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25th September 2006
FVS TRI GOES OFF ROAD!
With the end of the main triathlon season and winter training around the corner, members of FVS TRI have headed off road to add a bit of variety to their multi sports competition. Alex Turner, former North West Junior Road Race Champion, has returned to the bike in style after a recent back operation. Having completed a League Cyclo Cross in Fairlands Valley Park Alex has now conquered North Yorkshires 3 Peaks! The 61k event, which is basically a fell run completed on a race bike with off road tyres, raced across Ingleborough (723m), Whernside (736m) and Pen-y-Ghent (694m) reaching the finish at Helwith Bridge. The race was completed in near perfect conditions with early morning mist lifting to show the Yorkshire scenery in all its glory. In his first 3 Peaks event, and despite 3 punctures, Alex finished 232nd from the 400 starters in a creditable 4:52:43, 1:50 behind the winner and the same time ahead of the last recorded finisher! Alex will be there in 2007 and aims to finish under 4 hours.
Paul and Lesley Dutton continued the northern theme with a full on Fell Race in the Peak District organised by the Fat Boys Running Club. Both improved on their time of 3 years ago with Lesley taking the family honours in 55:15 with Paul covering the 6.75 miles and 300m of ascent in 63:12.
Darren Woody Woodhall prepared for Standalone with a multi terrain 10k in Saffron Walden. He completed the hilly event in 42.10 finishing 14th in age group and 37th overall from 400 entrants.
New member Chris Baxter competed in the Xtreme Terrain Triathlon (XTT'06) on Sunday which was a 1.5K swim, 24K mountain bike and a 10K off road run. Despite thunder storms at the start which provided interesting conditions, Chris managed a top 100 finish in 2:35:06.
With the London Duathlon results now confirmed, Brian White was officially the first Vet 50 which is a fantastic achievement in such a high profile race. This was in addition to Steve Harrison’s 3rd overall which meant an excellent record for FVS TRI
Pete Eames took to the track at a Watford Open Meeting and earned a new PB of 11:28:09 over 3000m earning a silver medal in the process.
18th September 2006
STEVE HARRISON 3rd IN WORLD'S
LARGEST DUATHLON
FVS Tri's Steve Harrison continued his
run of success at the weekend coming a magnificent third in the London
Duathlon. Billed as the World's largest duathlon the race, comprising a 9k
run, 20k bike, 5k run, was held in the scenic surrounds of Richmond Park.
Steve was 3rd male home out of over 1250 starters in a time of 1:22:39. Also
showing well for the club in such a large field were Simon Hall who
was 29th overall in a time of 1:31:22 and Brian White who finished 49th in
1:34:10. In the ladies race, Sam Tophill enjoyed a return to
racing following her Ironman exploits, completing the race in 1:49:59
placing her 42nd out of the 385 female starters.
FVS TRI members also travelled to Sevenoaks to compete in the Circuit of
Kent Cycle Event. 5 members of the club completed the full distance 80 mile
event held on the undulating and occasionally very tough course. After
working as a team for the bulk of the event Paul Gibb and Steve
James broke away on the final hill and were first home for the club in
4h 23 followed by Jon Gillham (4h 27), Tim Smith (4h 32) and
Colin Cumberland (4h 35). Meanwhile husband and wife team
James & Tanya Morris-Jones completed the shorter 50 mile event in
just over 3 hours.
11th September 2006
SEAN LIFTS JUNIOR TITLE
FVS TRI’s Sean Bradley sealed his junior win at the Milton Keynes 4 race Summer Duathlon Series with a PB! He completed the 2mile run/10mile bike/2 mile run race in 58:42, winning the race and the series, adding the Summer win to his Winter Series win earlier in the year. Sean was also joined by his father Kevin who finished in 70:32. In only his first season of competitive multi sport Sean has also competed in sprint and Olympic triathlon events and is working towards GB age group representation in the next couple of years. Following on from his success at the European Long Course Triathlon Championships, Kevin Smart has been selected to represent GB in the World Age Group Long Course Triathlon Championships in Canberra Australia in November.
4 members of FVS TRI completed the Helvellyn Tri which can only be described as probably the hardest triathlon in the UK with a 1 mile swim in Ullswater, 38 mile bike and an 8 mile run/scramble up Helvellyn to finish! First home for the Club was Nick Downing completing his first Helvellyn along with IronMan Mike Utton. They were joined by Helvellyn Veterans Chris Suckling who makes the annual pilgrimage and Tony Shortland who finished in just over 5 hours.
On a local note, 3 members of FVS TRI continued with the multi sport theme competing in a cyclo cross event in Fairlands Valley Park. The course was a combination of fast grass sections and technical wooded sections that involve dismounting and carrying the bike over logs. Completed on racing bikes with knobbly tyres, the 1 hour race was fast and furious and very spectator friendly using a 2 mile route within a small area in the park. First home from the Club was Alex Turner who managed a top 15 finish despite returning from an early season back operation. Club coach Keith Perry made his debut at the event and finished mid pack with Paul Dutton just behind who competed on a whim on the day on his mountain bike!
4th September 2006
JACKIE PERRY RACES THE WORLDS
FVS TRI’s Jackie Perry became the first club member to represent GB at Age Group Level in the premier Olympic Distance. GB had over 300 athletes competing in Lausanne and was rewarded with a Gold Medal in the elite race for Tim Don. Having represented GB at age group in Duathlon in 2004, it was a great achievement for Jackie to qualify in June for the Olympic event at the Rutland Water Dambuster Triathlon given the relative weakness of her swim. With her weakest discipline coming first, Jackie was only placed 45th after the 1500m swim in Lake Geneva which she completed in 30:02. Due to the size of the Championships, the transition area was huge with a 750m bare foot run from the swim to the bike and a further 750m run before mounting the bike. Jackie was able to gain ground with the 9th fastest transition which still took 7:36 as opposed to the usual couple of minutes. The technical bike course with lots of bends, short sharp climbs and slippery tram lines to negotiate suited Jackie and she was able to climb to 22nd passing many of her 18 team mates in the process with the 18th fastest bike split of 1:20:09. With the strongest leg to come, another relatively quick transition meant a 20th slot to start the run and with the 16th fastest run in 46:13 she was able to hold on to 21st, only being passed by a Canadian track specialist in the closing moments of the race. Reflecting on the best race of her career to date, despite the time being the slowest at 2:48:10 (winning time 2:29:04), Jackie is now determined to work with the Club coaches through the winter to improve her swim and aim to qualify for the 2007 Worlds in Hamburg.
NORTHAMPTON Olympic & Sprint
Top Veteran triathlete Ian Mackerness won again at the weekend taking veteran gold in 1:57:54 at the Northampton Olympic. Ian was 5th overall and his victory was secured with the 2nd fastest bike split overall at 1:02:21. New member Mark Robertson continued his excellent form with a 2:22:21 and Stephen Hughes signed off with a 2:35:19
|
Pos'n |
Name |
Surname |
Age Group |
Swim Split |
Bike Split |
Run Split |
Final Time |
|
5 |
Ian |
Mackerness |
40 - 49 |
00:19:23 |
01:02:21 |
00:36:10 |
01:57:54 |
|
63 |
Mark |
Robertson |
17 - 29 |
00:20:30 |
01:14:48 |
00:47:03 |
02:22:21 |
|
116 |
Stephen |
Hughes |
40 - 49 |
00:30:06 |
01:19:31 |
00:45:42 |
02:35:19 |
Anna Priestley raced the sprint distance (750 lake swim/21k bike/6k run) and was 64th overall in 2:01:49. This was Anna’s first open water race and she was very pleased with her result.
The poor weather conditions over the weekend meant three end of season races in the South were turned into duathlons for safety reasons. With the swim leg being replaced by an additional run James Grierson was 13th in age group at the wind affected South Coast triathlon at Brighton. James completed the 5k run/40k bike/10k run in 2:23:05.
Similarly affected were the folks that went to Clacton for the weekend. With the possibility of the bike also being cancelled due to wind, the 1500m sea swim was again replaced with a 5k run. With the wise electing to stay at home or support, 5 brave souls competed in the 5k run/40k bike and 10k run. Ed Manson, Guy Adams, Helen Shulver, Dave Coard all completed the event with Michael Clark retiring on the bike leg with a strained quad muscle after his fastest 5k for years!
Also weather affected was the XTERRA race in the Vale of Neath. The worldwide popular off road based triathlon was again turned into a duathlon, this time due to rain. Ian Hobbs won his place in a prize draw and completed the event on a mountain bike borrowed from a member’s husband! The lake swim was turned into a 2.5k run which was interesting with ankle deep mud in places. The bike courses early section was so slippery and steep that the bike had to be carried and the whole thing ended with a 10k trail run! Reporting that it was the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life, Ian was happy with a 3:40 time and a mid pack finish! Not bad for a swim specialist.
RUNNING - Garden City 10
Three members competed at the Garden City 10 Mile Road race and were led home by new member Jeff Ryan in 71:17 with Jeremy Prodger recording a 72:00 and Chris Suckling 74:31