With the triathlon season fast approaching, six athletes from Hitchin based triathlon club, FVS TRI, continued their pre-season preparations in Milton Keynes on Saturday by competing in a blustery race 2 of the Big Cow Winter Duathlon Series.
First home for the club was Steffan Ford, who completed the 4.5km run, 16km multi-lap bike course and final 4.2km run in a time of 1:03:51, which saw him cross the line in 24th place overall out of 107 finishers.
In 38th place overall, and with a time of 1:06:58, was veteran athlete Chris Priestly.
Next to finish for the club, and separated by only 3 seconds, were Darren Greene and Gemma Sargent in 49th (1:09:43) and 50th (1:09:46) places respectively.
Gemma, the second female athlete to cross the line, later found herself demoted to fourth female overall after two other female competitors had completed one extra lap of the bike course by mistake and were subsequently placed ahead of Gemma.
Naomi Woodland’s time of 1:13:23 saw her finish in 66th place overall.
And finally, making her multi-sport debut at the event, was Lynn Allen. Lynn’s time of 1:19:43 resulted in a finishing position of 87th overall.
- A day earlier, Steffan Ford took the opportunity to warm-up for the Big Cow Winter Duathlon by competing in the Brooks Last Friday 5k Road Race. His great time of 18:07 resulted in a best-ever finishing position of 15th in an event which was again subject to blustery conditions.
- Club coach Simon Hall competed in the Reading Half Marathon on Sunday, clocking a time of 1:18:32 that saw him finish 113th overall, and an excellent 10th place in the V40 category, from a field of over 12,000 runners.
- Also on Sunday, veteran athlete Rob Wilson made his return from calf injury to take part in the Asics Wilmslow Half Marathon as part of his London Marathon build up. The race, which enjoyed perfect running conditions, saw Rob finish 351st overall out of more than 3900 competitors. His time of 1:30:25, set despite a serious stitch in the last three miles, also meant a finishing position of 49th in the M40+ category.
- Showing no signs of fatigue as a result of her duathlon debut the previous day; Lynn Allen was again in action on Sunday. This time taking part in the Stevenage CTC 62km Audax Bike Ride. Joined by fellow FVS TRI member, Anna Priestley, the pair completed the ride in a sociable 3 hours 15 minutes, including a tea stop that is part of the Audax tradition. Their ride time, if you exclude the aforementioned ‘cuppa‘ in Great Wormstead, was 2 hours 50 minutes.
