26th May 2008

Let the Club Champs commence

FVS TRI held the first race of their Club Championships at the Grendon Sprint in Northampton with 42 athletes completing the 750m lake swim, 20k bike and 5k run and many friends and family helping to marshal and support the event.  Overall winner of the race was Mike Bridge who finished in 1:05:32 just 2 seconds ahead of 2^nd place and with just 11 seconds separating the top 3, it doesn’t get much closer !  In a great day for Mike not only did he win the race, he also won trophies for first in 25-29 age group and also the trophy for FVS TRI Sprint Champion.  There were also  age group wins for Andy Mussett (15-19), in his first open water event, Vicki Goulding 20-24 in her first ever triathlon, Ironman Legend Gavin May stepping down to sprint distance and lifting the 40-44 trophy and also Jackie Perry winner of the 45-49 age group.  Andy Mussett was joined by his father Steve Mussett who also competed in his first open water triathlon as well as Shawn Reader and also Sarah Broadbent who received the biggest cheer on the day having completed her first event on a bike borrowed from her husband. Sarah was kept company on the run leg by Greg Evans who suffered the misfortune of not one but two punctures. He repaired them both to finish last in the Club but received huge applause for finishing the event under such adversity.  On the day the top 3 finishers for FVS TRI in their Sprint Championships were Mike Bridge 1:05:32, Mark Robertson 1:08:33 and Charles Harris 1:10:05. Chris Yuill was first home for the women in a time of 1:23:31, with Jackie Perry and Sam Tophill in 2^nd and 3^rd in times of 1:25:30 and 1:27:39.

The FVS TRI Club Championships are being held over 3 distances: Sprint, Olympic and Half Ironman with the results adjusted for age to make it a real competition. Each event will act as a competition in itself with those completing all 3 events going forward for the overall Club Champion Trophies  for men and women. The next event is in July over the Half Ironman distance.

In the age adjusted championships Mike Bridge leads the men with Gavin May second and Mark Robertson third. In the ladies, Jackie Perry leads Chris Yuill and Sam Tophill.

Mark Robertson competed again on Bank Holiday Monday finishing   13^th in the Hatfield Broad Oak 10k in a PB of 34:42.  Graham Perry  ran 55:48 in wet and windy conditions.

Lynn Allen ran her first marathon at Edinburgh in a time of 4:25:28 and  Gemma Sargent  completed the Dorney Lake 10k in a new PB of 43:52

Returning from illness and in preparation for her first Ironman event in Switzerland in July  Helen Shulver completed the  North Herts and Middlesex  CA 50 mile TT  in 2:36:34

Six FVS TRI riders competed in the Stevenage CC Evening 10 mile TT. First home was Kevin Smart  in 25:21 just one second ahead of Mark Malone in 25:22 in his first ever time trial. Tim Smith 26:11, Darren Greene 26:30, Mike Russell 27:31 and Penny Wylie 28:08 all showed improvement from the previous week