Saturday saw the second fixture of the Central CycloCross League season at the Milton Keynes Bowl. 4 Freedom Tri athletes took part, with two of them finishing on the podium. Rod Sedgwick finished 2nd in his category in 32:53, and Jackie Livings (pictured below) finished 3rd in her category in 36:54. Rob Clarke fininshed 22nd in 33:07, while James Knight finished 35th in his category in 44:59.
Freedom Tri were well represented at the Standalone 10k, with over 20 athletes running the 10k course around Letchworth. Gareth Charles was 57th, and home first for the club in a fantastic personal best time of 39:16. 62nd was James Parsons in 39:35. 81st was Lee Hayes in 40:11. 87th was Mathew Freeman in 40:21. 91st was Chris Clark in 40:36. 131st was Michal Day in 42:16. 158th was Gareth Bates in 43:36. 206th was Mark Allen in 44:50. 272nd was Jenny Cotter in 46:10.
310th was Lewis Green in 47:21. 322nd was Rachel Carling in 47:29. 474th was Emma Kinsey in 50:27. 641st was Mark Bullivant in 53:30. 777th was Matthew Wainwright in 54:48. 803th was Rob Evans in 57:01. 854th was Gareth Sharp in 57:23. 912th was Robb Lockwood in 57:43. 1053th was Jane Britten in 1:01:11.
1072nd was Jackie Livings in 1:02:39. 1209th was Sarah Taylor in 1:08:04. 1306th was Samantha Sharp in 1:16:37.
9 Freedom Triathletes made the journey down to Dorest this weekend to race the Ironman Weymouth. Thankfully, they were blessed with pan flat a sea for the swim. Half Ironman first timers Liz Aitkin, Emma Croxon, Martin Hawke, Robb Lockwood, Sara O'Callaghan, Michele Reeves joined Suzy Hawkins and Rob Sedgwick opting for the 70.3 distance, swimming 1,900m in the sea, then off on a 57 mile bike ride, including 3,500 feet of elevation through out the course, and finishing off with a 13.1 mile half marathon run along the promenade.
Suzy Hawkins (pictured below) did fantastically well, finishing on the podium in 3rd place in 5:30:20, adding to the bulging trophy cabinet. Michelle Reeves finished in 13th in her age group in 5:47:33. Sara O'Callaghan, 32nd in age group in 8:18:22,
Liz Aitkin was 34th in age group in 7:41:51. Emma Croxon finished 37th in her age group in 8:30:54, Martin Hawke finished 119th in his age group in 5:57:31, and Robb Lockwood finished in 131st place in his age group in 8:27:37. Rob Sedgwick was on track for a great race, but unfortunately became very unwell during the bike ride, and was taken from the bike course by an ambulance. Thankfully he is recovering well now.
Ironman specialist David Wright doubled the challenge, taking on the full Ironman distance of 140.6 miles, swimming 2.4 miles in the sea, cycling 112 miles, and finishing off the day with a full 26.2 mile marathon run. David did fantastically well to finish 75th in his age group in 15:34:44. David is now part of a select group of people who have finished all 3 UK full Ironman events; Wales, UK in Bolton, and now Weymouth, and was presented with a special polo shirt.
Also racing on Sunday at the St Neots Triathlons were Jeff Thompson and Dean Heuer. Jeff raced the sprint distance of 750m river swim, 24km bike and 5km run. Jeff raced hard from the start, finishing in 54th position in 1:34:39. Dean raced the standard distance race, 1,500m river swim, 45km bike and 10km run. Dean finished in a fantastic 36th place in 2:51:48.
Sarah-Jane Court was representing Freedom Tri and Team GB on Sunday at the 2016 Gran Fondo World Championships in Perth Australia. Lining up shoulder to shoulder with professional road racers, former Olympians, and Tour de France veterans, Sarah-Jane did fantastically well on the 100km ride, finishing 25th in her age group, in a time of 3:51:28.
Sunday saw Freedom Tri's triathletes out racing for the Hertfordshire Triathlon Club Champs Standard distance at Stanborough Lakes, Welwyn, swimming 1,500m, cycling 40km (25 miles), and running 10k (6.2 miles)
Below are this weeks results. Attached is a photo of Simon Jackson chasing down Chris Belcher at the St Neots triathlon (photo credit Rob Evans).
Sunday was the NiceTri Events St Neots Triathlons, which was also Freedom Tri's Sprint Triathlon championship race. 20 Freedom athletes lined up to tackle the sprint distance of a 750m river swim, 24km bike and 5km run. 11 of the 20 finished on the podium in their age groups, Gareth Charles 1st in age group in 1:21:04, Suzy Hawkins 1st in age group in 1:25:30, Sarah-Jane Court 1st in age group in 1:26:22, Peter Carpenter 1st in age group in 1:58:13. Simon Jackson 2nd in age group in 1:14:53, Emma Kinsey 2nd in age group in 1:32:22, Tracey Palmieri 2nd in age group in 1:35:43, Helen Cairns 2nd in age group in 1:37:58. Michelle Reeves3rd in age group in 1:33:41, Jeff Thompson 3rd in age group in 1:39:39, Chris Belcher 3rd in age group in 1:15:42. Also racing were Dean Heuer 4th in age group in 1:27:30, Arnaud Pouillard 6th in age group in 1:19:19, Mathew Freeman 6th in age group in 1:39:06, Andrew Jones 6th in age group in 1:25:22, Declan Mccabe 8th in age group in 1:47:42, Martin Hawke 9th in age group in 1:25:04, Chris Clark 10th in age group in 1:27:59, James Parsons 11th in age group in 1:28:39 and Mark Allen 13th in age group in 1:29:55.
Taking on the standard distance at St Neots (1500m swim, 45km bike, 10km run) was Mark Cheadle. Mark did brilliantly well, finishing 16th in category in 3:11:31.
Rachel Carling was flying the Freedom wings at the Cardiff Olympic Triathlon. Rachel finished 23rd lady, 4th in age group 2:39:36.
Racing the tough and hilly Hitchin Hard Half marathon on Sunday were Gareth Bates, Andi Woolass, Manjit Virdee and Liz Aitken. In 66th position was Gareth Bates in 01:43:10,
Andi Woolass was 107th in 01:48:33, Manjit Virdee finished in 222nd in 02:12:10, Liz Aitken finished in 239th place in 02:20:56.
Jonathan Hart-Smith and Dave Ball raced the IRONMAN 70.3 Exmoor race. IRONMAN 70.3 Exmoor consists of a 1.2-mile one lap swim course. The IRONMAN 70.3 UK Exmoor bike course is a tough two lap course right in the heart of Exmoor National Park. The run at Wimbleball Lake is a three loop course on a mix of terrain including tarmac, hard pack trail and grass. The course remains firm underfoot even during prolonged bad weather. There is one short sharp climb in the course which is tackled three times.
Hart-Smith finished in 59th position in his age group in 06:12:03, and Ball finished in 145th in age group in 07:47:06.
Freedom Tri athletes were racing at various events over the weekend
Rob Evans raced his first standard distance triathlon at the inaugural Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon in Leeds. This race represents the pinnacle of triathlon competition in the UK, providing more than 5,000 recreational triathletes with a unique opportunity to compete on the same course as the world’s best, including home heroes Ali and Jonny Brownlee who will be competing in their last event on home soil before Rio. The race was contested over the standard Olympic distance, 1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run. Rob did fantastically well, finishing 247th in his age group in 3:07:23.
Steffan Ford and Rob Sedgwick (picture below)raced the IRONMAN 70.3 Staffordshire race. IRONMAN 70.3 Staffordshire consists of a 1.2-mile swim in Chasewater reservoir and a 56-mile bike course through the stunning countryside outside Lichfield, Burton-upon-Trent, and across Cannock Chase area of outstanding natural beauty. The 13.1-mile run will start and finish at the historic Shugborough country estate. Ford was having a great race, putting in some fast miles on the bike after a good swim split when the weather turned and managed to get a flat tyre. A quick roadside fix and he was under way again. The run course could only be described as something like cross country, and Ford reported it was the hardest race ever, even compared to full Ironman distance. Despite the weather, bike and hard run, Ford performed brilliantly, finishing in 55th in his age group in 5:22:02. Sedgwick was racing for the Gordon and Tana Ramsay Foundation, and he raised over £4,000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital. Despite recent illness, Sedgwick managed a PB of over 16 minutes, finishing 102nd in age group in 5:49:07, and is now looking forward to Ironman Frankfurt in 3 weeks time.
Glenn Beardon raced the 5k Great North Swim at Lake Windemere. Windermere is England's largest lake at 10.5 miles long (17km), stretching from Ambleside in the North to Newby Bridge in the South.
Surrounded by some of the nation’s most spectacular natural scenery - the Lake District National Park - the Great North Swim is an inspiring outdoor swim. Glenn managed to finish the swim in 531st position in 2:05:13.
On Saturday, Mark Lacy raced at the iconic Bloodwise Blenheim Palace Triathlon, one of the largest triathlons in the country, the Freedom triathlete raced amongst almost 4,000 athletes. To fit in with the geography of Blenheim, the slightly irregular sprint distance triathlon was raced over a 750m open water swim, 19.8km bike and 5.4km run. Mark did brilliantly well, completing the race in 1:32:00 finishing in 181st place in his age group.
The Gran Fondo is held on fully closed roads over 80.2 miles (129.07km). Riding for Freedom Tri were Thomas Sauka, Matt Cotter, Sarah-Jane Court, Neil Paterson and Mat Freeman. Sauka's time of 3:58:48 met the required time for qualifying for the World Champs, Cotter finished in 4:22:56, Court in 4:36:27, Paterson in 4:36:29 and Freeman in 4:42:18.
Three Freedom Tri athletes represented Great Britain last weekend at the 2016 World Duathlon Championships in Aviles, Spain. All three competed in the sprint distance event comprising a 5.75km run, 21km bike ride and 2.6km run, alongside 1,400 competitors from 32 countries.
Suzy Hawkins, in the female 40-44 age group completed the course in 1hr18 for 13th place.
Michelle Reeves, in the female 25-30 age group finished in 1hr17 for 17th place.
Chris Belcher, in the male 40-44 age group finished in 1hr09 for 25th place.
Freedom Tri hope for more international honours over the coming months with Belcher already selected to represent Great Britain at next year's European Triathlon Championships, and Sarah-Jane Court expecting to join him.
More locally, Freedom is already gearing up for Letchworth's annual Duck 'n' Dash swim and run multi-sport event for adults and children which this year will be held on 11th September at Norton Common. For more details visit http://www.duckndash.org.uk
Freedom Tri have been racing far and wide this week, with some impressive performances, including 4 first places at the Herts Championships at the Active Training World triathlons at Stanborough Lake in Welwyn.
Wednesday 25th May was the second fixture of the Scott's Travel Midweek Road Race League, a 10k race around Hitchin. 19 athletes from Freedom lined up at the start for this challenging course.
In the ladies race, Tracey Palmieri finished 6th position in 42:34. 28th position in 47:45 was Jenny Cotter. 32th position in 48:07 was Angela Phillips. 41th position in 49:17 was Christine Caine. 43th position in 49:22 was Rachel Lynes. 84th position in 55:05 was Emma Kinsey. 108th position in 1:00:28 was Liz Aitken. 115th position in 1:04:38 was Jackie Livings.
In the mens race, finishing in 39th position in 39:48 was Rob Willis. 40th position in 39:56 was Martin Hawke, 41th position in 40:00 was Matt Freeman. 55th position in 40:40 was Michael Day, 58th position in 40:50 was Chris Clarke, 83th position in 43:18 was James Parsons, 108th position in 45:11 was Mark Allen, 180th position in 50:41 was John Phillips, 189th position in 52:04 was Jeff Thompson, 207th position in 54:07 was Rob Evans, 214th position in 56:07 was James Rhodes.
On Saturday at Nottingham in the European Sprint Distance Tri Qualifiers Sarah-Jane Court and Chris Belcher had another top day of racing. Sarah-Jane was 7th in AG in 1:12:36 just missing an automatic qualification place but should be good enough still to get in. Chris was 5th in AG in 1:03:16 which is good enough for an automatic place on the GB team!
On Sunday in Edinburgh, Jenny Cotter and Matt Cotter (pictured below) took on the Edinburgh Half Marathon, running 13.1 miles around the city. Both performed fantastically, both securing personal best times over the distance. Jenny finished in 1:41:41 and Matt smashed through the 2hr barrier, crossing the finish line in 1:58:38.
Christine Caine doubled up the distance in Edinburgh, and took on the full 26.2 mile marathon. Christine raced exceptionally well, and with pace control and discipline finished the race in a great time of 4:26:32.
Suzy Hawkins 01:19:14 1St
Ann Tryssesoone 01:31:05 1St
Richard Pitcairn 01:34:28 1St
Jonathan Hart-Smith finished in 01:17:19, 5Th in age group. Emma Kinsey finished in 01:30:14 6Th, in age group. Michael Day finished in 01:16:42 7Th, in age group. Gareth Bates finished in 01:26:29 7Th, in age group. Kevin Smart finished in 01:17:48, 8Th in age group.
Robert Sedgwick finished in 01:20:47 8Th in age group. Thomas Sauka finished in 01:18:58 9Th in age group. Mark Allen finished in 01:26:24 9Th in age group. Adrian Robinson finished in 01:29:57 9Th in age group. Mark Lacy finished in 01:26:09 11Th in age group. Mark Bullivant finished in 01:32:15 11Th in age group. Mark Cheadle finished in 01:27:19 12Th in age group. Lewis Green finished in 01:35:19 14Th in age group
Also racing at Welwyn over the Standard distance of 1500m open water swim, 40k Bike, 10k Run were Jan O'Callaghan and Dean Heuer. Jane had a great race, finishing 1st in her age group in 3:02:46, and Dean finished 9th in his category in 2:56:14.
With triathlon season now in full swing, Freedom Tri have been racing well this weekend.
Racing the Grafman Middle Distance Triathlon Championships were Kevin Smart, Lee Gilchrist, David Wright (pictured below) and Lewis Green. The race was contested over a 1.2 mile open water swim, 55 mile bike and 13.1 mile run. Smart finished 39th position in his age group in 5:21:43, Gilchrist 46th in his age group in 5:29:53. Wright finished 54th in his age group in 7:01:12, and Green 72nd in age group in 6:48:54.
A good day for Freedom at the Eton Dorney ITU qualifier on Sunday. Sarah-Jane Court smashed up the course finishing 5th in her age group in 1:19:01 which means she is likely to qualify for the GB team at the World Sprint Triathlon Championships in Mexico later this year. Chris Belcher managed 12th in his age group in 1:09:45 - not looking to qualify for Mexico but a good practice for next weekend's Euro Qualifier in Nottingham. Mat Freeman had the hottest weather starting later in the non-qualifying Sprint event and came 28th in his age group in 1:23:29.
