Mid Week League captain Angela Phillips travelled up to Newcastle for the Great North Run this weekend, completing the 13.1 mile race in a time of 2:08:42 in 12,573rd place. She was particularly delighted to beat her running nemesis, chart popster Olly Murs, who trailed in after her in 2:10:49. The race was won by everyone's favourite Olympic champion Mo Farah in a time of 59:27.
Angela Phillips is all smiles having completed the Great North Run. Photo credit: John Phillips.
Former Tri Trier Adrian Mariadas successfully completed his first ever standard triathlon at St.Neots today (1500m / 40k / 10k) in 237th place (33rd in AG) with a very impressive time of 2:52:29. His splits as follows: swim 27:28 / bike 1:30:08 / run 50:22. After the race he had this to say: "When I started with the Tri Triers in January, this wasn’t even a consideration that I’d manage a standard this year and I must say it is all down to being part of a club with such an amazing ethos. From all the coaches that give so much of their time, fellow Freedomites with all the high fives and fellow Fly Flyers for feeling like we’re in this together. I owe you all so much."
Meanwhile Lucy Patterson was up in the Lake District at the Coniston 5.25 mile end swim. Arena Chillswim Coniston has been sold out every year since its inception. It's a unique swim with a highly experienced management team. The team work across the world on international events, including the Olympics Games, so they know what makes a good event and how to deliver that to their swimmers. Chillswim is proud to be based in the Cumbria's Lake District. Lucy completed her mammoth swim in a time of 3 hours 16 minutes 26 seconds in 313th place.
Also in the mood for a big swim were Paul Lovejoy and club coach Andrew Jones. They took on Raw Energy pursuit's 5km river swim down at Shoreham By Sea. This iron distance event saw some impressive times, swimming with the tide athletes were allowed to wear a pair of fins, whilst dodging sandbanks and bridges! New to long distance swimming, Paul was 8th in the Vintage Cat. in 1:33:01 whilst Andy was 35th in the Vets Cat. in 1:19:04.
Paul Lovejoy and Andrew Jones enjoy a warm cuppa after the Fin Swim River Adur.
With a last minute cancellation of the swim due to high levels of blue green algae making the race a duathlon, Freedom Tri were not fazed and rose to the occasion fittingly, setting new records at the same time. With a last minute format of 10k run / 40k bike / 5k run, Freedom set off apace to scoop a phenomenal bag of trophies along the way. Matt Sayers led charge with 7th place in 2:05:54 (1st in Age Group); followed by Luke Nicholl 20th in 2:16:08 (7th AG); Martin Hawke 21st 2:17:09 (5th AG); Ben Field 33rd 2:22:03 (12th AG); Ann Tryssesoone 57th 2:38:14 (1st AG); Bettina West 65th 2:44:03 (1st AG); Matt Cotter 74th 2:50:26 (12th AG); Jane Britten 83rd 2:56:29 (2nd AG). With three age group winners plus some overall great performances meant for the first time Freedom Tri won the overall team prize too! Go Freedom!! Sean Trimble also took on the sprint event and came 23rd in 1:17:07 (4th AG).
Age group winners Bettina West, Matthew Sayers & Ann Tryssesoone at the Hertfordshire Duathlon.
Team Freedom celebrate their win at the Hertfordshire Duathlon.
Imagine a sport that takes you to beautiful, wild places; over craggy hilltops, through mountain tarns, along rugged coastlines and across glittering lakes. Now picture doing all of that with friend by your side - two trailblazers together in the world of endurance sport. Welcome to Breca, a series of extreme SwimRun adventure events. This was going to be a race like no other, where athletes went hard or went home. Two Freedom teams going the full distance, on the mens side: Dexy's Midnight Swimmers aka James Parsons & Chris Clark and the womens: Fearless Freedom aka Suzy Hawkins & Michelle Reeves. In total the race covered 6km of swimming and 38km of running. Swimming in your trainers and running in your wetsuit, all perfectly normal! The womens team came home victorious in 16:36:56 (5th women's race) with the mens team not far behind in 16:49:26 (18th men's race). Awesome!
James Parsons & Chris Clark feeling confident at Breca SwimRun. Photo credit Emma Clark.
A firm favourite on the events calender, you'll always be guarenteed some Freedom wings at the Cowman Triathlon (1.9km / 90km / 21km) in Emberton Country Park near Milton Keynes . Today was no exception with hard earned results as follows: Simon Jackson 4:36:53; Matt Sayers 5:03:35; Paul Sowter 5:18:39; Heidi Hutton 5:21:35; Tracey Palmieri 5:41:12; Anne Weller 6:19:12; Jane Britten 6:26:25; Declan Mccabe 6:40:05. Nice one team Freedom!!
Meanwhile over in the picturesque Cotswolds, Sarah Taylor & Sara O'Callaghan were competing in the Cotwolds Classic middle distance event. Kicking off with a 1.9km swim in lake 32 in Ashton Keynes Water Park then out onto the bike which took athletes through beautiful, quiet local villages then back to the water park for the half marathon finale. Sarah came 735th in 6:50:04 (169th in AG) with Sara 773rd in 7:04:10 (183rd in AG).
Limberg in the Netherlands was the setting for Ironman Maastricht with long distance specialist Steffan Ford setting a great time of 10:41:06, 32nd in his age group (1:11:29 swim / 5:44:29 bike / 3:35:33 run). That's the way to do it Steffan!
Jane Britten sets off on the bike split at the Cowman.
This weekend long distance first timers Michael Day & Richard Springall headed out to Germany to take part in Ironman Hamburg. Sadly due to blue-green algae conditions in the Alster the organisers cancelled the swim split and replaced it with a 6km run loop, effectively turning the race into a duathlon. Undeterred by this last minute set back, Michael completed his first ironman race in a fantastic 9:44:35 him 545th overall and 85th in his 45-49 age group. Richard raced home in 10:09:08 making him 789th overall and 116th in his 30-34 age group.
Meanwhile James Thomas was ripping up a storm at the Outlaw Triathlon (2.4mile / 112mile / 26.2mile) with no swim split problems, completing in 97th place with a great time of 10:54:57. Well done guys 'You are Ironmen!'
Also this weekend GB athlete Chris Belcher was braving a 14 degree sea swim at the Redcar Sprint Triathlon, a qualifier for the 2019 World Championships in Lausanne. Chris finished 17th in his age group in this draft legal event, with a speedy time of 1:11:21. Go Chris!
Richard Springall & Michael Day at Ironman Hamburg.
Suzy Hawkins has smashed yet another Ironman race (3.9km swim/180km bike, 42km run). This time at UK Ironman Bolton. With an amazing time of 10:21:32 she was 175th, 3rd in her age group & 11th female overall. James Thomas was next for Freedom Tri in 10:37:44 239th, 43rd in his age group followed by Alan Barker in 11:57:58 680th, 138th in AG and Dave Ball in 13:56:12 1414th, 269th in AG. Well done to you all!
Suzy Hawkin's victory salute as she comes 3rd in her age group at Ironman Bolton.
Meanwhile James Parsons was taking in the picturesque countryside at the the XNRG Chiltern Ultra Challenge. Running 31 miles/52km in one day with 949m of ascent, this was going to be a tough day. James placed an outstanding 4th out of 259 finishers in 4:33:12. Awesome!
James Parsons who placed 4th in the Chilterns Ultra Challenge.
With the spectacular backdrop of the Snowdon Mountain range, the historic Dolbadarn Castle and Welsh quarries; Llanberis Lakside was the setting for this year's Big Welsh Swim. Swimmers caught the narrow gauge train to the end of Llyn Padarn to the start and chose to swim either a length of the 3km lake, once, twice or even three times!
In the 6km race Emma Croxon was 42nd in 2:35:35 (5th AG); Liz Aitken was 53rd in 2:50:29 (6th AG) and Sara O'Callaghan was 61st in 3:15:40 (9th AG). In the 3km race Sarah Taylor was 83rd 1:31:30 (10th AG).
Sara O'Callaghan, Liz Aitken and Sarah Taylor at the Big Welsh Swim.
Last Sunday saw Jake Amos and his Hitchin Hares host the 2nd edition of the Hitchin Tri at the Hitchin Swimming Centre outdoor pool. As the early morning sun slowly crept over the tree tops, nervous chatter intermingled with the trickling of the art deco fountains. The 50m pool was laned off and ready for the first 400m leg of the race. 7.00 am and the gun went off. After a quick swim exit the athletes were sent out on a gently undulating 20km bike leg ending with two laps of the town centre incorporating Butts Close. As is customary these days, Freedom was well represented with some fine performances. Ryan Nicholl was 3rd in 1:02:18 (1st in AG); Richard Springall 6th in 1:04:57 (4th AG); Steve Carrod 18th in 1:08:38 (9th in AG); Luke Nicholl 22nd 1:09:32 (2nd AG); Helen Cairns 50th in 1:14:34 (1st in AG); Andrew Fenton 145th in 1:31:05 (23rd in AG); Stephanie Merison completing her first ever triathlon 150th in 1:32:03 (16th in AG) with Emma Clark 161st in 1:36:42 (20th in AG). Unfortunatley Toni Fenton had to pull out after the bike leg.
Stephanie Merison enjoying her first race at the Hitchin Triathlon.
Earlier this month Chris Belcher placed 9th in his age group at the Thorpe Park Sprint Triathlon Championships in a time of 1:07:58. With an impressive 14th place coming out of the swim he rapidly moved up the field to post the 7th quickest bike split, topped off with a 19:46 run split. Chris hopes this performance will put him in a qualifying position for the ETU Championships to be held next year. We wish Chris the best of luck in his pursuit of qualification!
Both Sean Trimble & Rachel Kelley conquered Ironman Staffordshire 70.3 last weekend. The race kicked off with a 1.2 mile swim in Chasewater reservoir followed by a 56 mile bike through Lichfield, Burton-on-Trent & Cannock Chase with the final half marathon run through Stafford town centre. Sean completed the race in 6:15:44, 1171st place (80th in AG) whilst Rachel finished in 6:05:57, 1033rd place (21st in AG).
Meanwhile Mark Whittle (aka Sparky) & Andy Jones were having a splashing time at the Jubilee 10km River Swim in Windsor. From a large field of 425 swimmers Sparky finished this exhausting wetsuit swim in 2:18:35 (14th in AG) in an excellent 29th place whilst Andy finished in a highly respectful 2:48:38 (76th in AG) in 169th place.
Andrew Jones & Mark Whittle at the Jubilee 10km Swim.