Swim & Run Training Day 18 Jan 2015 (the full story)

If anyone wasn't aware we have an exclusive swim and run training day planned for the 18th Jan 2015; midday to 6 pm.  £55 per person for top quality swim coaching from Tanja Slater and run coaching from Helen Clitheroe (get in touch with Mick P if you want the details)

The session is for a maximum of 25 people and we currently have 21 interested (14 of whom have already paid) -
so only four slots remaining! 

Pass the word around if you know anyone who may be interested and if those who haven't yet paid could confirm they are still intending to come I would appreciate it.


Payment can be made using the link below. 


http://www.activetrainingworld.co.uk/events/2015/01/18/Private_Swim_and_Run_Clinic


These are the people that have signed up and paid

Steve Williams
Gavin Sword
Matthew Downey
Robert Wright
Wayne Cole
Gavin Richardson
Garry Walker
Lisa Irving
Mick Proud
Angela Campbell
Liam Forbes
Rachel Forbes
Paul Somerville
Chris Wright

The following have secured a place and need to pay (anytime up to the 18th of Jan is fine!).

Linda Brewis
Andrew Somerville
Chris Barnard
Sue barnard
Mark Cullen
Micky Morris
Sean Harrion

Lets see if we can fill the remaining places and have what I'm sure will be a fantastic day and a great way to kick off 2015!

thanks,

Mick Proud

Swim & Run Training Day 18 Jan 2015

If anyone wasn't aware we have an exclusive swim and run training day planned for the 18th Jan 2015; midday to 6 pm.  £55 per person for top quality swim coaching from Tanja Slater and run coaching from Helen Clitheroe; details attached (I hope...)

The Lambton Duathlon

The Coalfields Race Team inaugural race has now well and truly landed.

The Lambton Castle Junior and Adults Duathlons are registered and have been announced at the North East Tri regional AGM this Evening.

On the weekend of 11th and 12th of April 2015, Lambton Castle private estate will play host to a two day Duathlon festival in one of the most secret iconic locations in the North East of England. Beginning on Saturday with children's races and climaxing on Sunday with the adults races.

Please join me in sharing this fantastic news.

We look forward to updating you more in the near future.

Please direct any interest in this event to secretary@coalfieldsrt.com

Mallorca 70.3 and gibside fruitbowl

Many congratulations to Garry Walker for an excellent performance at this weekend's Challenge Mallorca 70.3  Only Garry's 2nd half-iron tri, this new event was serving as the European Middle Distance Triathlon Championships for 2014 - allowing for a third outing of the GB colours for Garry this year! In brutal conditions (+30°C temperatures leading to many athletes requiring saline treatment by the finish), Garry finished in an excellent 112th overall/ 11th in age group, finishing his season on a definite high. Look out for his race report with more details of the day, coming soon :-)

Also racing this weekend were Gavin Sword and Steve Williams at the Gibside Fruitbowl. Gavin put in an excellent performance to come 28th overall - up 14 places on last year - and second in his age group on this demanding course. Steve Williams was under physios orders to take it easy, using this as an opportunity to test out his recovery from this year's ankle injury, and finished safely in 44th in his age group.

Well done all!

Sent from Samsung Mobile

Final multisport weekend of 2014!

Our CFRT multisport season is finally coming to a close this weekend - and what a relief it must be for Garry Walker to finally be able to hang up his trisuit for the winter and take some well earned and much needed rest! Just a little half-Ironman to get out of the way first though ...

This weekend, Garry is competing in the ETU middle distance championships, in just his second ever middle distance race, at Challenge Paguera-Mallorca. With a relaxed lunchtime start (11:10 GB time) and a beautiful setting, this looks to be an excellent end to the season. There will hopefully be an athlete tracker live on the challenge mallorca website tomorrow - Garry is race number 262 if you want to see how he's getting on  Best of luck Garry!

Also, more locally, this Sunday is the 18th Gibside Fruitbowl - a tough 7 mile run hosted by Blackhill Bounders and appropriately advertised as 'not flat'! This year we have both Gavin Sword and Steve Williams taking part in this sold-out event - best of luck both, enjoy it :) 

Kona Update

As I'm sure your all aware, CFRT athlete, coach and committee member Elliot Gowland competed at the Ironman World Championships at Kailua-Kona, Hawaii this weekend. (Not even for the first time -  what an athlete!) Update from Elliot post-race:

"Hi all thanks for all your support today and all the good lucks over the past few weeks. Today I went to hell and back and struggled to cope with all 3 disciplines but I still finished the race in what turned out to be my biggest test since I done my very first Ironman in 2005. This is why I love racing Ironman this is the challenge I love starting a race not knowing if I will finish it. So now it's feet up and time to repair for a while before I get ready to head back to Lanzarote next year. Thanks again and cheers."

Elliot completed Ironman Hawaii in a final time of 10:55:04, after a 1:16:20 swim and a 6:45:25 bike, finishing with a very impressive 4:05:36 marathon. Many congratulations from everyone at Coalfields RT - time to enjoy a well-deserved rest!

Also racing this weekend we had Chris Barnard finishing off his season at Hartside Duathlon. This year's training has obviously paid off with an excellent 5th place finish - very impressive, and looking good for some time on the podium next year after a solid winter of training :)

Finally, marathon-running duo Linda and Paul were representing CFRT at the Yorkshire marathon this weekend. That's 17 down now for Linda

 (quite the collection of medals!), after a run of 5:10:03, while Paul posted an awesome time of 3:02:33. Get those shins sorted for next year and there's a sub-3 on the cards?!

Well done all, and enjoy your well-deserved rest before the winter work starts!

Results round-up

A couple of weekend's back, we were also represented at Hartlepool Big Lime triathlon. Had some issues getting the results from this one, but happy to be able to share them now - partly as this was the last race of the season for all of our athletes racing barring Garry, but particularly as this was Matthew Turnbull's last race in CoalfieldsRT colours. While we're very sad to see Matthew move on, we wish him all the best with his continued triathlon career, and I'm sure we can all still make him feel like family when we see him around at events next year :) Anyway - on to the results!

As ever, local competition was hot, but Garry had an excellent race to place 2nd after taking a late entry and racing tired - read his race report below for more info! Next CFRT home was Matthew Turnbull in 5th place, followed by Chris 'the fish' Philpott in 17th (9th in cat) and Mark Cullen just a few minutes behind in 50th place overall - 22nd vet.

Congratulations all - looking good for some strong performances next season :)

Garry's race report:
"Sometimes some of the last minute races where you have a little less time to truly think about it turn out to be amongst a selection of your best!

As I have found out over recent weeks, a couple of late last minute entries to, first of all, the Great North Run and more recently a final local sprint of the season at the Hartlepool Marina Big Lime Triathlon on Sunday.

Not anywhere near my plan but feeling withdrawal symptoms from THAT sprint only a few weeks back up in Newbiggin, I accepted the last number with only 2 days to go!  Racing on the back of a 20km mixed tempo run on Friday evening and an 80km ride over the biggest hills in the region as my regular training session on Saturday morning! My legs were trashed!

Believe it or not I wanted to try racing tired! Following Aberfeldy I knew I needed to ensure my legs were used to that heavy feeling and on Sunday morning they felt like logs!

I entered the water and attempted to stay out of trouble but it turned into a scrap!  What am I doing with my positioning? That's been the last three races now where fists and elbows have been flying! With my swim performances of late you can imagine my surprise hearing of exited the water in 8th place and was only around 30-40 seconds down on the fish!

A quick transition made way for me to stretch my already heavy legs out!  I was immediately up and over the top of the 5 athletes around me and found myself in around third place on the road at the turn point! This position was to swap back and forth with 4th place over the following four laps but on my final mile to transition I put the hammer down to try and open the gap for the run.

Another rapid transition and I saw Paul Brown in front of me around 30 seconds or so gunning down on 1st who was slowing as the race unfolded.  He was soon to catch and take the lead followed by myself in second place now as we turned halfway and headed for home.

Paul has been running and riding well all season and I found myself closing on him step by step.  It must have been down to 20 seconds maybe less now and I noticed an increased frequency at which he was expressing concern and checking over his shoulder!

A sure fine way of giving away you are tiring, I capitalised on this about a mile to go! I kicked hard and closed to within ten seconds! As the finish chute approached I was running out of road! Another 400m and it may have been a different story the elbows may have been sharpening again but I was delighted to cross the line with another strong performance!"

Oulton duathlon + marathon fun

Big congratulations to Garry Walker for last weekend, competing at Oulton Standard Distance Duathlon.As a. ETU European Champs 2015 qualifier, this was always going to be a tough race,with a top field out racing. This meant a fastpace from the get-go; 1st through the 2-lap, 8.61km run was eventual winner Luke Pollard in a ridiculous 29:18! Garry with 11th into T1 in a still very impressive 30:50 - the top guys were all still very tightly packed at this point! Picking off places throughout the 9-lap, 21.55km bike leg with one of the day's fastest bike splits, Garry followed up with a  final 4.307km run of 15:37 to finish 4th overall - 1st in age group for a euro qualifying spot too. Garry also recieved the award for 1st senior due to the standard '1 prize per competitor' rule - bargain ;) Good day out,and looking good for Mallorca!



​

(Distances to 3 decimal places from Xtra Mile events website - data overkill?!)

Also out this weekend were Chris Wright at Chester Marathon - a late season/ pre-rest blowout and Chris' first non-Ironman marathon! - which he completed in 3:46:03 , and Georgia Campbell, who took up a late entry for Kielder marathon to shake out her legs post-ultra, finishing in 3:39:28.

Well done all :)

Club and regional awards night

With the North East Regional Grand Prix Presentation Evening fast approaching on 8th November, the tickets are fast selling out for what promises to be a good fun evening at Legends in Washington!

Could any member please message Garry who will be compiling a list by FRIDAY 10th October to ensure we are there on the evening!

Tickets are only £5  for adults with kids under 16 free of charge!

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Brings me onto our own club Christmas do! Again Legends in Washington will play host with food and entertainment and lots of fun!

£10 per ticket and bring your kids under 16 for free

Message me again if want a ticket mark your intention as REGIONAL CLUB OR BOTH 😎

Lets celebrate yet another fantastic season in style! Train hard play hard

weekend racing

Good luck to all CFRT members racing this weekend.

On Saturday afternoon we have our first Junior member, Matthew Downey, racing at Cleveland junior aquathlon - a pool-based swim/run event based at St Bede's School in Stockton-on-Tees. Matthew is listed for the youths category, so will be undertaking a 400m swim, followed by a 2400m run.

On Sunday we are also being represented by Linda at the Robin Hood marathon in Nottingham - good prep for the York marathon in a couple of weeks time!

Good luck both of you :)

PS Sorry for the delay on write-ups for last weekend - still waiting on full results from the events that were on, will get those out asap :) James' write-up of his ultra experience is available here in the meantime - a a very good read! http://jamescampbell78.wordpress.com/2014/09/24/hardmoors-60-race-report/

Hartlepool Tri, Harmoors 60 and GS metro hill climbs

Good luck to all racing this weekend, first up on Saturday being James Campbell at the Hardmoors 60 mile event. As many of you will know, James is taking on this challenge for Macmillan cancer support - these were some of his final pre-race thoughts on fb today:

Nine months ago I decided to run this race, nine months of training has been poured into not only finishing but doing so in a decent time. Running 100km is not easy, it requires training, preparation and a lot of mental toughness. Tonight I'll be in bed by 8pm to be up for my race tomorrow. If you're going to the pub tonight please spare the price of a pint, a bag of nuts or that quid you were going to put in the gambler and give it to this good cause instead:http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JamesCampbell02

We also have Georgia Campbell running this Saturday at the St Oswalds Way 100km ... though with a last-minute entry it's more of a 'see what happens on the day' sort of affair than James' excellent prep!

Sunday sees 3 of our members - Mark Cullen, Chris Philpott and Matthew Turnbull (racing in CFRT colours for the last time - you'll be missed Mr T!) - racing at one of the last local events of the summer, Hartlepool Tri, in what promises to be a fast and furious event. Good luck boys! And finally we have Chris Barnard racing the GS Metro 2 stage open hill climbs at 11am and 1pm - a particularly tough day on legs already tired out from run training this week!

Good luck all, do let us know how you get on :)

National Aquathlon Championships and Buttermere Triathlon

Guest report time! Read on below for Chris Wright's report on his race against Rob at the fiendishly difficult Buttermere triathlon, and Matthew Fearn's report from the National Aquathlon Championships held by NiceTri events last weekend :)

Buttermere Triathlon:

"The forecast was for a glorious day and a challenging course – The Buttermere Triathlon was going to be great.

 

A 1500 swim in an estimated 14 degree water temp (a blatant lie) went without issue. Rob shot off as usual (how does he do that). I exit about a minute later and onto the stoniest transition run I've ever encountered, so much so I walked until I reached the grass.  Rob shouts see you on the first hill as he exits T1 whilst I'm still getting out of my wetsuit.

The bike route is a challenging one, within a few minutes of being on the bike your making your way up Honister pass.  It's a long climb with a nasty 25% kick right the end.  I catch Rob about half way, dry heave a greeting and keep going.  A few well-wishers ensure you don't get off and push at the summit but you're rewarded with a fantastic descent.  The course then takes you over Catbells heading towards Whinlatter.  The roads are your usual Lakeland roads (in urgent need of maintenance) and on one particularly bumpy section I wasn't surprised to see the odd unopened gel and water bottle.  The 2 mile climb up to Whinlatter is another tough one but nothing like Honister. Then it's a fast descent into high Lorton where I get promptly stopped by a batch of cars trying to pass each other.  All of the people I've picked off on the descent catch me up (Insert swear word here, pray for the drivers to suffer a slow and painful death etc).  It's 30s or so before I can navigate my way through the cars.  It's then an undulating ride back to T2.

The run is around Crummock water – the first 2 miles, whilst flat, have paths littered with enough large rocks to ensure only the fell runners make decent progress. I however, am not one of those and curse as people hop past me.  Numerous peat bogs also slow progress, some poor bloke face planted in one after going knee deep in mud  – he recovered far too quickly for my liking and shot off like it was something that happened to him on a daily basis.  As we round the lake I get a shock.  I was officially indoctrinated into the Coalfields bum slap brigade as Rob passes me!!! Oh the horror!!! He then had the cheek to promptly put a 12s distance between us.  I close the gap to 6s on a downhill section aided by a slight navigation error from Rob.  Then the route sprung a climb on us, half way up Robs left leg turns rigid, he turns and with a look of agony say's … CRAMP!!!  Now being a twin and the caring sort, I opted for the "Top Gear" rule …. I left him, crested the hill and gave everything I had on the descent, to put as much distance as possible between us.  The final mile is across flat fields and I was running on empty and glancing backwards way too many times expecting to see a familiar Orange and Blue trisuit zooming towards me.  Finally I was dodging past the day trippers and crossing the line totally goosed. Under 2 mins later an annoyed Rob crosses the line – I can honestly say this is the first time he's genuinely raced me in ages, he should have won as well, but he didn't – ha ha ha ha.

 

Great Race and my unbeaten run of wins this year continues Chris 3 – Rob 0

Chris Wright 3:31:39 (51st) Rob Wright 3:33:36 (56th)"

National Aquathlon Champs:

"The race was held at Regatta Meadow in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, one of the most scenic races I've ever done. What I thought were good racing conditions were very misleading! The 750m swim went well (except from the temperature) and I found myself leading the second group of athletes, leaving the water at 10:13 minutes in 13th position. After a reaaaaaaally slow transition where I couldn't feel my hands and my wetsuit legs decided to shrink what felt about 3 sizes I finally was onto the run. The first of the two 2.5k laps was shaky but I felt in a rhythm towards the end and crossed the line in 29:40. The run time could have been quicker but I was pleased at what I thought was my finishing position. After waiting around for the presentation just so we didn't rush home and to waste time, I was VERY surprised to hear I'd got the bronze medal which is why I have a confused look on my face during every single one of the podium photos ha.

It's always best to leave a race with something to show and a national medal will certainly do exactly that."

Just leaves me to say well done all, and in particular MASSIVE congratulations to Matthew - what a way to end the season!!! 

Weekend recap 6 - 7/9/14

Last weekend was definitely a busy one for the club, with no fewer than 19 members out racing at various events – nearly half of the club!

Things kicked off with Steve Williams' epic swim at Coniston on Saturday – an end to end swim of Coniston, coming in at a total of 5.25miles! Steve put in a brilliant performance, finishing in 3hours 2seconds. While he might have preferred 3 seconds less, I think we can all agree that this is a fantastic achievement.

Also competing in a swim-only event was Sean Harrion – taking part in a 3.8km iron-distance swim at Kielder Water, as a first stepping-stone to 'going long'. Sean was 17^th out of the water – 11^th male – in a time of 1:15:03, great stuff.

Last weekend was also Great North Run weekend, always a fantastic time for the region. Originally we were going to have 4 athletes out running, but Garry Walker managed to get a last-minute number, taking our total up to 5. Hot conditions on the day made this a tough event, but all 5 CFRT runners coped admirably. Garry put in a spectacular 1:22:01 run to come 206^th overall after an already tough weekend of training – looks like you'll have to come back and do it properly next year to see what you can really do! Next in was Gavin Sword in a time of 1:28 (a bit of a stroll for Gavin given he was still jetlagged from Edmonton!), followed by Chris Wright (1:46:19) just ahead of brother Rob (1:48:34). Kris Heskett had made the day infinitely more difficult for himself by running the event barefoot for charity, making his final time of 1:54:14 very impressive indeed. Update from Kris' JustGiving page: "Thanks again to all that have donated so far, we are on target with offline donations and the finishing time sweepstake that went unclaimed as no one had selected my finish time of 1:54:14. I'm chuffed and chafed. Feet are doing well despite being stamped on!!"

While the GNR was underway, a further 10 of our athletes were taking on Helvellyn triathlon. A marvellous day out was had by all (even if Micky did think that the climb up Swirral Edge was "**** ridiculous – that's not a triathlon – are they trying to kill everyone?!?") on a very tough course … and miraculously, everyone came back in one piece! Paul S was first CFRT home in 4:12:24, having overtaken Mick P (4:13:50) in the final mile of the run – both finished in the top 50 of this huge, and massively competitive event, big congrats. Next in were Micky M (4:17:15), Dave Wallace (4:22:54) and Mike Wallace (4:23:00), closely followed by Jen Batey (4:27:24) who stormed home to a fantastic finishing position of 2^nd lady! Next were Georgia C (4:53:08), Angela C (5:11:27) and Lisa I (5:42:06), with final CFRT finisher Andrew coming in after 6:10:32- a very respectable time given the half hour spent sorting out a puncture on the course. He says never again, but we've all heard that before :P Some excellent free photography on the day - check out Helvellyn photos at awoladventure.com

This weekend is looking a little quieter, with just Rob and Chris Wright out racing again at buttermere triathlon. Clearly looking for another challenge after Wensleydale 'cheeseman' tri, this looks to be another vicious event – good luck!

Harrier League Cross-country 2014/15 + Athletics membership

Information for the up-coming local cross-country season has been released - dates are as follows below! 

Please let Georgia know - over twitter or at the pool - if you-re interested in running any of these events so she can get the club entries sorted. These are a great way to work on run strength over the winter, and can be a fun team afternoon out - hope we can get lots of you out there! 

11th October	(Blyth RC), East Cramlington Nature Reserve
25th October	(South Shields Harriers)Sherman Cup, Temple Park
22nd November	(Derwentside), Akley Heads, Durham, Elvet
29th November	(Morpeth Harrierss), Wallington
17th January	(Jarrow & Hebburn AC), Bedewell Park
28th February	(Alnwick Harriers), Alnwick Castle
14th March	(Saltwell Harries), Wrekenton

It doesn't matter how many fixtures you think you'll be able to make - whether all races or just one, it's still worth signing up and coming along. You keep your number all season, so one entry covers you for as many races you want to do.

Dates for north-eastern, northern and national championships are also out - just ask if interested. Though please note that you have to be an England Athletics member for these events! The club itself is England Athletics affiliated - if you want an individual membership we put it in through the club. Only £10 per person, and works the same way as your British Tri membership with a percentage of most race entries, etc. Again, just let Georgia know if you want this sorted :)

GNR and Helvellyn weekend

While most are starting to back off for the end of the season,  this clearly isn't the case at CoalfieldsRT, with another big weekend of representation ahead.

Locally, it is of course Great North Run weekend. Best of luck to Rob + Chris Wright, Gavin Sword and Kris Heskett running this 30th edition of the race, hope you all enjoy the day. Of particular note is Kris's decision to run in nothing more than silicon covers for his feet, to raise awareness and money for the youth homelessness charity CentrePoint - read more about the and donate if possible here: https://www.justgiving.com/krisheskett

Also competing in a single sport event this weekend is Sean Harrion, taking part in an iron-distance 3.8km swim at Kielder water - a self professed first step towards going longer!

Finally, we have 11 athletes taking on a 1 mile swim, 38 mile bike including the Struggle up Honister Pass, and 9 mile fell run up Helvellyn ridge to complete Helvellyn Tri - billed as one of Britain's toughest! Best of luck to Jen Batey, Linda Brewis, Angela + Georgia Campbell, Lisa Irving,  Micky Morris, Mick Proud, Andrew + Paul Somerville, and Dave + Mike Wallace.  Hope the weather stays kind!

Best wishes all, get out there and smash it!

Race report 29 - 31/8/14

Very proud to come back from holiday and read about so many fantastic CFRT results – there's clearly been a fantastic display of team spirit going on even at this late point in the season, congratulations to all who have been out competing and supporting.

Representing the GB age-group team, last weekend saw Gavin Sword racing in the ITU world championships in Edmonton, Canada. True to this season's excellent form, Gavin had another cracker of a race – not only coming home in 6^th place, but finishing as first Brit in his age group by over 4 minutes! Your team are all very proud of you J

Closer to home, we had representation over a couple of distances this weekend. At the shorter end of the spectrum, we were very well represented at Newbiggin Sprint Triathlon – as always, an excellently organised tri by VO2 Max events. Sole female CFRT representative Jo Zoppi raced hard to finish 3^rd female … though possibly not as hard as Garry Walker had to fight for 4^th place overall (3^rd Senior)! Look out for Garry's soon-to-be-posted guest report outlining his experience of the day! Next home was Guillaume Zoppi in 19^th (13^th Senior), followed by Stevie Williams (158th O/A, 22nd SV) and Wayne Cole (202nd O/A, 55th V). Special mentions to both of these athletes – Stevie managing to get around the run - after a strong swim and bike - following a season off running with an ongoing ankle injury; and Wayne completing his first open-water tri. Well done all.

Finally, we had 3 representatives at the Rubicon middle distance triathlon. Mick Lavender stormed home in his first ever attempt at this distance in 9^th place, with Elliot Gowland coming in just 2 minutes later in 11^th place overall but at first V40. Excellent racing guys! Also competing was Kerry Gowland, finishing off a jam-packed season with a 55min PB for this course – time for a rest before winter kicks in now Mrs G!

Congrats again to all racers and supporters – see you out there next weekend! J

Weekends Racing

A little bit earlier than usual but this Friday sees Coalfields athlete Gavin Sword take on the World Triathlon Sprint Grand Final in Edmonton Canada.

On behalf of all your team mates and friends at Coalfields, we wish you the very best of luck and are behind you all the way.

This weekend also sees Elliot and Kerry Gowland joined by first time Half distance athlete Mick Lavender, fresh from their respective Sprint successes at the relays over the weekend take on the Rubicon Half ironman distance race in North Yorkshire,  and closer to home defending last years victory, Garry Walker will be joined by Wayne Cole, Steve Williams, Jo and Guillaume Zoppi up at the Newbiggin Sprint Triathlon.

Good luck to all our athletes this weekend and to everyone else racing wherever you are! Race safe 

2014 National Club Relays Nottingham

What can we say?

Truly amazing! What a weekend with Gongs dropping left right and centre in every race at the weekend for Coalfields RT athletes at the Triathlon England National Team Relay Championships at Nottingham this weekend.

The only place we can start is at the beginning!

For the second year running now our Coalfields contingency were out in force in no fewer than six teams in an exciting weekend of racing! Beginning on Saturday morning we had a  Coalfields Mixed Select team out in the shape of Mick Lavender, Matty Davison, Jenn Batey and Nat Batey making up our speedy quartet, proving their form of late to scoop up four silver medals for finishing in 2nd place in the Tri England "Race Team" category.  All four athletes were joined by Garry Walker on the top step of the podium racing in the colours of Team ERDINGER Alkoholfrei.

Saturday afternoons racing saw the attention turning to the Triathlon England Women's Relay National Championship Race.  This time out we had Kerry Gowland, Lisa Irving, Angela Campbell and Jenn Batey (racing for the second time in the day).  What ever the mixed team could do, the Ladies could do just as well!!! Matching the silver medals won in the morning session, Jenn walking away with her second!

That was not the only success we had in that race! Each race was joined by open teams and as we had a non triathlon England member in a team of Elliot Gowland, Mick Morris, David Wallace and Mick Proud, our group of boys waltzed to overall victory with Elliot crossing the line and taking overall honours!

Biggest respect and victory of the day however went to our team of WAG's, Charlotte Walker, Kelly Philpott and Kelly Turnbull were chaperoned by Natalie Batey in her second outing of the day, to complete the race with extreme pride!  What an inspiration those girls were in tough conditions.

Sunday turns its attention to our men's competition! In this race we also had a mixed open team in of Elliot Gowland, Mick Proud, Lisa Irving and Kerry Gowland.  A team which was patched together on the day due to a few last min injuries.  The guys all had a great performance to what was their second race of the weekend.

So on to the Men's Race! This turned into being a very tough day for Chris Philpott, Matty Fearn, Matt Turnbull and Garry Walker! Finding out that Garry's Erdinger mixed team on Saturday morning won a Tri England Gold Medal in the Race team Category, this meant that should our boys get anywhere near the podium! Then unfortunately they would not be able to collect a prize and their position would be rolled down to next team.  The tough  decision had to be made as to whether we substitute Garry or go with Plan A and race for pride!

We went with the latter!

We raced, we raced hard, we literally shed blood with Chris flying into T2, we sweated, lots! And think that may have been a tear in Garry's eye crossing the line knowing they had given all they had! A tanoy announcement for a representative of Coalfielda to go to the race director was to hammer the nail in the coffin of what had been feared!

Chris Philpott, Matt Fearn, Matt Turnbull and Garry Walker should have walked away with Gold Medals as Triathlon England Club champions had it not been for Garry's medal the day before!  For that I'm sorry guys but we knew going into that race and the outcome was the best and worst we could ever have asked for! Chapeau

So that's 

Mixed relay race team Silver

A team member gaining Mixed relay gold.

Women's club relay silver

Open race overall winners

Men's (unofficial) Champions

 

9 medals and 4 trophies! 

As I said at the start, Amazing!!!

Specialist equipment grant

Just a quick announcement that we've had a small write-up (and an excellent photo) published recently in the Sunderland Echo, regarding the recent award of a £5000 grant to the club - specifically for use for specialist equipment. A lot of thought needs to go in to how we can best utilise this, but we aim to help out any and all club members as much as possible - this award is an excellent resource to continue that!

CFRT weekend update 18/08/14

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 10^th 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 - 5^th place overall and 1^st in age group … for the 10^th 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 7^th overall just over 2 mins behind Gavin Sword - with Sean Harrion completing the trio of CFRT racers to finish in 1:20:56.

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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 30^th 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 17^th and 19^th place respectively (6^th and 7^th in 35-39 AG). Awesome racing – the distance clearly suits you both! :)

Next stop – National relays!