Cracking results all round again this weekend, well done all!
First off were Michael Lavender and Steve Williams at the GR8 events aquacycle at Ellerton Lake – an unusual event consisting of a 750m swim, followed by a 40km cycle … no running! Maintaining form from a brilliant season, Michael Lavender stormed to an excellent win – leading out of the water by 50s, and building on this with the fastest transition and bike splits of the day to win by over 6 minutes! Steve Williams also put in an excellent performance to come 10th overall - hopefully confidence-building while still recovering from a recent ankle injury that has interrupted much of his planned racing schedule this summer?!
Next off were the racers at new local event Spanish City Triathlon (by Total Racing International), held on the Whitley Bay seafront. Gavin Sword battled jellyfish in a tough swim to come home first of 3 CFRT members racing - 5th place overall and 1st in age group … for the 10th time this season! How about that for consistency at the top?! Boding very well for the upcoming World championships in Edmonton – congratulations Gavin! Gavin Thompson was close behind - finishing 7th overall just over 2 mins behind Gavin Sword - with Sean Harrion completing the trio of CFRT racers to finish in 1:20:56.
Last, but most certainly not least, we were represented Garry Walker and Paul Somerville at Sunday's middle distance race in Aberfeldy, Scotland … only the Scottish and British National championships, so no pressure to perform ;) This was set to be tough race, with the kind of stacked field you'd expect at a championship event, but both of our boys raced out of their skins to come away with excellent results. Starting in the same wave at 07:02, Garry exited the water first, with Paul putting in a solid swim to follow 4 ½ minutes later. With the swim out of the way, this being the least strong of the 3 disciplines for both Garry and Paul, the race was now well and truly under way! Both went on to have a storming bike leg, with Paul eventually overhauling Garry on the run with a spectacular run split of 1:25:53 to finish in 30th place overall in 4:45:30 – just 2 places ahead of Garry finishing in 4:47:09. Even better, these overall positions include relay teams – really putting Paul and Garry into 17th and 19th place respectively (6th and 7th in 35-39 AG). Awesome racing – the distance clearly suits you both! :)
Next stop – National relays!