Wimbleball 70.3, Cotswold 113, Stafford 70.3 and more running

It’s been a bit busy on the race scene in the last couple of weeks and as always there’s been some fantastic racing from the TriPurbeck team. I promise not to mention the EU as I have now finished my 10 day rant (maybe). I may mention croissants.

Seems like ages ago now but at Staffordshire 70.3 Clodie showed just how much stronger she is becoming and after a good swim and excellent bike she exited T2 in second place in her age group. In the end, mainly due to ongoing hip issues that started after a nasty bike crash last year, she came in in an excellent 8th and very much in contention for a podium one of these days – great result.

On the same day Simon Carvisiglia and Cheryl Weeks were making long awaited returns to 70.3 racing at the Cotswold 113. Simon produced a decent result with a sub 6 hour finish despite a distinct reduction in training load this year and Cheryl conquered the run demons with a 7hr11min finish time.

Squeezed in between the 2 big 70.3 in June was the Purbeck 10k. By now, no one will be surprised to hear that Serena O’Connor destroyed the field in the ladies race – perhaps even more impressively that in the Poole festival 10k, this time ducking in below 37min in 36.59, a new course record and putting over a minute between herself and ex elite duathlete Emma Dews in second place. Simon O’Connor was also racing and great to see him up and running again in an excellent 42min finsh time.

A few days after this the price of croissants inexplicably went up.

To take their minds of this, Fran, Mark, Adam, Jose and a team that included Gary Sawtell and a visiting Chris Weeks headed for Wimbleball, a place where there is no mobile signal whatsoever, thereby robbing us of the opportunity to stand in awe as the politicians of this country covered themselves in glory. Fortunately that didn’t happen so we didn’t miss anything, and they were serving croissants in the cafe, presumably in protest. Also meanwhile, Liz ‘Eddie Izzard’ Goldsack was lining up for her 484th marathon of the year alongside Rose who decided not to wear a dress this time. All I can say is ‘standards’ Rose! Actually it was more than a marathon and Liz nailed down a fantastic 3rd place overall in a 4hr20min finish time.

So back to Wimbleball and we didn’t know what to expect with Fran deciding to race despite her upcoming ankle op, Mark still recovering from his broken hip, Adam lining up for his first ever 70.3 and Jose back in the race fold after a long lay off. What we got was a stunning set of performances. Mark was out of the water first in 29min, before setting off on the flattish bike course (when i say flat it’s a bit like saying there’s going to be 360 million quid extra each week being put into the NHS – oops sorry). Hop along Fran was out next and in her words – didn’t push the bike due to her ankle, before arriving back in T2 with the second fastest bike split of the day! Adam swam brilliantly, out in 35min, and then biked and ran superbly to finish in an extraordinary 5hr45min time – remember this was his first 70.3 race! Lots more to come from Adam. Jose’s race was solid and he finished with very good 7hr time for a man who doesn’t like cycling on hills! Mark’s 3hr bike and 1.50 half marathon represented an excellent result given that he has been so unlucky with his hip but there’s definitely a lot more to come from him. So was Fran going to be able to run? My supporting plan was to dangle a croissant in front of her at random points in the race and shout ‘Farage is just round the corner you might be able to get him’ on the odd occasion. Turns out these obvious incentives were unnecessary as the one legged Franster somehow produced a 1hr48min half marathin to secure 2nd in her age group and a big trophy. Rather excellently, along with Gary and Chris’s excellent performance in the team race, team TriPurbeck finished 2nd club overall and top in our division, qualifying for the European champs in Croatia. So anyone fancy a trip to Croatia in September????