Race Reports

Stewart Conway Training For World Ironman, Kona Hawaii

On 6th November Stewart spent a day filming with Ribble Cycles for a forthcoming mini documentary on the training required on the road to the Ironman World Championships. It is about helping 'age groupers' to get to the peak of fitness, including juggling work, family and the training required with regular 4am starts.

Abersoch Sprint Triathlon 16th October

Jacqueline Naish went all the way to Abersoch in North Wales for her first Triathlon. Despite feeling quite nervous, she completed the course in 2hours 14 minutes, coming 15th in her category. Afterwards Jacqueline commented that it was so much fun and that she is now completely hooked on triathlon.

Doug MacTaggart Ironmans & Marathons

Doug MacTaggart went off to compete in the Mallorca Ironman on the 16th October finishing in 13.21.15. He then competed in the Beachy Head Marathon on the 23rd October event, finishing in 4.55.28.

Finally, he then went thousands of miles away to compete in Ironman South Africa in Nelson Mandela Bay, Port Elizabeth. Doug commented that it was a fun day out, with horrific sea conditions and really bad winds on the bike and run! He said this Ironman had the worst conditions of any he had done. However he was really pleased with his time of 11:58:28.

Helen Graham

Helen also competed in the Beachy Head Marathon finishing in 5.57.19. She laughingly said that she was easily tempted by a bit of bling (medal) and a burger on offer for finishers. She then went on to complete a Midweek Marathon in Milton Keynes on the 9th November.

Saturday 11^th September

Swimrun Holy Island, Anglesey

Three members went to North Wales for this coastal event (see image above). The sprint category of this event involves four swims (total 2.1km) and five runs (total 7.9km) along the beautiful coast of Anglesey. In order to get the most enjoyment from the event, Jean Fish, Sarah Hinton and Kay McMenamin ran together, finishing in 2.46.10.

5km Adur Swim

Eight members entered this event which starts in Shoreham with a 2.5km swim upstream in the slack water at high tide. Swimmers must avoid sandbanks to have a clear route. After turning at 2.5km the second half of the swim is then aided by the outgoing tide.

Kate Bradford was the first member home in an impressive 1.15.07, followed by Barry Davids (1.17.02), Esther Clutton (1.19.31), Liane Davids (1.22.54), Vicky Von der Linden (1.28.08), Adam Bryant (1.29.22), Vicki Revis (1.31.55) and Kirsty Perryman-Best (1.32.00). Vicky Von der Linden was pleasantly surprised with her time as she had not managed much training.

Sunday 12^th September

Half Ironman Bowood Wiltshire

Luc Berthouze enjoyed the Capability Brown parkland setting but there were some challenging hills for this very scenic half ironman event (1.2m swim, 56 mile bike, 21.1km run) on Bowood Estate, finishing in 5.05.50.

Brighton Marathon

Five members participated in the Brighton marathon this year in warm, sunny weather. Tom Haywood was the first to finish in a respectable 3.06.59. Mike Jaffe finished in 3.20.34, followed by Doug MacTaggart (4.55.10), Angela Murray in her first marathon (5.41.29) and Helen Graham (6.34.11). The organisers have apologised as the course was 568m too long!

World Long Distance Triathlon Championships Almere, Amsterdam

Stewart Conway continued in World Championship events in Amsterdam this weekend, finishing in 10.06.36 and placing 13^th out of 34 in his M45 age group and 83^rd out of 233 overall.

Here is some news of the range of activities of Mid Sussex Triathlon Club Members through the summer.

8th August Goodwood Ultra Triathlon

Stewart Conway placed an impressive 7th in the inaugural 255 Triathlon at Goodwood in 12.38.35. This is the world's longest single day Triathlon which involves a 5km swim, 200km bike ride and 50km run. The swim is in Westhampnett Lake whilst the bike ride and run are on the traffic free motor circuit. Competitors must complete the event in 18 hours. Despite the wind and rain, Stewart described it as a great day out.

21st/22nd August Seaford, Uckfield and Ripon

Liz Griffin Hind, who is a very experienced swimmer, completed her first triathlon at Seaford (750m sea swim, 20km bike ride, 5km run) in 1.36.51.

Carlos Castro went all the way to Ripon to compete in the Dalesman Triathlon, his first long distance ironman triathlon (3.8km swim, 180km bike ride, 42.2km run) in just over 12 hrs.

Meanwhile Zoe Deeley and Jon Clarke stayed local, competing in the Uckfield Standard Triathlon (600m swim, 22km bike ride, 5.25km run) finishing in 1.53.18 (11th woman) and 1.28.14 (22nd man), respectively.

4th September Aquasphere Chillswim 5.25 mile Lake Coniston End to End

After much training at Ardingly Reservoir through the summer Caroline Ray and Carl Clarke travelled to the Lake District on Saturday 4th September for the very popular 5.25 mile Lake Coniston swim, finishing in 3hrs 6min and 3hr 19 min respectively.

Mid Sussex Tri Club held a well-attended and well-received GoTri! training day for local children at Ardingly College on Saturday 24 July.

Twenty six enthusiastic children aged 8 to 13, from local schools including St Joseph’s Primary School, Oathall Community College and Burgess Hill Girls, took part.

Using the Ardingly College swimming pool and sports pitches, coaches and volunteers from Mid Sussex Tri Club helped the children learn basic triathlon skills and techniques in swimming, cycling and running, plus the crucial ‘fourth discipline’, transition.

This was complemented by a ‘What is triathlon?’ session, putting the sport and its history into context, with the help of slides and video. And all delivered just a day before Alex Yee and Georgia Taylor-Brown provided further inspiration by winning silver medals for Great Britain in the men’s and women’s triathlons at the Tokyo Olympics!

Several of the children who attended the GoTri! training day then went on to compete successfully at the Billingshurst Kidstri on Sunday 25 July, despite the cancellation of the cycling element of the race, enforced by torrential rain.

Brothers Finlay and Noah Blythe finished second and fifth, respectively, in the TriStart3 and TriStart2 categories. Anya Cole was third in TriStart2 and Charlotte Mason was sixth in Novice1, while Amber Mason was sixth, Mirabelle Hogan was seventh and Isabella Jarman was 12^th in TriStart1.

Congratulations to all participants at both events!