Swanage Triathlon and other stories

The problem with going on holiday in the middle of the season is that there is far to much to catch up on with TriPurbeck athletes racing all over the place. I’ll start at the end and work backwards……..

Despite the warning from last year about the steps, loads of people were racing in Swanage yesterday. Charlie Craven kicked things off by winning the men’s version of the aquathon put on for people who have forgotten their bike. It was a strong field – no need to look at the results, all you need to know is that he won! David Willis won his age group in the sprint and he didn’t even need to go out and clear the paths first this year. In the classic, Justin swam and ran well to post a 2hr25min finishing time – probably ought to go out on his bike once in a while. Yours truly biked and ran ok to finish in 2hr29min – probably ought to go in the pool every now and then. After 18 months of being a fully fledged member of the club Guy decided it was time to actually do a triathlon! Brilliant performance – particularly the swim - to post a sub 3hr time. Johnathan finished 2nd in his age group despite having to ride the whole bike leg with only 2 gears after his cable snapped. Peter, Mark and Mandy also all came back to make sure the steps were as steep as they remembered from last year and they were. Some of the other run times look a bit dodgy as the route went a bit freestyle towards the end – notably I was overtaken by someone in my age group who never overtook me. Not that I am bitter or possibly going on about it too long…….

Other highlights from when we were away include:

Liz finished 3rd in her age group at Milton Keynes Tristar 111 and is racing with Fran in Vichy next week.

Simon and Cheryl both raced well at the Sherborne Triathlon with Cheryl winning her age group – brilliant.

And Jed finished top of the national Biathle rankings to qualify for the World Championships in Dubai later this year – amazing. (NB the fact that this precipitates the need for an additional Skilton family holiday is in no way connected to John’s keenness for Jed to qualify)