Sunday 30 March 2014

Racing report 30/03/14


This weekend has seen a brilliant, wide-ranging turn-out of orange and blue – across the country and a range of disciplines!


Racing furthest afield, Michael and Paul Lavender and Matty Davison had a fantastic start to their multisport season at East Leake triathlon in Nottinghamshire. Michael Lavender is back on top form, taking first place in the brilliant time of 56:41. Matty did brilliantly to claim 7th place, also breaking the hour, with Paul Lavender coming 12th overall and taking 1st vet. Well done all.


Next we had Elliot and Kerry Gowland and Lisa Irving taking part in the Nidderdale cycle sportive in the Yorkshire Dales – a gruelling 85 miles featuring 8000ft of climbing. Elliot linked up with some local club cyclists to have an excellent ride, posting a very impressive time of 4hours 47mins. Meanwhile the girls worked together to put in a great day’s riding in prep for the upcoming Fred Whitton Challenge, and Ironman Switzerland later this year … watch this space!


Closest to home, we had some fast and furious racing on Roker seafront for the SunCity Duathlon, following the traditional Coalfields takeover of the start line by our 6 competing athletes – Garry Walker, Chris Philpott, Mike Wallace, James Campbell, and Angela and Georgia Campbell. Unfortunately, from 6 starters only 5 athletes were able to make it to the finish line. The slippery conditions underfoot caused Chris to go over on his ankle, with the sensible decision at this point then being to withdraw – though not without testing out his legs on the bike first! We all wish Chris a speedy recovery, and hope to see him on the start line again soon. All 5 remaining athletes went on to post excellent results against stiff competition, with top performances all round, and 4 podium finishes (Garry 2nd place overall, Mike 6th overall/1st senior, Georgia 2nd female and Angela 3rd female/1st f Vet). Congratulations.


A final word on the support we had at Sun City Duathlon today. Following on from the bright example of the group ride to support at Stokesley last weekend, we had another top turnout of team members who weren’t competing today to cheer on our athletes. This not only makes a huge difference to the athletes racing – though your support really is invaluable – but really goes to show the team spirit that makes Coalfields special. Thankyou all!


Next up locally we have athletes competing in Morpeth Duathlon in both the Sprint and Standard distance events next weekend. See you all then!