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Thanks for a fantastic event. Like I said it was my first ever triathlon event; I had a wonderful time, and I will now be doing more of the sprint races at least. A large part of that enthiusiasm for the sport is down to the organisation, friendliness and inclusivity I felt on Sunday. So please pass on my thanks to the team.

Regards…..Martin

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This was my first Triathlon, and I managed to achieve my under 2 hours target.

Thanks to all the people who made the event possible. It was well run and everyone was really helpful – especially Ias they probably got ashe the same questions dozens of times.

Looking forward to seeing the final results.

Thanks again

Yvonne

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Thank you Scott for organising the Newbury Triathlon, which largely I very much enjoyed though what prompts me to write to you is to raise a strong concern that I hope doesn’t give rise to me needing to do so again.

This may come as no surprise but I was very disappointed with some of the marshalling yesterday. On the bike course and the run course, all seemed to be in order however in the transition area, the finishing chute and along the road leading up to transition the marshalling was at best poor to even at times very weak or even incompetent.

In the transition area no one was stopping competitors,who had yet to start, from congregating in clumps to the point of blocking access to bike positions…. not just in one area, but several and for minutes at a time.

Around the finishing chute spectators were wondering unchallenged across the finishing area but worst of all, small children were being allowed to also run in and across the finishing area unchallenged. I know you don’t operate a creche but your marshalls need to take action rather than smile sweetly handing out bananas and collecting chips. What I heard was the Sussex Photography cameraman shouting out for someone to move the children (under 3 years old)….. that’s not his job!!! (……)

David

TK was led home by John Marriott in a time of 1:04:15, in the process he finished second overall, including a very impressive 34:45 bike split.  Not far behind was Steve Robinson who despite being hampered by a calf strain problem going into the race, managed to finish third overall in a time of 1:05:40.  A great performance from both John and Steve, well done!

Aston Nicholls was the next to cross the finish line in 10th place overall in 1:08:35, on the back of a very quick 6:07 swim split (which included running around a mat before the swim and out of the pool building afterwards) and took the prize for second Junior man.  Only six seconds behind was Bart Kuijten in 1:08:41, which was good enough for third Senior man and included a strong 20:40 run split.

Next home for TK and finishing 20th overall was Roger Davis in 1:11:07, closely followed by Harriet Chettleburgh in a very impressive time of 1:11:24, a strong overall performance placing her third Senior woman.  Then came Rob Findlay (1:12:00), Graham Muse (1:12:44) and Elisabeth Crossman in 1:13:42 (a great performance giving her the title of fastest Vet woman!).  Martyn Maynard (1:16:35), James Wilding (1:17:04) and John Crossman (1:26:08) took out the final three TK places.

A very successful day for Team Kennet with six members taking home prizes, and well done to John and Harriet for taking out the respective Team Kennet Club Championships for 2010!

And then there was another Olympic Distance Club Series race, this time on the very quick course of MK Tri 2010.  A strong contingent of seven from TK made the journey and were led home by John Marriott in a very impressive time of 2:11:00, posting a strong 1:05 split for the 40km cycle, he was closely followed by Gavin Mclaughlin 32 seconds later and Gavin swam a very quick 1500m in 20:18.  Bart Kuijten was third to the finish line in 2:20:41, with Mark Shepherd only 16 seconds behind with the quickest TK 10km run split of the day in 37:36.  Roger Davis finished in 2:26:52 and Phil Cowhig completed the TK finishers in 2:27:51.  Several PB’s were set across the team, and commiserations go to Dave Mitcham who had to pull out mid-way through the cycle due to stomach cramps.

Five Team Kennet triathletes gathered for a 6.15am start in the tidal Beaulieu River. With a later than usual start the rising tide meant the faster swimmers John Marriott and Graham Muse took a good early lead, whilst Mark Shepherd returning to triathlon after a break struggled badly against the strong tide and had to overcome a strong urge to just get back out!

The 80km two lap cycle of the New Forest saw Rog Davis move past Graham Muse into second. Always a great cycle with plenty of natural obstacles including deer, ponies, donkeys and cows on the road.

Entering the run the temperature had now hit 28?C and dehydration was becoming a very real threat. Mark Shepherd was however back on familiar ground and fast making up time, his strong running background saw him ease his way past all his Team Kennet team-mates except John Marriott who held on to finish first Team Kennet triathlete, forth in his age group and 46th overall. A fast finishing Dave Mithcham ran past Rog Davis and was within seconds of catching Graham Muse at the finish.

The day was marred by the sad news that regular Race New Forest competitor, Tim Wilks of Southampton Tri Club had collapsed during the run section and despite the valiant efforts of the competitors around him it was not possible to revive him. Our thoughts at this time are with his family.

Steve Robinson on his debut for the club came home 20th overall and an
impressive 3rd in his category in a time of 1:05:40 for the 400m swim,
20km bike and 5km run.  Bart Kuijten was next home, finishing 43rd
overall on the back of a strong 22:22 run and Roger Davis finished in
89th position out of 420 competitors despite claiming he swam an extra
two lengths of the pool and posting a strong 37:28 for the 20km cycle.

Next race in the series is Swashbuckler on the 23rd of May.

Of the 520 entrants, Mark Shepherd came home first with a good cycle time of 25m 55s (wind had eased a lot by then!), finishing 57th overall, he was followed by Michael Randall and Aston Nicholls in 90th and 93rd place who also finished 2nd and 3rd juniors. Dave Mitcham finished 186th.

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!!!”