Ironman Wales at Tenby
Seven members went to Tenby in Pembrokeshire to compete in the Ironman Wales event on Sunday 18th September.
IRONMAN Wales is now well established as having one of the most challenging bike and run courses on the IRONMAN calendar. This is counterbalanced by Tenby's North Beach providing the most spectacular swim location, possibly of any IRONMAN event, and the inspiration gained from one of the most vocal and enthusiastically-supported events, with tens of thousands of spectators, who turn out on race day for all three discplines. This is a full Ironman with a swim of 2.4 miles, a bike ride of 112 miles, together with a marathon (26.22 miles).
Dr James Graham came home in 11.27.04 placing 17 in the 50-54 age group. James said," Tenby is simply the best Ironman race in the world. Beautiful swim. Hard technical cycle but nevertheless pretty. Amazing hard hard hard run. The very best crowd support of any Ironman. So much banter and music and lovely friendly crowds". James goes to Kona in Hawaii in early October for the World Ironman Championships.
Colin Chambers was the second club member to finish, in 12.28.25 placing 35th in the 50-54 age group. Doug MacTaggart was the third club member to finish in 13.07.12, placing 109th in the 45-49 age group. Doug commented , "A month ago my plan A was to try and sneak a sub 14 at Vichy IM and then just get around at Wales. Never did I think I could get a 12:41 at Vichy and then be only 26 minutes slower with a 13:07, at what is definitely the toughest IM I have done at Wales. Time for a month's rest before I attempt a 100 mile trail run".
Sharona Harrington did very well coming in 20th place in the Women's 35-39 group in 14.29.42, Charlie Langhorne, also in the 50-54 age group, finished in 14.49.54 saying he was delighted to have completed the course but felt really tired. Trevor Moore finished in 15.16.03 and Cliff Wilson in 16.31.21.
Conquer the Chilterns Sprint Plus Triathlon at Henley on Thames
Sarah Hinton and Ricci Lennon went to this inaugural event which featured a 750m swim, a 30 km bike ride and a 5km run. The swim was in the River Thames and navigated the world-famous Henley Royal Regatta section. The bike leg followed a multi-lap rolling course with one large climb per lap, and the runs featured an undulating climb which required competitors to to push their legs to their limits. Sarah was the 8th woman to finish in 1.58.07, whilst Ricci was 10th in 2.01.19. This was Sarah's first open water triathlon.