27th August 2007

Steve retains gold

Top FVS TRI triathlete Steve Harrison retained his title at the Bedford Olympic Triathlon with a time of 1.59.49 collecting a £500 cash prize for his efforts. Still trying to balance a busy work life with his triathlon career, Steve had to miss the prize giving as he dashed off to the airport to catch a plane to Sweden for work!  The overall race was closer than expected as Steve struggled with dehydration caused by a lost water bottle on the bike. This meant water stops on the run course costing valuable time and reducing the eventual winning margin to just over 30 seconds having been 2 minutes ahead after the bike leg. Despite his problems, the TRISPORTS supported athlete was still the only competitor to break the 2 hour barrier.  Newest member Natalie Barnard was 4^th in the ladies event and winner of the 20-24 age group in her first outing at the Olympic distance. This was her 2^nd event in 5 days having earned a 2^nd overall in the Team Outrageous Midweek Sprint Event on Wednesday. A strong swimmer, Natalie led the ladies race by nearly 2 minutes out of the water but was chased down by the stronger cyclists and runners more experienced over the Olympic distance of 1500m swim, 40k bike and 10k run finishing with a time of 2.14.17, 2^nd fastest overall for the Club.  The event was based around the river in Bedford town centre and FVS TRI were the biggest club represented by 24 competitors and a dozen marshals and officials making the event run smoothly.  Mark Robertson was 3^rd home for club in the main event making it a family affair with sister Claudine Robertson 3^rd home for the club in the super sprint event in her first triathlon. The super sprint ran at the same time as the main event with a 200m river swim, 15k bike and 3.3k run with the swim being completed without a wet suit for most, which was a bit of a shock as the water was a little cool. New member Meliné Fletcher completed her first event in the super sprint and was first home for the club in 1:02:20.  Nick Downing home from Birmingham University was 3^rd male for the Club in 2.19.18 and In the ladies race Natalie Barnard led the way with a 2.14.17, with Chris Yuill  second (2.40.22) Helen Shulver (2.41.08)and Jackie Perry (2.47.45)

BEDFORD OLYMPIC RESULTS 

1	Steve Harrison	00:19:52	01:04:10	00:35:47	01:59:49
27	Natalie Barnard	00:20:34	01:12:18	00:41:25	02:14:17
36	Mark Robertson	00:21:52	no data	no data	02:17:28
44	Nick Downing	00:26:35	01:11:13	00:41:30	02:19:18
62	Robert Wilson	00:28:11	01:10:00	00:45:22	02:23:33
71	Andrew Forster	00:28:39	01:14:57	00:41:31	02:25:07
72	James Grierson	no data	no data	00:42:43	02:25:24
85	Michael Clark	00:23:41	01:16:19	00:47:25	02:27:25
103	Peter Bardell	00:30:28	01:12:28	00:47:11	02:30:07
133	Stewart Kay	00:31:12	01:18:06	00:45:18	02:34:36
135	Mike Diggins	00:34:02	01:15:01	00:45:47	02:34:50
148	Simon Shaw	00:30:48	01:18:28	00:47:14	02:36:30
157	Mike Russell	00:33:39	01:17:31	00:46:29	02:37:39
167	Sean Bradley	no data	no data	00:46:26	02:39:29
175	Chris Yuill	00:29:07	01:24:54	00:46:21	02:40:22
180	Robert Bester	00:32:58	01:16:10	00:51:58	02:41:06
181	Helen Shulver	00:30:12	01:18:42	00:52:14	02:41:08
210	Jackie Perry	00:33:10	01:23:45	00:50:20	02:47:15
212	Richard Easterbrook	00:30:32	01:23:31	00:53:22	02:47:25
227	Gerry Corrance	00:36:45	01:23:33	00:49:15	02:49:33
250	Mark Beaver	00:39:36	01:21:04	00:54:13	02:54:54

BEDFORD SUPER SPRINT RESULTS

48	Meliné Fletcher	00:06:13	00:37:51	00:18:16	01:02:20
65	Helen Robinson	00:05:23	00:42:13	00:25:43	01:13:19
67	Claudine Robertson	00:04:07	00:46:00	00:23:52	01:13:59

 Martyn Hynes continues to excel at the sprint distance achieving qualification for the 2008 Age Group Sprint World Championships in Canada despite going off course on a poorly organised bike course at the Birmingham Sprint triathlon based around the NEC. His time of 1.10.44 was still good enough for a new PB and Martyn was happy with his performance securing his slot in the GB Squad for the 25-29 age group

Ryan Johnson completed his second triathlon returning to the Thames Turbo Sprint Series and seeing a huge improvement of over 15 minutes for the sprint distance. Although the weather was much better than first time out, Ryan was rewarded for his training with an improvement from 1.44.33 to 1.27.31 for the 426m swim, 21k bike and 5k run.

 

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20th August 2007

Kevin & Kerrie GO LARGE

Three members of Hitchin based triathlon Club FVS TRI travelled to Sherborne in Dorset to take on the challenge of Ironman for the first time. Ironman means a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and a 26.2 mile marathon to finish. With 1250 starters all fighting for clear water, the swim start in an Ironman event is always frenetic. Kevin Holt was first out of the water in 60^th position in 54:06 with Kerri Renshaw just behind in 54:36 and on  the leader board as 7^th female and 63^rd overall. Max Lepoutre came out of the water in a very respectable 1:08:06 for 458^th.  The hilly bike course around the grounds of Sherborne Castle proved to be a challenge with all 3 recording similar times around 6 ½ hours. The last leg was a full marathon and Kevin excelled with 3:32 to give an overall time of 10:56:09 and 23^rd in the 25-29 age group and 148^th male. Delighted with his time, Kevin will now drop down to focus on racing the shorter distances and world championship qualification.  Kerri finished with a 4:15 marathon to earn a 5^th in 30-34 age group and 23^rd female overall in a time of 11:47. Having suffered with a painful foot injury for much of the season, Kerri was pleased not only to complete the event but to beat her own target time.  Max finished with a 4:16 marathon and a super debut time of 12:16 in his first proper season of triathlon having joined FVS TRI late last year with little experience in swimming and running and no bike!

	Category	Cat Pos	SWIM	BIKE	RUN	OVERALL	Rank
Kevin Holt	M25-29	23rd	00.54.06	6.23.26	3.32.19	10.56.09	158th
Kerri Renshaw	F30-34	5th	00.54.36	6.25.39	4.15.18	11.47.48	362nd
Max Lepoutre	M30-34	455th	01.08.06	6.35.20	4.16.38	12.16.23	488th

Sam Tophill and Simon Hall travelled to the West Mids to compete in the Wolverhampton Classic Triathlon over the Olympic distance.  Based around scenic Cannock Chase the wet and windy conditions provided an interesting choppy swim in Chasewater Lake and a challenging hilly bike and off road run course. Sam was 1^st female vet 40 in a time of 2:40:01 and Simon was 13^th overall and 2^nd vet 40 in 2:16:47, just 15 seconds behind category winner

Ian Mackerness  rode the Bedfordshire Road Club 25 mile Time Trial in an excellent 58:56 to average more then 25 mph for the event.

Ian Hobbs on holiday in Australia took the opportunity to improve his PB by 17 minutes to 1:57:49 in the Viridian Noosa Half Marathon and finished 630^th from 933 finishers.  Seems a long way to go to get a PB!

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13th August 2007

FVS TRI triathletes were largely resting at the weekend after a busy few weeks with a few members entering road racing events across the South.  Alison Wood ran The Bassingham Bash 5 mile road race in 32.13 with the hot weather conditions made more interesting by the mini tornado that preceded the race and wreaked havoc with the village fair car boot sale!  New member Gemma Sargent went to Bluewater and not just to shop! She ran the Bluewater 10k in 47.08 to finish 235^th from 1338 finishers and 39^th female.  Simon Hall and Sam Tophill ran the Bearbrook 10k near Aylesbury. Simon was 6^th overall and 3^rd vet 40 in a time of 34.49 and Sam was 109^th overall from 421 finishers in 44.06

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6th August 2007

Steve mixes it with the best at London

Letchworth based triathlete Steve Harrison was on top form at the London Triathlon competing in the Elite Race for the second year running and improving dramatically from 33^rd last year to a top 20 finish in 18^th. The FVS TRI athlete was invited back to London on the strength of his continuing good performances particularly in the British Triathlon Corus Elite Series this year. Racing against the best in the world, Steve recorded a huge PB with a 1:51:28, a 4 minute improvement on 2006  with the race being won by World Champion and Olympic Gold Medal hopeful Tim Don in a blistering time of 1:42:01.  Unlike the professional triathletes making up the majority of the field, Steve still works full time as a specialist programming engineer for Stevenage based Aeroflex International. Steve is supported by Letchworth specialist triathlon retailer TRISPORTS and they provided him with a new top of the range race bike for this season which has helped both financially and also in terms of performance.  The London Event was again declared a no wetsuit race which Steve had prepared for by training twice a week in club open water sessions at the Blue Lagoon. This enabled him to be much better placed in the swim this year just coming out on the heels of the second group. Although slightly isolated on the bike leg he was able to make up a number of positions with a very strong run recording the 8^th fastest second lap as many were wilting in the heat!

In the age group events, 13 members of FVS TRI joined over 9000 other athletes in officially the worlds largest triathlon event spread over the weekend.  Charlie Harris recorded a superb 1^st in the very competitive 35/39 age group from 462 competitors in a time of 2:01:33. Charlie hopes to improve his run time next year to get ever nearer the magical 2 hour barrier but in the meantime will concentrate on training for the shorter Sprint distance as he is representing GB in the Age Group Sprint World Championships in Hamburg next month.  2^nd home for the Club was Herts Fire-fighter Peter Bardell in a time of 2:18:37. Showing consistent improvement with good training, Darren (Woody) Woodhall was 3^rd out of the swim in his age group and recorded an excellent time of 2:21:15. Also benefiting from consistent training, Robbie Laughton moved down a distance from his recent Ironman race to improve 14 mins on last year for a PB of 2:23:11.  Sean Bradley had a super race in the Junior wave with a time of 2:28:50.  Mark Beaver completed his first Olympic in a time of 2:47:49 and also completing his first standard distance for FVS TRI was Greg Blount who finished in 3:11:46 competing n he 50/54 age group.

 

Name	Total	Swim	Bike	Run
Charles Harris	02:01:33	00:20:52	00:58:49	00:37:12
Peter Bardell	02:18:37
Darren Woodhall	02:21:15	00:24:26	01:06:00	00:45:59
Kevin Sambridge	02:22:13	00:29:55	01:09:15	00:38:30
Mike Diggins	02:22:41	00:32:31	01:02:30	00:41:54
Robbie Laughton	02:23:11	00:29:18	01:00:45	00:47:01
Bradley Baynham	02:27:29	00:32:23	01:05:28	00:45:04
Sean Bradley	02:28:50	00:27:33	01:12:46	00:43:29
Andrew Chadwick	02:30:01	00:29:27	01:06:59	00:47:44
Richard Easterbrook	02:37:15	00:32:41	01:11:26	00:45:56
Mark Beaver	02:47:49	00:35:46	01:09:48	00:56:50
Greg Blount	03:11:46	00:31:44	01:26:56	01:04:02

 

LONDON SPRINT

Martyn Hynes continues to excel at the Sprint distance finishing 1^st in his age group (25/29) and an incredible 7^th from 1399 athletes. He completed the 750 swim/20k bike and 5k run in 1:12:03. Carol Young completed her first triathlon in a time of 2:18:46. Carol spends her working day encouraging others to raise money for charity by competing in events such as the London Triathlon and decided she better actually do one this year!

Name	Total	Swim	Bike	Run
Martyn Hynes	01:12:03	00:13:08	00:35:54	00:19:38
Carol Young	02:18:46	00:18:29	01:03:20	00:42:23

CAMBRIDGE TRIATHLON

At the Cambridge Triathlon there were age group wins for both Ian Mackerness (40-44) and Penny Wylie (45-49). In marked contrast to the 2006 treacherous rainy conditions, the 2007 event took place in the baking heat which turned the dusty off road run into near desert like conditions. Ian finished3^rd overall for the second year running in a time of 2:08:08 and returning from GB Age Group duties, Penny dropped down to the standard distance and was fast enough to finish 6^th overall in the ladies race in a time of 2:29:11.  2^nd home for the Club was Chris Baxter in a new best time of 2:20:08. Gerry Corrance completed his first open water event in a time of 2:56:47 and appeared to enjoy the experience despite the heat! Second and third home for the ladies were Michelle Pratt and Sue Gipson who both cam 3^rd in their respective age groups. 

Name	Total Time	Swim time	Bike Time	Run Time
Ian Mackerness	2:08:08	0:23:16	1:02:34	0:42:18
Chris Baxter	2:20:08	0:28:28	1:05:57	0:45:43
Penny Wylie	2:29:11	0:28:39	1:11:33	0:48:59
Mike Russell	2:40:25	0:32:48	1:12:20	0:55:17
Michelle Pratt	2:49:00	0:35:29	1:15:26	0:58:05
Gerry Corrance	2:56:47	0:36:31	1:17:49	1:02:27
Sue Gipson	3:01:32	0:31:56	1:30:45	0:58:51

ANTWERP 70.3

Pete Timmins travelled to Belgium to compete in the Half Ironman 70.3 championships and just beat the 6 hour mark for the 1.9k swim, 56 mile bike and half marathon to finish in a time of 5:58:57 

TESCO CHARITY TRIATHLON

Jon Gillham, Chris Yuill and Colin Cumberland competed in the Tesco Charity Triathlon with Jon and Chris both finishing 3^rd in their respective races in times of 2:17:38 and 2:35:43. Colin recorded a time of 2:37:36 for the 1500m swim, 40k bike and 10k run.