The weekend’s changeable weather conditions couldn’t prevent Team Trisports athlete Andy Chatterton from recording a superb time of 3:12:50 at The London Marathon on Sunday.
Having hoped to dip under three hours, Chatterton’s fantastic time still represented a new personal best time by 33 minutes and a finishing position of 2140 overall.
Also racing at the event was Mark Beaver who likewise posted a sub-four hour time of 3:52:51.
A week earlier but still on the marathon theme; five athletes from the Hitchin based triathlon club took to the start line of the inaugural Brighton Marathon and also didn’t disappoint.
Finishing first for the club in an awesome new PB time of 3:21:47, Kate Turner crossed the finish line 337th out of more than 6500 competitors.
Turner’s great time was just the first of three superb performances by the club’s female athletes. Also producing personal best efforts, Jackie Perry and Lesley Dutton set new benchmark times of 3:32:45 and 3:41:44 respectively.
Ensuring that the club’s male athletes were also represented, Gerry Corrance set a sub-four hour time of 3:41:26 and Paul Dutton clocked a time of 4:41:28.
Switching from two feet to two wheels, Steffan Ford carried on his recent impressive run of form in cycling time trials by setting a new PB time at the Bedfordshire CC 25m TT. In ideal weather conditions Ford stopped the clock in a fantastic time of 1:04:54.
There was also two wheeled action from Simon Douglas and Tim Smith, who headed over to Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire on Sunday to compete in the Team Milton Keynes 21m TT cycling time trial. In changeable weather conditions and held on a ‘sporting’ course, Douglas and Smith set times of 1:00:03 and 1:00:17 respectively against a highly competitive field.
A day earlier, Naomi Woodland raced her first official ‘25′ at the Newbury RC 25 mile TT cycling time trial and clocked a time of 1:13:52 to finish 6th female overall.
More cycling action, but this time of the road racing variety, cycle ace Alex Turner, ‘Ironman Legend’ Gavin May and James Foy took the start line of the Welwyn Wheelers Cat 3/4 Road Race on Sunday. Suffering mixed fortunes, Turner was forced to retire due to a mechanical issue whilst May and Foy faired better finishing with the main bunch.
Switching to pure multisport action, Richard Allen competed in the Duston Sprint Triathlon. Held in perfect weather conditions and consisting of a 400m pool-based swim, 20km bike and 5km run, Allen covered the course in a great time 1:13:34 to finish well inside the top half of the field.
Also competing in a pool based sprint triathlon, father and son Steve and Andrew Mussett blew out the off-season cobwebs as they lined up for The Skipton Triathlon. Following the standard 400m pool swim, 20km bike and 5km run format, it was the younger Mussett, Andrew, who gained the upper hand in the father-son race for the top club finisher honours, setting a time of 1:16 compared to the 1:28 of father Steve.
Darren Greene ran the Flitwick 10k and dipped below the 45 minute barrier to record a time of 44:39.
And finally, Graham Perry ran the Hertford Charity 10k and set a time of 46:23 for what turned out to be a 9.4km race distance after technical issues by the race organisers meant all competitors were unable to run the first 600m of the course.
Race Report: Simon Douglas