Monaco, Studland, Southampton, Newbury, Corfe and the New Forest.

So what do all these places have in common? They have all had TriPurbeck athletes racing in them during the last 2 weeks.! Long time since the last report so here’s a brief run down……..

Derek and David raced at the Southampton twitch with Derek finishing 3^rd in his age group despite being fooled by conceptsport’s unilateral recalibration of the standard units of distance (that’s a Physics joke for me and Derek). David also raced well and as always gave an entertaining perspective on the race. At the same time families Robson and Skilton were competing in the Studland County Fair 5k although John and Jed had to start a few minutes late due to the inconvenience of the race not quite dovetailing with their extensive holiday commitments. The juniors took the honours though, with Jack McD posting an impressive 25min time on a course that runs a little longer than 5k – brilliant running.

Just to keep the theme going, the entire Bardsley family competed in the Newbury triathlon last weekend, with Derek not only winning his age group but also beating daughter Louise, multiple GBR age group medallist. Ok she may have had a puncture, stopped, gone back to T1, run to the car for her spare wheel and then gone on the complete the race, but we won’t mention that. D’oh. Sharon also came 3rd in her age group posting a great time of 1hr21min. Derek’s race report appears below.

In the New Forest, Liz and Mandy were racing the Buckler’s Revenge and coincidentally learning about river currents and the benefits of water quality testing. Liz had a leaky goggle and subsequently had to spend some time in the medical tent as something in the water irritated her eye. Both appeared to have grown beards as they exited the water, only to be disappointed to find it was only mud. Mandy once again showed how much she has developed as an athlete with an excellent swim split and solid performance in a near half iron distance race. Liz recovered well from the discomfort of the swim to post an impressive 4hr34min finish time, finishing 5th in her age group.

Neil,  Justin and Gail took on the ‘Beast’ – half marathon based at Corfe Castle – with Justin finishing in 9th place in 1hr32min, Neil posting 1hr36min and Gail 2hr11min. Hopefully they all enjoyed it but my advice is always try and read into the name of the race before you enter! 

And so to Monaco. As race day arrived we were greeted by cloud and rain – not what was expected, but it was still 26 degrees at 9 am! Fran swam well and got out early onto the bike course which constitutes the main part of the race in this format. 100km of mountain climbing or from my perspective, back to the flat for a croissant and a coffee! 1.5hrs into the bike and Fran was up into 6^th place in a race containing 10 pro athletes but unfortunately as she started a big descent, her water bottled popped out of the cage and rolled off the side of the mountain. 1.5hrs riding in those conditions with no water doesn’t work and dehydration set in. She still managed a 14^th place finish, 3^rd in her age group and only beaten by 1 pro GBR athlete. But she is not happy!!! Still that’s racing for you.

Weymouth classic on Sunday and it looks like it is going to turn out nice!!!

Derek’s report:

A busy and perhaps improving end to the season?  Derek was racing at the Southampton “fast twitch” last weekend and after a typical struggle in the swim escaped to dry land on the bike but was surprised to reach the end of an 18 mile bike course after only 13 miles – without cheating!  Bit of a misrepresentation of the course I think!  Still not a bad outing in good weather conditions and well supported by Sharon.
This weekend saw the Bardsley family at Newbury.  Here the swim is in a novel outdoor 75 metre lido, so there is a continuous stream of competitors into T1.  With the luck of the draw Derek and Sharon started the swim together so there was some competition to move things along.  Derek just edging first into transition (I claim to be concentrating on technique).  The bike course is fairly flat and fast but a torrential downpour for the second half made visibility, cornering and braking interesting.  So far so good, but Louise (our daughter), started 20 minutes behind and I was listening over my shoulder for most of the run – unfortunately for her she had a puncture just out of T1 and just about failed to catch either of us (she went and got a new wheel from her car!).  Still, the thought was enough to spur us on and Derek won his age group and Sharon was third in hers – thanks Louise!