err… I don’t know where to start…. 17th July

Well its all kicking off at TriPurbeck this weekend with athletes racing all over the place. Here’s a quick summary:

Having warmed up at the club 5k on Friday, Justin, Neil, Liz, Mandy and Mark all headed down to Swanage on Saturday for the half marathon (Fran and I decided to have a lie in… we didn’t get up until nearly 7am!) Justin was aiming for 1hr25min and came in 2 minutes quicker than that to underline his great running form. Neil was just 3 minutes back, improving last years time by 7 minutes (I think), Liz posted a 1hr45min time, again great running and Mandy and Mark ran together in 2hrs.

On Sunday morning Joe and Beth took on the Tarrant Valley junior race, both running really well again with Joe coming in 2nd overall in an age group that went up to 14. Check out the picture, you can’t see it but neither of them are touching the ground!

John Skilton, in an attempt to out do those of us that braved the sea at the Weymouth Sprint (see report from 5th June), took to the waves in the Eastbourne ’Ardman. I can’t find any official results yet but John is still alive and finished in about 1hr25min on a very hilly and windy course – he said that if Fran had raced she would definitely have been blown off Beachy Head and out to sea…. well there’s always next year!

And Richie and James went for an even crazier plan completing the Etape along with friends of TriPurbeck Dave Higgins and Roul. The Weather in the Massive Centrale sounded not unlike summer in Dorset i.e. cold and wet and that will certainly have made a hard ride even harder but all made it through to the finish (apparently lots didn’t) although we only have Richie’s time at present – 10hr25min. James was first to finish with Richie keeping just in front of Roul in case he asked him to apply some more chamois cream…. but that’s another story!