Wimbleball 70.3 and Cotswold 113

Well last weekend was a big long distance weekend for TriPurbeck athletes as they were involved in races with different numbers after them.

Fran, John, Mandy and Mark joined friends of TriPurbeck Paul and Dave to tackle the hardest 70.3 in the world and thrown into the mix was what can only be described as fairly inclement weather. The race organisers announced that the minimum temperature for the swim was 13C and that the lake met the required minimum give or take 2 or 3 degrees….. in other words it was blinkin freezing.  All our heroes had a pretty good swim nonetheless apart from Fran who didn’t. Out on the bike and I went for a lie down as the wind and rain kicked in and the temperature dropped a few more degrees making it thoroughly unpleasant. Meanwhile they were ripping it up with Fran first into transition with a 3.11 bike split. John, Dave and Paul all clocked brilliant 3.20 somethings on the bike and Mark and Mandy were close behind.

Out on the run and Fran put in a solid performance, especially given the fact that she had raced the World Long Distance 2 weeks before, to come in 2nd in her age category and secure a qualification spot for the 70.3 World Champs in September, which she promptly turned down due to the fact that they are in Las Vegas and she has a long running issue with gambling. Next year they are in Canada so plenty of time to work on her moose intolerance. John ran away from Dave in the last couple of miles to post a very impressive 6.06 – looking for a sub 12 ironman time in Frankfurt next week….. Paul recovered from stopping for an extended chat with me half way through the run to record a 6.25 time and Mandy more or less matched her time from last year given that she had to fix a puncture on the bike. Last word though to Mark who followed a strong swim and bike with a massively gutsy run given that he could really hardly walk due to an ongoing heel issue – legendary.

Meanwhile up in the Cotswolds Simon and Cheryl were both tackling their first middle distance events and both produced excellent results. Simon showed how far his swimming has come on with a 39min split for 1.9km, rode solid and ran sub 2hrs for the half marathon to finish on an impressive 5hr41min. Cheryl meanwhile posted a 42min swim, 3hr23 bike and 2hr20 run to finish an excellent 5th in her age category.

Last word today goes to Ellie Stannard who continues to show what an impressive young athlete she is – yesterday morning she completed a her first club sea swim (it’s still too cold for me) and then ran strongly off it – watch out everybody……….