This years Chichester Triathlon also incorporated the staging of the first ever Chichester Westgate Triathlon Club Championships. The 23 entrants were greeted on Sunday morning by rain showers and cool temperatures which, though less pleasant than we had all hoped, were sure to make for an interesting race.
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All of the CWTC members set off at 9am with all to race for to become the first ever CWTC Club Champion.
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The faster swimmers went about setting a fast pace early on with Tom Wilson, Andrew Soppitt, Fay Cripps and Rob Burford all completing quick swims giving them an early time advantage on their rivals. Wilson set the best swim time of the day, completing the 600m in 7:56, a full minute ahead of Soppitt.
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Wilson then had a very fast first transition (T1), taking under a minute and giving him a lead of 1:26 over closest rival Soppitt as he set out on the bike course. Soppitt was closely followed by strong swimmer Cripps and by Dan Bailey, who had made up for any time he had lost in the pool with a lightening quick T1 of 50 seconds – the fastest of the day.
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As the competitors went out onto the testing 42k bike course, the stronger cyclists were looking to capitalise, and that they certainly did. Spectators hoping for a exciting race weren’t disappointed as Wilson returned first of all, followed 4 seconds later by Bailey, who in turn led Soppitt by only 10 seconds. Bailey had ridden an phenomenal leg and shot from 4th to 2nd, overtaking Soppitt and Cripps to record the fastest bike time of the day. Despite himself being overtaken by Bailey, Soppitt had an exceptional ride and closed the gap between himself and Wilson to only 14 seconds.
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Further down the field, James Woodward and Gareth Waymark rode very well. Having left T1 down the field in 8th and 11th, they returned, separated by a mere 8 seconds in 4th and 5th respectively.
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In the ladies field, Cripps lead Mary Campbell in 2nd and Persephone Hagan in 3rd with Chandra Morton chasing in 4th. Having left T1 with a lead 28 seconds over Campbell, Cripps rode a strong cycle leg to extend her lead to 1:09 entering T2.
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With T2 out of the way quickly and the competitors into the run course, Wilson led Bailey by just one second, with Soppitt a further 17 seconds behind in Third. The leading three had a comfortable cushion of nearly four minutes over 4th place which was being fiercely fought between Woodward and Waymark.
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The out and back run along centurion way tested the athletes to their limits and with places being fought for throughout the field, there was all to race for on this final leg. At the front of the field, Dan Bailey showed his running pedigree, overhauling Wilson to complete the 10k in just over 37 minutes. This put a comfortable distance between 1st and 2nd and saw Dan Bailey power across the line to win the inaugural CWTC Club Championships by four minutes and seven seconds.
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Tom Wilson ran a solid final leg to hold off Soppitt comfortably and was rewarded with a well deserved 2nd place overall. Andrew Soppitt, having had such a strong swim and cycle, hung on in there to clinch the final podium place in 3rd.
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Fourth place, so hotly contested, was finally taken by James Woodward and who had enough left in the tank to pull away from Waymark in the final stages of the race.
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Fay Cripps came in 6th place and was firstly lady, with a comfortable lead ahead of Mary Campbell in 2nd and Persephone Hagan who ran an excellent race coming in 3rd.
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A total of 21 CWTC members completed the course and helped the club in this major milestone so thanks and well done to all who took part!
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Results (click to enlarge)
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There will be a full report in the Chi Observer this week so do keep an eye out.
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