So, with 6 TriPurbeck athletes and 2 ‘friends of TriPurbeck’ athletes competing, who stole the show at Wimbleball? Well all of them did. As lead spectator/supporter/cop out (delete as appropriate) I can only say that there were some fantastic performances on a tough course made even tougher by the conditions on the day.
Liz was first out of the swim and put in a strong bike and run to take an amazing 7th place in her age group in her first 70.3 posting a time of 6.33. Richie definitely went up a level putting in a 3.33 bike split to set up a sub 6.40 finish despite struggling with a dodgy knee on the run. Peter finished just 36 seconds behind Richie to take possesion of his 3rd finisher’s medal in his fastest time yet and looked very strong on the run leg. Dave and Paul made the journey down from the North (well Berkshire). Dave and Richie exited T2 together before Dave ‘sprinted’ to a 2hr run split to finish in just over 6.20 whilst Paul was very pleased to finish as he turned up on Saturday with a cold and a serious lack of training! On the plus side, there is still a stewards enquiry underway as to whether Paul officially broke Roddy’s all time ‘how many times can you visit the toilet during the race’ record. Apparently it comes down to a point of contention on an equivalency issue.
Roddy undoubtably had the biggest lunchbox on show (no ladies I actually mean his lunchbox!) but thanks to the latest high tech bar bag system he was able to transport all 18 of his peanut butter and jam sandwiches out onto the course. If you take off the time spent eating his feast and factor in the additional weight of his lunch, Roddy’s bike split starts looking quite competitive. Either way he easily beat his 7hr target by 91sec. Fran put in a solid swim despite being pulled back and kicked in the face by some friendly fellow competitors and set to work on the bike. She struggled a bit with a stomach issue (apparently she has pulled her psoas muscle. More fool her for having a psoas muscle – wouldn’t be an issue for me) but still posted a split only 15 minutes behind the fastest pro athletes. A 5.47 finish put her 3rd in her age group beaten only by a 2 time ironman winner and the current world champion and earned a spot in the world championship in Las Vegas – which she subsequently turned down due to a clash with a Monday morning swim session. Rather excitingly, Liz also turned down a Vegas slot which she earned in the roll down.
However, for me, amongst all these fantastic bits of racing, Performance of the Day went to Gail. Choosing to start in a field of 1600 for your first mass start swim and putting in a very solid race to post a 7hr22min finish might be considered achievement enough, but on top of that, Gail was the lead fundraiser for the Rotary Charity Athletes, raising over £4000 – great stuff.
So all that remains to be said is……….. who’s up for it next year? Mandy has already entered to ‘celebrate’ her 40th birthday. Interestingly, Fran said yesterday ‘I’m never doing that again’ followed a couple of hours later by ‘Triathlons are a bit like child birth, you seem to forget how painful it was’. Fran and I are entering as I write (that gives me a full 12months to think up another feeble excuse). It would be great to see another strong field from the TriPurbeck crew. Oh, and finally, respect to Richie and Peter who both made the 7am swim set this morning!
Fantastic race and a fantastic weekend all round. Great support and organisation. Big thanks to Ade, and the Boisterous Boys – Maxi and Mad Hair Finley. Seeing Finley shouting and blowing his whistle each time I went past on the run lap did wonders for me!
However don’t mention the fact that I beat Richie out of the water – he’s a little upset at that! Great performance put in by all – well done!!
Well done to you all! I did enjoy the report. Liz
well done you ladies and gents, i like to see the ladies beat the gents, your performance where fantastic, shame we wasnt there to watch!! mandy
Well done all! great results all round!!! I might be tempted to join you next year!?? to also celebrate my 40th!!