Races in April

(Sorry, this post is a week late)

It been surely our biggest month of competition in the short history of the club. Remember, if you race, let us know and we will give you ‘big up’s’ all round

The big event was our own race – full results from the Aquathlon can be seen here, but even higher praise must go to the event organisers and marshalls!

Scott McKenna and Ellen Greaves are now the club record holders on the course, finishing in 25.09 and 27.05 respectively.

We’ve started our inaugural London League season…

1st race… The Ful-On Duathlon. A nice, well run event if slightly repetitive. This was just me. I both arrived on time and finished without hurting myself. Result!

2nd race… The Dragonslayer Duathlon. It sounds like it was a bit of a lung buster. This didn’t put off Tim Smith who finished an impressive 23rd. Kath Brasier was also 2nd in her category, well done! Rob Boulding, Mick Cairns, Gabriel Sayer, Seb Balcombe, Russell Webley, Catherine Emmett and someone who may, or may not, have been Amanda Wilmer also finished! No dragons were harmed during this race.

3rd race… Over to Karl G for a summary of the Thames Turbo race…

A 4am start is a tad early for any race, but I think with such a great bunch of athletes it made up for the early start, and seeing everyone in their London Fields hoodies really made us stand out as a professional ‘looking’ team. Although if there were a prize for loudest team we would surely have won, and that would have been with Seb on his own.

A staggered start is always a bit strange, but it did mean that there was always someone on the side of the pool encouraging the swimmers (oh and checking out tactics, swim technique, and any other ‘stand-out’ features of the racers).

I think my ‘hero’ for the day was Joe Dale. In the pool he must have overtaken about 12 other racers, and with style! And for his category, he was 98th in the swim, 54th in the bike, and a spectacular 4th in his category in the run. Now if we can just get him a bit faster in the water….

A few minor errors may have been made by the team, but I think everyone has been able to learn from the errors and (hopefully) won’t make them on the next team outing. I think Tim is going to be putting a bit of a blog entry together about how and how not to do a race.

Well done all who took part! Joe Dale, Tim Smith (Coach), Paul Thompson, Karl Grainger (Coach), Tim Pratt, Amanda Wilmer (F Captain), Jane Dennyson, Seb Balcombe (M Captain, Coach), Christina Rabbini, Simon Austin, Daniel King (Events Co-ordinator).

There was a 2nd Thames Turbo race a week later – well done to Alex Cooper, Clare Shakespeare and Nathan Dytor for braving a very windy course.

And finally, two people that deserve big mentions…

Alex Adames completed the London Marathon, raising a big bundle of cash for charity. Well done! http://www.justgiving.com/Alexandra-Adames

And Rhodri Gabe has cycled from Lands End to John O’Groats. Please offer him a cushion if he sits down near you… http://www.justgiving.com/RhodriGabe Well done!

And that is all – If you finish a race – let us know by emailing the club with ‘RESULT’ in the header.

Best,
Chris

Club Sec