Martha going strong in South Africa

Martha Taylor gets 4th woman and 22nd overall in a time of 1 hour 10 in the Uge Events Trail Running Series - Race # 5 at Konka Kamp in South Africa. This was a 10.5km fell race - great run!

Whinfell to send the A-Team to Wimbleball

Entries for the UK Ironman 70.3 triathlon are now open. Whinfell Harriers will be sending a full team to compete over the 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run course in the heart of hilly Exmoor. The race will be held on 14th June 2009 at Wimbleball lake.

So far we have the following confirmed entrants:

- Maurice (Al Poole)
- Champ (Ryan Evans)
- Jimbo (James Poole)
- Hinksy (Tom Hinks)
- Billie Jean (Jean Smullen)
- Crazy-Horse (Brett Welch)

Crazy-Horse gallops at the Ballbuster

Brett Welch, (Crazy-Horse) galloped his way to a 4hrs 28 at the Ballbuster Duathlon at Box Hill in Surrey on 8th November. This is the biggest endurance race he's done so far in terms of time and distance, and is great base training for next year's Ironman 70.3. Well done mate!

Ballbuster is one of Britain's hardest duathlons taking in an 8 mile loop five times which includes the very steep Box Hill, in the format RUN (8 miles)-BIKE (24 miles)-RUN (8 miles).

There is a re-run of this race on 21st March 2009 for anyone interested. Czech out this link.

King of the Mountains Ride

Please click here to see the map of the King of the Mountains ride that we will be holding. The date is still to be confirmed.

This will be a 165km ride with 4,466m of ascent. Brutal!

RACE REPORT: Lorton Sprint Triathlon

The Lorton Sprint Triathlon took place on Saturday 20th September 2008 over the following course:
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Swim (Crummock Water) - Short course: 300m; Long course: 900m
Bike (Lorton Valley and Loweswater) - Road course: 22km; Mountain bike course: 17km
Run (Lorton Valley) - 5km
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RESULTS

1st - Ryan Evans ----- 1:34:39
2nd - Paul Walwyn
3rd - John Raho ----- 1:39:00
4th - Andy Raho ----- 1:40:00
5th - Rosie Hart
6th - Jim Poole ------- 1:43:48
7th - Suzy Robertson
8th - Tom Hinks ------ 1:51:00
9th - Brett Welch ----- 1:51:28
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Congratulations to Ryan Evans for the win in his first race. A solid swim saw him out of the water in 2nd place which he held for the whole bike course until catching Paul Walwyn on the run.

Paul's 2nd place is also notable as this was his very first triathlon, and despite a lot of pre-race goading from his girlfriend, Rosie, some fast transitions and a strong mountain-bike ride placed him well-up the field.

The Raho Brothers took the 3rd and 4th places, led home by John (your 'Man with a Van'), who had a strong race finishing 2nd in the Buttermere Triathlon in May. This was Andy's first triathlon.

Rosie Hart's triathlon debut was also impressive. A super-tight wetsuit didn't stop her swimming well before putting in a fast bike split on her new wheels. This was backed up with a typically fast run. It'll be frightening to see what she can do in the Spring 2009 triathlon which will have an option on the run to do a fell run.

Jim's mechanical problems put paid to a fast bike split but a reasonable swim and run put him into 6th. Suzy Robertson did a great race and looked confortable running herself into 7th. Hinksy and Brett duelled throughout the race, constantly passing each other. They were very evenly matched on the flat and equally sick of the hills. Both Hinksy and Brett have big triathlon plans for 2009 of the Ironman and Half-Ironman distances respectively so it will be good to see how their winter training goes.

Thanks to everyone who came along and raced, I hope you enjoyed the course. Also special thanks to Cols, Whinfell Harriers's Directeur Sportif and to Harry for their kayak swim support and help with the race logistics.

Course map here.
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The next club race will be the Buttermere Triathlon, to be held on 9th May 2009. This will be a middle distance race with the swim in Buttermere, the bike taking in two high passes: Honistor Hause; and Newlands Hause, and for the run, a choice of a long flat valley run or shorter fell run course. Full details to be published in due course.

Recent triathlon results

Olympic distance triathlon results:

J.Poole ---------2:18h - London triathlon
S.Parkinson ---2:38h - London triathlon
A.Poole---------2:55h - South Coast Triathlon
B.Welch -------3:07h - Cambridge triathlon

Well done all!

August Olympic distance triathlons

Four guys are doing Olympic distance triathlons over the next couple of weeks:

Sunday 10th August:
Cambridge - Brett Welch
London - Stu Parkinson and Jim Poole

Sunday 17th August:
South Coast (Brighton) - Al Poole

Good luck all!