Team Kennet » Triathlon

Hever Castle Triathlon

Ian — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:40:46 +0000

24^th September 2011 – Hever Castle Triathlon, Kent

Gavin McLaughlin was competing in the Anne Boleyn sprint triathlon (400m, 20km, 4km). It was 8:10 am and the first wave had just set off in the beautiful surrounding of Hever Castle, the swim was a chilly 14.5^oC, and thankfully only 400m long, the sun was starting to break through the clouds as wave 2 entered the water and shortly afterwards the cannon went off and the race was on. The turn buoy quickly came and Gavin was trading places with 2 other swimmers for the lead, managing to stay on course for once, as the three exited the water Gavin put on a sprint taking the lead into T1. The cycle section was challenging with undulating sections and short sharp climbs, but with every Km marked it seemed to quickly go by and in no time Gavin was back in Transition in 4^th place in his wave ready to go out onto the run. The run was a hilly cross country course which was interesting, finishing off with a section through the castle. Gavin finished the course in 1:08:08, third in his wave, 9th overall and 4^th Vet, a good day out and exciting competition (the 3 vets who just beat him had all represented GB this year) out of 1102 finishers.

Later in the day it was James McLaughlin’s turn in the Elizabeth 1^st race (8-10s)

James had a great swim 100 m in the same cold lake coming out 4^th in his wave, he managed to catch up 2 people on the way to and through T1, to leave transition second place. The cycle was a 4km cross country route that followed the adult run course. James set a great pace reeling in the boy ahead, arriving back in transition just behind him. Both boys set off on the run together and kept trading paces all round the 1.2km cross country run course setting quick times. It was then a wait to see how fast the other waves would be, James finished in 3^rd pace out of 121 boys. Another great result to finish off his triathlon season, next year he has the additional challenge of going up an age group to Tristar 2.

An IronCouple?

Ian — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 13:33:44 +0000

Sonja and Simon Whatson-Kabirschke completed their 1^stIronman triathlon at the end of August and have each produced a detail report. Please click on the links below to read their stories.

The Year of The Ironman 2011

2011 Almere Long Distance Triathlon Report Simon Whatson

Triathlon Report

Ian — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:11:39 +0000

Sunday saw the final race of the TK Club Series at Reading Olympic Triathlon , with eight TK athletes taking part over a weedy, wet and muddy course.

John Marriott continued his club series dominance at longer-distance events, finishing 22nd overall in 2.37.01 for the long Olympic course (46km bike, 11km+ run), posting the quickest TK swim (25.12 for 1500m) and bike splits (1.21.01) of the day. Bart Kuijten was just over three minutes behind in 2.40.13, including a 46.48 for the run. Phil Cowhig had another strong race finishing in 2.51.40, two minutes ahead of Tim Howe 2.53.50 who just pipped Roger Davis by 5 seconds (2.53.55), Graham Muse was less than 30 seconds behind Rog in 2.54.21. Final TK finisher was Harriet Chettleburg who came across the line in 2.57.42.

Unfortunately Dave Mitcham came off his bike in the very wet conditions so did not manage to finish

Down at Weymouth Steve Robinson took part in the Weymouth Triathlon and tackled the sea swim, he came home in an excerlent 19th place (5th vet 40) in 2.43.38

World Series Triathlon

Ian — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:00:39 +0000

Team Kennet’s Jessica Harrison rounded of her Triathlon World Series with her best ever result, the last round was held at Beijing where she came 12th in the last Olympics which gave her the confidence to do well again.

Jessica came out of the swim just 5 seconds behind the leader in 6th place with 19.15, she then came in 2nd in her cycling which is now her better event of the three with 63.06, and for once she excelled in the chinese heat in the 10k run to record 35.31 and to bring her home in 7th place with an overall time of 1.59.09, with event winner Andrea Hewitt from New Zealand not too far in front 1.58.26.

the result meant that Harrison moved upto 18th in the overall rankings, and if she wasnt disqualified 3 weeks ago she would of made the top 10.

Andover Triathlon by Gavin Mclaughlin

Rog Davis — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 08:57:37 +0000

Despite my goggles filling up on the swim I had a reasonable swim keeping in contention with the main pack, once on the bike and finally into my wet shoes, it was a case of grim and bear it in going out into the wind and rain, before trying to avoid falling off or getting a puncture on the way back (the council had resurfaced a few of the roads 2 days before with stone chips). An ok bike then, followed by a good run (32:35 for an undulating 8k) 2nd fasted of the day pulled me back into contention 4th overall 1st vet.

James competed in the afternoon and thankfully the rain held off, he was competing in the Junior race which had TriStart, Tristars 1 and Tristars 2 at the same time. He had a good swim, coming out of the water 5th, followed by an excellent T1 moving up into 3rd where he stayed on the bike. During the run he stormed through coming 2nd overall despite being only a T1 and came 1st T1.

Together we also took the family prize for the fastest child and adult combination.

The race location was easy to get to with plenty of parking. The event was very good, with safe roads used for the bike (well in the dry), very well marshalled, and a challenging and pretty but not too hilly run course. The prizes were good too.

Marlborough Triathlon

Ian — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:07:32 +0000

Team Kennet athletes took their fair share of prizes at the Marlborough Triathlon on Sunday, Steve Robinson was the clubs first triathlete home in 6th place and first vet with a 6.26 swim and 55.02 bike and a 33.04 run.
He was followed by Bart Kujiten in 9th place clocking a fast 31.55 for the run, with John Marriott just seconds behind him in 10th place and 2nd Vet 45. Roger Davis came home in 38th place 10mins further down the field with Carolyn Craik taking the 3rd lady prize, Phil Cowhig was 50th and Sharon McClure was first vet 45 in the ladies.

World Series Triathlon

Ian — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:06:19 +0000

Team Kennet’s Jessica Harrison travelled to Hamburg in Germany for the next round of the World Triathlon Series to improve on her Individual standings in the Series, Jessica representing France came out of the swim only in 39th place with a time of 13.16, but was this rewarded with her best event the cycling and made up alot of ground on the leaders to come into the transition in 11th place, taking it out on her legs Jessica pushed the run climbing to 8th place but faded in the last two miles but was rewarded with a 10k time of 35.53 and 20th place on the day. The race winner was Emma Moffatt from Australia who took the first thre places, but Harrison moved upto 13th overall in the Series and is the leading French triathlete, the next round is next month and is the great London Triathlon which will see many Team Kennet athletes taking part

International Triathlon

Ian — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 12:49:25 +0000

Team Kennets international triathlete Jessica Harriosn finished 20th in the 2nd round of the World Triathlon Series held in Kitzbuehel in Austria on Sunday, Jessica came out of the swim in 4th place with 18.58, then lost touch in the bike which is normally her better event of the three which she clocked 70.31, her 10k run was 37.11 which slipped her a few more places with GB athlete Jodie Stimpson just in front. the overall winner of the race was Canadas Paula Findlay in 2.05.52 who leads the series, while jessicas time of 2.08.10 puts her in 14th place overall
the next round is July 14/15 in Hamburg Germany where Jess will be hoping to build on this aiming for a top 10 overall.

Triathlon Club Series

Ian — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 11:14:23 +0000

It’s finally time for an update, we are three races into the season and due to holiday this update is long overdue!

The first race of the season was at Salisbury last month, with eight TK members taking part, first over the line was Steve Robinson in 1:25:18, winning his age category on the back of a very impressive 52:16 for the 19 mile cycle. Gavin McLaughlin was next home in 1:29:52, posting a 5:21 400m swim and 26:07 for the 4 mile run. Chris Treacher was the third TK finisher in 1:33:49, Phil Cowhig (1:39:37), Rog Davis (1:40:13), James Wilding (1:44:12), Sharon McClure (1:53:40) and Tony Duck (2:00:48) were the other TK finishers.

Then a week later it was on to the Swashbuckler Half-Ironman with John Marriott finishing 45th overall (5th in his age-group) in a time of 4:39:19, Chris Treacher finished in 5:18:28.

This past weekend it was time for the South Cerney Standard-distance triathlon with six TK competitors taking part, they were led home by Gavin McLaughlin who posted the fastest TK swim, bike (jointly with Rog) and run splits for the day, finishing 3rd Male Vet in a time of 2:19:19. Bart Kuijten was next home ten minutes later in 2:29:26, and then it was a tight race for third spot with Dave Mitcham (2:38:47), Phil Cowhig (2:39:11), Graham Muse (2:39:25) and Rog Davis (2:39:35) all separated by less than a minute.

Next race in the series is Marlborough next month.

Jul 17 Marlborough Triathlon Sprint Pool Details
Jul 31 MK Tri 2011 Olympic Lake Details
Aug 14 St Mary’s Triathlon Sprint Pool Details
Sep 11 Reading Triathlon Olympic Lake Details

Happy training!
Bart.

The World Triathlon Championship by Sonja Kabirschke

Rog Davis — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 08:16:23 +0000

So there I was, at 7:15am on a freezing morning in Hungary, Budapest, standing at the start line of the World Triathlon Age Group Championships; it was the culmination of many months of sweat & tears and I had essentially three goals:

1) To complete the race

2) To not come last

3) And, if I was lucky enough, to not finish last British contender

One amongst 85 competitors, I knew that it was going to be a very tough race, the qualification had already shown what I might be up against, so I was proud to count myself amongst the top 20 British triathletes in the country.

And thus we clambered into the inlet of the freezing Danube (a mere 15-16ºC), I really struggled to breathe and only really found my rhythm towards the end. Exiting the water in 22:20 would have normally placed me at the top, but I found myself way down in 26^th position; I reminded myself however that I was here to enjoy myself and represent Great Britain!

Completing T1 without too much ado, I was off on my new bike, which I had only just received a few days before, so the setup wasn’t perfect but it didn’t matter: I was flying and at one point clawed my way up to 23rd position.

The majority of the bike went exceedingly well, and other than veering off course due to moved cones, I couldn’t complain and was really looking forward to the run: I had worked particularly hard on this and had recently been putting in exceptionally fast splits. But then, just as I was coming into T2, and as sod’s law seemed to demand: CRAMP!

I didn’t know what to do; was I to stop and stretch or just continue? I made the decision, rightly or wrongly, to just keep going but it was soon clear that I wasn’t going to be going anywhere very fast. The pain was so intense, I even considered pulling out at one point, but then thought: “what type of an athlete am I, coming all this way, only to end up with a DNF?!” British flag in hand, I did eventually stumble across the finish line, filled with both elation & frustration.

Then I searched for Photographer Husband, whom I hadn’t seen on the run at all. Transpired he had miscounted my bike laps, ended up waiting for ages thinking that something had happened and finally running the 5km from the start to the finish, appearing drenched in sweat about 15 minutes after I had finished!

So despite my disappointing run, overall I felt proud to have represented Great Britain, and even my goals had all been achieved: I finished, I didn’t come last and even managed 14th amongst the strong British field, though I know this should have been higher had it not been for the calf cramp. The British support was phenomenal, and I now look forward to next year’s challenge: the daunting task of training for and completing my first Ironman…