Team Kennet

Nick Weston after the race

Team Kennet were represented last weekend at Ironman UK Bolton by Andy Laycock, John Marriott and Nick Weston. Andy and Nick both made the 200 mile trip as first timers and John was going for his fourth finish at the full ironman distance.

The new course venue and weather conspired against organisers and competitors alike so that by Saturday afternoon, transition and its surrounding campsites and access roads looked more like the mud bath at Glastonbury festival than an international long course triathlon! However, in true British tradition everyone gritted their teeth and around 1400 competitors started the race at 6.10am on Sunday 2nd August in windy but at least dry, weather.

The 2.4 mile swim took place in the chilly and murky Rivington reservoir. 1st TK man out of the water was John in 1:11:43, followed closely by Nick in 1:14:49 and Andy in 1:29:02

The 112mile bike course consisted of three laps, with a steep climb almost straight out of transition to sort the men from the boys and then wound its way through the Lancashire countryside. Nick caught John towards the end of the first lap and pressed ahead to lead off the bike by around 15 minutes, having completed the bike course in 6:04:11. Andy made ground on John with a 6:20:56 bike leg, although cramp at the steep swim exit hampered him on what is normally his strongest discipline. John’s 6:22:08 effort was enough to keep a solid 18 minute gap over Andy heading into the run.

By the time the 26.2 mile marathon was under way the weather was getting hotter by the minute. The course was an undulating/hilly 2 laps out and back into Bolton town centre and was being well supported by the local community who had come out to watch the athletes pound the streets. Nick produced a strong 3:35:05 marathon off the bike to extend his lead over both John and Andy to come home in a total time of 11:04:19. Andy closed down John significantly over the run and completed his first ever marathon in a cracking 3:41:58 but it wasn’t quite enough to regain the time he lost earlier in the race. John ran a solid 3:51:25 to hold off the advancing Andy and finish in 11:36:31. Andy came in a mere 7 minutes behind in 11:43:40

Just after 11pm the 17 hour cut off time was reached and 1263 competitors had crossed the finish line. This meant that all 3 Team Kennet athletes finished easily in the top 1/5th of the field with Andy 212th overall, a highly respectable 53rd in the hotly contested 30-34 age category, John was 180th and an excellent 11th in 45-49 age group with Nick storming into the top 100 with 90th overall, good enough for 6th out of 129 in the 25-29 age category.

All 3 athletes ended the day exhausted but elated, having heard those famous words as they crossed the line “YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!”