that was one tough race.

Men

1st James Dear 5h16m15s (20th) 10pts
2nd Jon Webster 5h32m07s (55th) 9
3rd Dave Lashbrook 5h34m41s (62nd) 8
4th Rob Hoodless 5h35m39s (66th) 7
5th Steve Alden 5h38m37s (69th) 6
6th Steve Mac 6h24m46s (204th) 5
7th Howard Pickett 7h2m36s (279th) 4

Women

1st Tamsin D-Smith 6h31m26s (221st) 10pts
2nd Rachel Baker 6h33m49s (233rd) 9
3rd Claire Cresswell 7h24m59s (310th) 8

Southwater relays

Yet another lovely weekend in England for racing! Yet this did not put off the 137 teams rocking up early Sunday to race. Although three teams in the results seem to be missing some members. Maybe they got lost under the bed covers. I know that i was tempted!

Never the less Mid Sussex had two teams entered. Tamsin lead off the Barbie girls and David Jones went first for D,K,N,Y,2,TRI. Both managed to put in faster times than last year in slower conditions. Tamsin improved by an impressive 2mins and 34secs!

Katherine was a little shocked when she had the lead going into the swim! However, despite the pressure, managed a good performance in only her 3rd Tri. Lucy looked like she had a slick transition and held good run form to complete her leg in good style.

It was also Nikki's 3rd Tri, in which she put a good race together. After a strong swim Nikki was clearly in a state of flow as she flew into T1. Managing to maintain the flow Nikki brought the team home in 74th. Rachel was also clearly focused on the job at hand as she waited in the change over box. Her time brought The Barbie girls home in 85th and 5th in all female catagorie.

Congratulations to all that took part and lets hope we have more teams next year!?!

The long and the short of it.

If you don't want to read the very long post!

I raced Bedford Olympic and had a bad race.

I raced the world long course and was happy with my performance and had a lot of fun.

Thanks,

David

The long and the short of it!

The past two weekends could not have been any more different. Once again I turned up to race the Jordans Bedford Olympic on the bank holiday weekend. This was followed by the ITU World 03 championships.

Early on Sunday the 24th August I drove up to Bedford hoping the weather would start to improve, and that after the first taper week of the year, a fast time would be on. After queuing for registration under an umbrella the rain finally stopped for the start of a race. Florian Leder set the early pace for the swim with a 20mins 47secs while I was a little too relaxed with a 26min swim, never finding a good rhythm. The wind had not dropped on the bike and with the roads still wet I rode some interesting lines round the course. I held back on the bike as I was looking to have a solid run. Although comfortable with the effort my intestines had other ideas! I set the 3rd fastest bike split of the day just 25sec behind Mark Livesey and his 1hr 02mins 20secs. I had good pace for the first lap of the three lap run course. Unfortunately I had to take a diversion to the loos. I managed to recover a little for the second lap but had another pit stop and just jogged the last lap. Steve Harrison eventual winner in 2hrs 26secs, had the fastest run split of the day with 35mins 23secs.


This year’s worlds were held in sunny Almere, Holland. Yet another early start, I begrudgingly set my alarm for 04:00 on Friday 29th to catch my 06:15 flight to Amsterdam. The journey was running smoothly until the 45min coach transfer took 90min. The team became a little concerned when the driver started to back track. He eventually drove to the nearest town, and pulled over to ask the direction to Centre parcs, which was the base for the weekend. Once we found the cottages we had to leave again for Almere, some 15k away, as registration closed mid afternoon.


Saturday morning I rode to Almere for the bike racking and to have a second breakfast, I recommend a Turkish No 1 if anyone races next year!


Race day came round all too quickly. The forecast was for a scorcher of a day and the weather did not disappoint. Blue sky and a strong breeze the race started at 08:55 with 1000 other men taking the plunge for a 4k swim that turn out to be closer to 4.5k. The start was busy and after 700m the first turn buoy appeared. Turning greater than 100 degrees the sun presented a sighting issue which made the next 400m more like 500m as the pack zigged and zagged to the next turn buoy where we headed back to the swim start. The second lap missed the second turn buoy and headed into the current and the sun for 2.5k. The wind had whipped up some waves and made the same a real challenge. Once, after what felt like an age, it was time to climb out of the harbour onto some steps and off to T1. Looking at my watch expecting to see 65min I was a little taken back to see 86min had passed by.

I had a smooth and easy transition and felt good on the bike for the first 500m and then turned in to a strong head wind. At this point I was not sure my plan of catching up the lost swim time was going to work so I backed off and stuck with my original pacing plan. The first lap was busy on the bike with lots of people pick off. Unfortunately some seem to think that 10m is the same as 10cm and groups had formed on the bike. The wind increased in strength as the temperature started to ramp up. I spent the first half of the second lap 60k lap trying to catch a group 400m up the road. It really shows how much of a difference drafting makes as the group pulled away from me in a head or side wind and came back with a tail wind. On a long section of side wind I gradually caught the pack and with one of the many 90 degree turns had a tail wind and blew past the pack.

A super slick T2 saw me settle into a strong early pace. I had a little cramp at 7.5k after think that I maybe on for a sub 2hour run. So ran nice and steady after stretching my left hamie a couple of times. Then I got to the 17k mark and the wheels start to fall off! I ran / shuffled to the next aid station and stopped to have a gel. The only reason I started to run again is because on the USA coaches told me to start running again. Thank you! I ran the 500m to the next aid and had some hot cross buns and a wee. I then just worked on running to the next aid 3.5k away. After this I settled into a good rhythm and just walked the aid stations eating hot cross buns as I went. Brilliant!

I managed 8th in my age group and feel relatively happy with my performance.

Thank you to all the support people in the club have given me over the past year. Bring on Ironman Austria and a sub 09:45!

David

Brighton Sea Swim

The event is a 1 mile challenging sea swim between Hove Lawn (next to the King Alfred leisure Centre) & Brunswick Lawn (the Peace Statue).

Just a quick one on this, very good swim nice and friendly as i discovered on the start line, i took the washing machine position in the centre front row, off we go ... no flailing arms or kicks to the face... i mean really how are you supposed to get worked up if everyone in the position is so considerate.

Swim out and then a turn to the left, just then i realised that it was against the current which i was not expecting, so I had to setle in for a long hard slog, I was in the leading group for most of the way but fell off the pace in the last third of the race and came in at 47:04 two minutes behind the winner this put me in 20th position.

Its a nice race and i think we should have it as a club swim next year the only negative is that you have no idea where the finish line is I only spotted it because there was an unusually large number of people gathered on the beach.. barbeque party of finish line? fortunately it was the finish.

Thanks to James Dear who turned up in support and the Saturday Cycling lads who were also there posing in there Lycra on the prom.

Club Competitions

All Members Competition (BAR)

After 8 Events

MENS

Pos Name (No. of events) Points Ave. POWT
1 James Dear (7) 69 7.83
2 Dave Jones (7) 58 12.98
3 Rob Hoodless (8) 55 19.92
4 Stu Nisbett (7) 51 17.93
5 Steve Alden (8) 41 24.85
6 David Lashbrook (7) 37 22.34
7 Lawrence Wintergold (4) 33 12.54
8 Jon Webster (6) 28 23.10
9 Andy Heath (3) 10 28.14
10 Mike McLoughlin (1) 9 16.20
11= Callum Murray (2) 4 37.19
11= David Ricketts (1) 4 39.17
13 Mat Record (1) 3 25.74
14= Steve McMenamin (1) 2 36.67
14= Howard Pickett (2) 2 56.48
16= Chris Durrant (1) 1 44.60
16= John Lardner (1) 1 45.91
16= Simon King (1) 1 49.10

WOMENS

Pos Name (No. of events) Points Ave. POWT
1 Rachel Baker (6) 57 27.67
2 Claire Cresswell (5) 37 51.00
3 Lucy Williams (3) 27 48.59
4 Margaret Hollamby (2) 20 18.64
5 Tamsin Douglas-Smith (2) 19 33.27
6 Debbie Nisbett (1) 8 24.84
7 Emma Alden (1) 7 54.81
8 Julie Williams (1) 6 73.30

Club Championships

Sprint Distance - Sussex Triathlon

MENS

1st Dave Jones
2nd James Dear
3rd Stu Nisbett

WOMENS

1st Margaret Hollamby
2nd Rachel Baker
3rd Debbie Nisbett

Olympic Distance - Worthing

MENS

1st James Dear
2nd Rob Hoodless
3rd Stu Nisbett

WOMENS

1st Rachel Baker
2nd Tamsin Douglas-Smith
3rd Claire Cresswell

Best Athlete

MENS

The following have completed the required number and type of events:
Name POWT
Dave Jones 10.47
Stuart Nisbett 12.58
Rob Hoodless 16.27
Dave Lashbrook 18.48
Steve Alden 21.35

The rest of the men and women need to complete more events, in particular a long distance event, e.g. the middle distance tri or marathon to qualify.

Worthing Blow-Dryathlon

James Dear secures a superb third place at the Worthing Triathlon as strong winds and choppy seas force organisers to cancel the swim.

We sort of expected it would happen, but it was still a huge disappointment when the organisers confirmed that the swim was going to be cancelled. Quite a few of us have been training hard for the open water swim and the prospect of having it replaced by another run, well that just sucks… Anyway the decision was made and at 7am the women set off on the 5K run, followed 11 minutes later by the men.

Again their was a huge Mid Sussex Tri Club contingent looking fabulous in the new kit!

In the women’s race Tamsin was first to complete the 5K run in 21:26 closely followed by Rachel with Claire back in third. Out on the bike Rachel showed her strength with a very impressive 1:28:32, which gave her an unassailable seven minute lead over Tamsin going in to the 10K run. Tamsin was only able to claw back another minute and a half on the run which gave Rachel the win by almost six minutes. Claire claimed third place a further 25 minutes back.

In the men’s race Dave Jones set the early pace, coming into T1 first overall with his main rival James Dear 45 seconds behind. The rest of us were pretty close together with Jon Webster, Rob Hoodless and Steve Alden leading the way.

Once out on the bike James Dear rocketed round to record the fastest bike split overall 1:04:28, Stu Nisbett moved up to second in the club with 1:07:27. Unfortunately Dave Jones suffered from a few Paula Radcliffe moments, which ruined his race and parts of the Sussex countryside. Dave Lashbrook and Jon Webster put in some quality rides to keep themselves in contention on the final run.

James’ legend bike split made him first athlete to start the second run, much to the delight of the crowd! Unfortunately he was unable to hold on to first place, but still finished a superb third overall and first for the club by a massive 15 minute margin. Rob managed to reel in Stu to claim second spot with Stu in third, closely followed by Jon Webster, David Lashbrook and Steve Alden. Two of the strongest sea swimmers amongst us, Mat Record and Steve McMenamin came in at 2:34 and 2:47 respectively with John Lardner a further 10 minutes back in 2:58:52.

Club results as follows:

Name Time PosOA 5km run Pos 43km bike Pos 10 km Pos
James Dear 2:03:50 3 0:17:15 14 1:04:28 1 0:40:32 30
Robert Hoodless 2:18:20 53 0:19:42 74 1:13:39 52 0:43:38 66
Stuart Nisbett 2:18:58 55 0:21:17 139 1:07:27 8 0:48:18 138
Jon Webster 2:19:23 58 0:19:35 69 1:14:39 60 0:43:55 71
David Jones 2:19:56 61 0:16:29 1 1:19:49 109 0:42:32 50
David Lashbrook 2:21:37 67 0:21:18 141 1:11:36 31 0:47:19 119
Steve Alden 2:24:45 85 0:20:03 83 1:18:40 93 0:44:38 80
Mat Record 2:34:08 147 0:21:20 147 1:22:27 146 0:48:19 140
Rachel Baker 2:47:24 206 0:23:04 192 1:28:32 193 0:53:50 202
Steve McMenamin 2:47:32 207 0:22:50 188 1:25:07 168 0:56:44 218
Tamsin Douglas- 2:53:11 218 0:21:26 155 1:37:29 227 0:52:24 188
Smith
John Lardner 2:58:52 223 0:23:19 203 1:40:40 234 0:51:03 176
Claire Creswell 3:18:28 243 0:28:45 250 1:39:54 230 1:07:59 236

BAR after 7 events

MEN

1st James DEAR 59 points
2nd Dave JONES 52
3rd Rob HOODLESS 46
4th Stu NISBETT 43
5th Steve ALDEN 37
6th Loz WINTERGOLD 33
7th Dave LASHBROOK 32
8th JON WEBSTER 21
9th Andy HEATH 10
10th Mike McCLOUGHLIN 9
11th Callum MURRAY 4
David RICKETTS 4
13th Howard PICKETT 2
14th Chris DURRANT 1
Simon KING 1


WOMEN

1st Rachel BAKER 47 points
2nd Clare CRESSWELL 29
3rd Lucy WILLIAMS 27
4th Margaret HOLLAMBY 20
5th Tamsin DOUGLAS-SMITH 10
6th Debbie NISBETT 8
7th Emma ALDEN 7
8th Julie WILLIAMS 6

Record turnout for 100 TT

5 members of Mid Sussex Tri Club took part in the centenary 100mile TT at Dial Post. Scorching temperatures did not prevent most posting PBs. Stu sprinted away to top spot at 4h19m and everybody was under 4h50m.

I have not reported on the 10, but the results and cumulative points are below.

10
James DEAR 21.37 -10
Dave JONES 22.24 - 9
Stu NISBETT 22.50 - 8
Loz WINTERGOLD 23.01 - 7
Rob HOODLESS 24.08 - 6
Dave LASHBROOK 24.14 - 5
Jon WEBSTER 25.24 - 4
Steve ALDEN 25.30 - 3
Callum MURRAY 27.07 - 2

Rachel BAKER 28.09 - 10

100
Stu NISBETT 4h19m - 10
Dave JONES 4h26m - 9
Dave LASHBROOK 4h36m - 8
Rob HOODLESS 4h42m - 7
Steve ALDEN 4h49m - 6

James and Rachel storm the '50'

9 MSTC members did the SCCU 50 mile TT yesterday, as well as old friends like Doug Fox and Helen Bullimore. James Dear ran away with the men's event as expected - 1h55m and Rachel Baker was the fastest MSTC lady in 2.42. Loz just beat the 2hour mark, whilst of the newcomers to this type of pain, Dave Jones did 2.06, and Dave Lashbrook an exceptional 2.14, with Jon Webster 2.20. Steve Alden beat his PB with 2.18. Rob Hoodless recorded an impressive 2.08. Claire Cresswell put in another consistent performance for a hard earned 2.48. Well done to all.

Men

1. James DEAR 1h 55m 42s 10points
2. Loz WINTERGOLD 1h 59m 45s 9
3. Dave JONES 2h 6m 9s 8 PB
4. Robert HOODLESS 2h 8m 42s 7
5. Dave LASHBROOK 2h 13m 57s 6 PB
6. Steve ALDEN 2h 18m 42s 5 PB
7. Jon WEBSTER 2h 20m 34s 4 PB

Women

1. Rachel BAKER 2h 42m 37s 10 points PB
2. Clare CRESSWELL 2h 48m 50s 9 PB


BAR POINTS AFTER 5 EVENTS

MEN WOMEN

1. James DEAR 49 Rachel BAKER 37
2. Dave JONES 34 Clare CRESSWELL 29
3. Rob HOODLESS 33 Lucy WILLIAMS 27
4. Steve ALDEN 28 Margaret HOLLAMBY 20
5. Loz WINTERGOLD 26 Tamsin D-SMITH 10
6. Stu NISBETT 25 Debbie NISBETT 8
7. Dave LASHBROOK 19 Emma ALDEN 7
8. Jon WEBSTER 17 Julie WILLIAMS 6
9. Andy HEATH 10
10 Mike McLOUGHLIN 9
11 Dave RICKETTS 4
12 Callum MURRAY 2
12 Howard PICKETT 2
14 Chris DURRANT 1
14 Simon KING 1

3 age group victories at Ardingly

What a result for Mid Sussex Tri Club. Dave Jones finishes 5th and wins his age group. Rob Hoodless and Margaret Hollamby also win theirs. I am sure this is a first for the club. We would have won the team prize if there had been one, with James Dear 7th and Stu Nisbett 15th.

14 members completed the event with some seriously good performances. Dave Lashbrook continues his improvement and finally beat Steve Alden by a narrow margin with Jon Webster and a rapidly improving Andy Heath close behind. Well done to Callum Murray on completing his first ever tri, and also to Simon King with a strong performance.

On the ladies front it was good to see Debs back in action, but it was Rachel Baker and Margaret Hollamby who took the honours. Well done to Clare Cresswell with another gutsy performance and is improving all the time.

RESULTS
Men
1. Dave Jones 5th 10 points 1.09.01 4.56%
2. James Dear 7th 9 1.10.07 6.22
3. Stu Nisbett 15th 8 1.12.58 10.5
4. Rob Hoodless 19th 7 1.13.52 11.9
5. Dave Lashbrook 36th 6 1.17.40 17.7
6. Steve Alden 38th 5 1.17.47 17.8
7. Jon Webster 43rd 4 1.18.30 18.9
8. Andy Heath 46th 3 1.19.09 19.9
9. Callum Murray 144th 2 1.35.01 43.9
10Simon King 164th 1 1.38.24 49.1

Women
1. Margaret Hollamby 83rd 10pts 1.26.05 15.19%
2. Rachel Baker 108th 9 1.29.19 19.51
3. Debbie Nisbett 129th 8 1.33.18 24.84
4. Claire Cresswell 198th 7 1.46.01 41.86


Overall Classification after 4 events

MEN
1. James Dear 39points
2.= Dave Jones 26
2.= Rob Hoodless 26
4. Stu Nisbett 25
5. Steve Alden 23
6. Loz Wintergold 17
7.= Dave Lashbrook 13
7.= Jon Webster 13
9. Andy Heath 10
10. Mike McLoughlin 9
11. Dave Ricketts 4
12. Callum Murray 2
12= Howard Pickett 2
14= Chris Durrant 1
14= Simon King 1



WOMEN
1= Lucy Williams 27
1= Rachel Baker 27
3= Margaret Hollamby 20
3= Claire Cresswell 20
5 Tamsin Douglas-Smith 10
6 Debbie Nisbett 8
7 Emma Alden 7
8 Julie Williams 6

Weekend Roundup

This weekend we had Steve Mac flexing his Muscles of Steel, Dave Jones on a mission in Austria, James Dear caught speeding on the A3, Stuart battling the elements in Shoreham and some knights of the sore saddle riding through Wessex.

First we kick off with DJ who set off for Austria last Thursday to compete in the Ironman 70.3 (that's half ironman to those who don't know). He had a decent race finishing in 4:48:36. I will try and get an interview with him to find out more.
Full results here.

Steve Mac took part in the Muscles of Steel olympic distance tri at Dorney lake and was well pleased with his time of 2:35:24, so much so that he went out on a celebratory binge and got hammered afterwards! Later this year he will be competing in Livers of Steel and is hot favourite to take the title!

James Dear turned out a respectable 21:11 at the RTTC National 10 Mile Time Trial Championship on Sunday. Unfortunately for him the cream of British time trialling also turned up and put in some awesome rides to leave him in mid table. His teammate Michael Hutchinson won with a stonking time of 18:07!

Monday was wet and windy for Stuart Nisbett's race at the Brighton Mitre 10 in Steyning/Shoreham. He battled the elements to record 23:18, which was good enough for 3rd place on the day. It's not that an impressive time on paper (or computer screen) but it was like riding a carbon bucking bronco out there!

Brad, Ian, Andy Taylor, Kev and Nigel all took part in the Tour of Wessex over the weekend. Sounds as though it was wet and windy, sunny, wet, wet and a bit more wet. Kev was the only one who magaed all three days, not sure what happened to the others. I hear that they are all still alive though and Kev's bottom is making a good recovery :-)

Sussex Triathlon Start List

The start list for the Sussex Triathlon is now up on the Urbanrace website.

15 members of the club have entered the Sprint race, which is the club's sprint championship. With no Dave Jones on the start list!! James Dear is odds on favourite to take the title.

Good luck to James who is racing in the national 10 this Sunday,to Stuart who is racing in the Brighton Mitre 10 on Monday and to everyone who's doing the Tour of Wessex this weekend. Apparently the wobbler is going to be there on a brand new bike.

Forgot to say well done to Loz for his performance at the Tonbridge Triathlon the other week. He was 15th overall and won his age group! Click here for the results.

Two Seconds to Second

While most people in East Grinstead were still enjoying a nice lie-in James Dear was blitzing through their streets on his way to a third consecutive MSTC BAR victory. Against a top quality field his time of 01:13:09 was good enough for 10th place overall, but more importantly it was a crucial two seconds faster than teammate Dave Jones. There have been a lot of two second gaps flying about in the last couple of weeks, unfortunately Dave was on the wrong side of this one. It looks like the extra two swim lengths he had to do have cost him dear!
Ghostbusters were put on alert until it transpired that the slime monster coming in in 3rd was actually Loz. He reminded everybody what a legendary athlete he is by clocking a very impressive 01:15:41. When he starts getting some more sleep he is going to be dangerous. Looking at the results these three would have clinched the team prize, if there was one (not sure if there is or not?)
Stu was well pleased with his days work, particularly the run, which helped him maintain the advantage gained from his bike leg.

Rob and Steve had their usual ding dong . This time Rob's all round skills gave him the upper hand as he came in 5th. I don't think Steve was that fussed, he was still buzzing after the previous days visit to Wembley to watch Pompey win the FA Cup. Rob has vowed to be in top form for the Sussex Tri!

Dave Lashbrook and Jon Webster continue to improve and were only seconds apart at the end, looks like those two are going to have a few more interesting battles this season as well. They were a couple of minutes ahead of Andy Heath, who is still on the comeback trail. It will be interesting to see how he improves over the next couple of months.

Tamsin was top lady of the day, smashing 4 minutes off her previous best time to record an impressive 01:34:31. On this sort of form she is going to be a real contender for the BAR. Current leader Lucy Williams bagged another 9 points though, just ahead of the ever improving Claire Cresswell who was sporting some rather fetching new tri bars. Sandwiched in between was Howard, who didn't have the best of days, but will be looking to bounce back in the Sussex Tri.

The next event is the BAR and Sprint Championship event the Sussex Triathlon in two weeks time, which promises to be another cracker!

Members results:

10th James Dear (s) 00:09:55 (b) 00:43:34 (r) 00:19:40 (oa) 01:13:09 9.31%
11th David Jones (s) 00:08:53 (b) 00:45:50 (r) 00:18:29 (oa) 01:13:11 9.37%
21st Lawrence Wintergold (s) 00:08:43 (b) 00:46:09 (r) 00:20:49 (oa) 01:15:41 13.1%
24th Stuart Nisbett (s) 00:08:09 (b) 00:46:30 (r) 00:22:42 (oa) 01:17:20 15.6%
40th Robert Hoodless (s) 00:08:36 (b) 00:50:08 (r) 00:21:05 01:19:49 19.3%
54th Steve Alden (s) 00:08:29 (b) 00:51:25 (r) 00:21:39 01:21:33 21.9%
71st David Lashbrook (s) 00:08:38 (b) 00:50:47 (r) 00:22:52 (oa) 01:22:16 22.9%
76th Jon Webster (s) 00:09:44 (b) 00:51:29 (r) 00:21:18 (oa) 01:22:31 23.3%
96th Andrew Heath (s) 00:08:06 (b) 00:53:27 (r) 00:23:14 (oa) 01:24:47 26.7%
195th Tamsin Douglas-Smith (s) 00:09:33 (b) 01:00:48 (r) 00:24:10 (oa) 01:34:31 41.2%
250th Lucy Williams (s) 00:12:22 (b) 01:04:24 (r) 00:25:16 (oa) 01:42:01 52.4%
263rd Howard Pickett (s) 00:09:44 (b) 01:03:59 (r) 00:31:09 (oa) 01:44:52 56.7%
281st Claire Cresswell (s) 00:09:55 (b) 01:07:25 (r) 00:32:30 (oa) 01:49:50 64.1%

Full results available here

Well done to Jess McMorris who completed the Try-a-Tri, which was her first triathlon. She finished 21st overall with a time 50:42.

21st Jessica McMorris (s) 00:06:08 (b) 00:32:21 (r) 00:12:13 (oa) 00:50:42 22.8%

Try-a-Tri results available here

Who is Mike Curnock? Answers on postcard please to Phantom Members, 221b Baker Street, London NW1 6XE

New Forest Olympic

This race should be on everybody’s calendar.

After rumors of the swim being shortened due to the cold water I was happy to find out that because the water was 14 degrees (yea course it was) they left it at 1100m, got in and tried to acclimatize but just didn’t have enough time only managed to make it to my favored position in the centre of the second line otherwise known as the washing machine.. Off we go a mass start of 350 competitor’s legs and arms flailing everywhere what a buzz took me about 200mts to get into the swing of it so the leaders had escaped me at this time, never mind, out of the water in 18:30 and no dizzy head there’s a first. A 200mtr run to T1 and over the timing mat in 19:15 leaving me in 47th position.

Off with the wet suit then bang I overbalanced and nearly fell on the floor, the dizziness kicked in, strange it took its time, anyway out on the bike in 3:25 long T1 but I’ve been taking tips of James Dear and must have been brushing my long locks.

Out of T1 with a 300mtr run to the mount line, the bike was great, out through the forest and over exposed heath land, the wind was almost non existent, I kept having to refocus though as I took in the scenery from my tuck position. Also having to dodge the odd cow or horse that decided to wander into the road, saw highland cattle with the biggest horns I’ve ever seen so sped past that as quick as possible. Off the bike and a 300mtr run to T3 67 mins dropped to 150th must improve my bike or wear blinkers and stop being a tourist.

Out of T2 in 2:06 not so much hair to brush this time.

The run starts off with a gentle 1-2k then you hit a long hill, I got to the top and the run moved to off road on gravel/mud tracks, I turned the corner, only to see another hill... anyway my run was finished after the first km as I picked up a ankle injury, bit typical for me, but decided I was not going to dnf even if I had to hop, so a stuttering 10k for me at 62 mins.

All in all it was a good race that I would strongly recommend, I was aiming at a sub 2:15 and came in at 2:28:20 and in 203rd so as my old school teacher used to say ‘could do better’, anyway I am off to ride the south downs way this weekend and racing another Olympic distance at Dorney lake on the 25th May and hope to do a sub 2:20 this time.

Don’t know if I’ve done the right thing but in my post race excitement I have now signed up for the middle distance version of this race...gulp.

Best All Rounder Race 2

Second race in the series was the 25 mile In Gear Quick Vit Time Trial.

James Dear won comfortably as expected but did have trouble when one of the tri bar extensions 'came away in his hands' !! Special mentions go to Lucy and Rachel both completing their first 25 mile TT, doing extremely well.

Winner Michael Hutchinson 50m 40s !!

10 points James Dear 57m23s 13.26%
9 points Loz Wintergold 59m23s 17.2%
8 points Stuart Nisbett 59m54s 18.22%
7 points Dave Jones 62m38s 23.62%
6 points Rob Hoodless 65m47s 29.84%
5 points Steve Alden 69m37s 37.4%

LADIES
10 points Rachel Baker 76m45s 51.48%
9 points Lucy Williams 81m39s 61.15%

G25/93 Time Trial Route

This is the route for the time trial on 4th May - G25/93

London Marathon - Another PB for JW

Jon Webster gave us a masterclass in marathon pacing with another impressive performance at this year's London Marathon.

He bettered his Rome time by about a minute to bag another pb with a time of 3:23:16
The stats show that he maintained a steady pace throughout the race going through the halfway point in 1:41:56.



Jon is also helping to raise money for the Parkinson's Disease Society, so if you haven't sponsored him yet and would like to then visit his fund raising page and give him some cash.

Fabulous One Two at Steyning!!

An excellent 1st and 2nd for James and Mike at this year's Steyning Tri in atrocious conditions.

Report by Mike McLoughlin

"Well what a day at the races, day started well enough, patchy clouds with minimal winds, a few hours later and competitors found themselves in a full on snow storm! 5 members of Mid Sussex Tri Club entered all eager to get their first tri of the year in under there belt, especially James Dear for which this was his first ever tri.

James was off first due to his brick like swimming credentials, James put in a good solid swim and was happy with his pool performance and he even found time to do his hair spending nearly 3 minutes in transition! venturing out onto the snow free bike course it was now time for him to do "proper sport" and promptly tore up the bike course recording the best bike split of the day by over 5 mins! obviously his bike hadn't tired him out and he went on to put in a top 5 time on the run course, great work, first tri and first win, will be great to see how good James will get once he grows gills!

Next off was Tamsin with a slightly later swim start time, she put in a good swim and went out on the bike course and battled against the elements to put in a very respectable time, Tamsin was last seen on the run sporting a rather lovely snow hat and looked strong running with no issue with her recent serious knee injury. She was generally just happy to have completed such a tough race!

Steve Mac put in a good performance in the pool and was out like a shot trying to maximise the gap between him and mike, Steve put in a strong bike and was able to hold off the advances of Mike for some time (not a usual feat) and battle with the white out conditions as the blizzard intensified, however the weather and his knee problems were causing too many issues and unfortunately Steve DNF'ed, hopefully this will be the one and only time this year.

Last off for the club in the long course was Mike, due to starting off last he had the joy of trying to chase down Steve, this must have spurred him on to a better than usual race swim performance, out onto the bike his chosen wardrobe for the bike course was a little questionable to say the least, opting for just a tri suit and optional arm warmers, to his cost half way round the bike course the blizzard hit and the effect was like a ice cube being rammed up his back side. Getting into T2 it took ages to get into shoes and once on the run it was like running with ice blocks, however he was able to finish the race in a very surprising second place! Mike was last seen mumbling like Wallace and Grommit accent in the shallow end of the pool!

Due to the weather getting so bad the organisers cancelled the bike for the sprint tri event and was turned into a 400m/5km aquathlon. Claire Cresswell's time is unknown at the current time of writing as the organisers are still trying to sort out all the times. Claire was disappointed that the cycle was dropped from the event such was her attitude to want to get out there and compete, however she was very happy with her result.



Newbie Chris Durrant also put in a good performance in his first ever triathlon finishing in a perfectly respectable 02:20:21. Not sure if he wore his cage fighting gloves throughout the race, but they will have certainly come in handy during the chilly bike leg?





Results



Long

James Dear 01:47:07 (1st)


Mike McLoughlin 01:51:11 (2nd)


Chris Durrant 02:20:21 (51st)


Tamsin Douglas-smith 02:23:08 (53rd)


Steve Mcmenamin DNF

Sprint

Claire Cresswell (tbc)

Well done to all for competing in such challenging conditions and at least you know that this is the hardest tri that you will have to do this year! Full tri247 race report is here and full results are here."

New Kit Coming Soon...

Click image to view larger version.
The new kit design has been finalized and the order is about to be placed. If you haven't ordered anything yet then get in touch with James Duddy real quick or you will be doing events in vest and pants!!

Approx prices are:
tri suit £55.00
tri vest £30.00
tri shorts £29.00
cycle shirt SS £35.00
cycle shirt LS £39.00
Cycle Bib-Shorts £30.00
Kit Bag £25.00

ROME MARATHON

Many PBs were posted in Rome. This is an awesome marathon, with perfect weather conditions, stunning scenery and history all around.

Approximate times for MSTC members were;

Jon Webster 3h 24m PB
Margaret Hollamby 3h 35m PB
Steve Alden 3h 38m
David Ricketts 3h 45m
Rachel Baker 4h 08m PB
Julie Williams 4h 34m PB
Barbara Ratcliff 4h 34m PB
John Tighe 4h 37m
Emma Alden 4h 50m
Fiona Ricketts 5h 50m PB

I don't have the exact times available but there were some superb efforts on the day.

Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon

Howard continued his race/training combo with another solid performance at the Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon. He finished in a time of 01:54:34, click here for full results

In an interview in the changing rooms last Thursday he confessed that he finds running training a bit boring, which is why he prefers to use events, like this, as training.

2008 BAR Competition Standings

BRIGHTON HALF MARATHON 17th February 2008

A beautiful sunny day greeted the runners in Brighton. It was a fantastic turnout with 16 MSTC competitors and 4 'groupies'. Awesome performances from James and Mike in their first ½ marathons, and at least one other PB (Stu). Performance of the day for the ladies was Margaret Hollamby, but Lucy and Rachel put in very strong performances. Well done to all.

Here are the standings following Sunday's first event in the series.

MEN – winning time 1h 11m 17s

1. James DEAR 1h 22m 23s 10points 15.57% PB
2. Mike McLOUGHLIN 1h 22m 50s 9 16.20% PB
3. Steve ALDEN 1h 31m 26s 8 28.27%
4. Rob HOODLESS 1h 31m 51s 7 28.86%
5. Jon WEBSTER 1h 34m 22s 6 32.39%
6. Andy HEATH 1h 38m 14s 5 37.81%
7. David RICKETTS 1h 39m 12s 4 39.17%
8. Dave LASHBROOK 1h 40m 35s 3 41.11%
9. Stuart NISBETT 1h 42m 56s 2 44.40% PB
10. Howard PICKETT 1h 51m 23s 1 56.26%


WOMEN – winning time 1h 18m 33s

1. Margaret HOLLAMBY 1h 35m 54s 10points 22.09%
2. Lucy WILLIAMS 1h 43m 53s 9 32.23%
3. Rachel BAKER 1h 48m 59s 8 38.73%
4. Emma ALDEN 2h 1m 36s 7 54.81%
5. Julie WILLIAMS 2h 16m 8s 6 73.30%
6. Claire CRESSWELL 2h 18m 17s 5 76.03%

Beacon Half Marathon

Cool, calm and bright, perfect conditions for running at the Beacon Half Marathon in Brighton yesterday.

17 Mid Sussex Tri Club athletes took part in the event, which has got to be a record turnout? and everyone put in a great performance. James Dear was the first club member home with a splendid time of 1:22:23 closely followed by Mike with a stonking run of 1:22:45, which in my book gets performance of the day! Margaret had a brilliant run with a pb of 1:35:54 and Rachel Baker knocked about 10 mins off her pb with 1:48:59.

Good to see Andy Heath and David Lashbrook back in action and newcomers Lucy Williams and the numberless Chris Durrant both had good races.

Here are the club results:

52 James Dear 1:22:23 52
56 Mike McLoughlin 1:22:45
289 Steve Alden 1:31:26
303 Robert Hoodless 1:31:51
435 Jon Webster 1:34:22
509 Margaret Hollamby 1:35:54
584 Andy Heath 1:38:14
687 David Ricketts 1:39:12
745 David Lashbrook 1:40:35
1020 Stuart Nisbett 1:42:56
1029 Lucy Williams 1:43:53
1537 Rachel Baker 1:48:59
1683 Howard Pickett 1:51:23
2653 Emma Alden 2:01:36
3278 Claire Cresswell 2:18:17
3298 Julie Williams 2:16:08

Full event results are available here.

Henfield 9

Mid Sussex Tri Club athletes James Dear and Howard Pickett both took part in the Henfield 9 last weekend.

James finished an impressive 6th in a time of 58:38 and Howard, who is continuing his build up for some tough events was 79th with 1:18:03.

Check out the full results on Sussex Races »

Sussex Beacon 1/2 Marathon

Mid Sussex Tri Club members are preparing for the first club event of the year this weekend (17/02/08), the Sussex Beacon Half Marathon 2008.

There should be around a dozen taking part with Steve, Rob and James all looking to take an early lead in the club's new best all rounder competition.

Hopefully the nice weather will stay around until then.

For more information visit the Sussex Beacon website.

Online entry for Mid Sussex Triathlon 2008

Online entry or downloadable entry forms are now available for the Mid Sussex Triathlon 2008.

Visit http://www.midsussextriclub.com/mst.aspx for more information.

Mid Sussex Triathlon 2008

The Mid Sussex Triathlon 2008 takes place on Sunday 22nd June 2008.

It is at the usual venue, The Triangle Leisure Centre, Burgess Hill and once again we have kept the prices the same - £26 for BTF members and £29 for non-members.

New Mid Sussex Tri Club Blog

This is the new Mid Sussex Tri Club blog for all the latest news, event reports and general goings on at the tri club.