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%