CWTC

For the first time in 22years the much coveted Windsor Triathlon was changed to a Duathlon this was on the advice of the environmental department due to the recent excessive rainfall and it’s effect upon the river Thames.  The race organisers changed the format from a 1.5k swim to a 1k run and kept the 42k cycle and 10k run as scheduled.   Despite this 1400 people still participated.

A total of 8 Chichester Westgate Triathlon Club (CWTC) members participated in the event.  One the Saturday we all had to register and rack our bikes, most of us took this opportunity to stay overnight and sample the delights of Windsor town centre.

Unfortunately Mike Cooper and Mary Campbell arrived at their hotel only to be told that the hotel had double booked and their were no more rooms available, and had to be transferred to a hotel further afield.

Mike and Mary clearly didn’t let their accommodation worries affect them as they went on to have great races and win both their age groups.  Well done to you two.

We all enjoyed what was a good flat cycle and a fairly flat run.  The organisation was exceptional and despite not having the swim we had a thoroughly enjoyable day and would recommend this race in the future.

Complete results are as follows:

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400m swim, 25.5km bike, 5km run

Two members of CWTC took part in the above event this year who were Dave Kitt and Jo Donlan. This was Dave’s 3^rd consecutive year of entering this particular event due to the success of previous years, but it was Jo’s very first so a lot of pre-race knowledge could be exchanged between the two beforehand. The day started though with a 4.30am alarm clock in order to get to the Triangle Leisure Centre in Burgess Hill by 6am for registration and a race briefing at 6.45am.

The swim was 16 lengths of a 25m pool snaking up and down in race number order across all 8 lanes. However, there was a slight change this year in that the lane ropes had been put in the opposite way round for some reason, so the organisers were concerned about the safety of swimmers having to duck under bare ropes. They decided therefore to reverse the direction of swim this year to accommodate the red plastic markers being the point of changeover at the southern end of the pool, but this added an additional 25m onto the route to transition.

Due to the estimated swim times though Jo was numbered at 211 and Dave was at 251 out of 279 competitors, so our race didn’t actually commence until around 8am. Both members recorded good swim times though despite this, with Dave achieving a new pb for 400m in under 7 mins!

The bike route then followed a steady 1.5m climb up to Ansty before a downhill section to the A23 underpass, and then turning down through country lanes to Wineham and Twineham before heading back along the A2300 to Burgess Hill and back to the leisure centre.  A light drizzle of rain started during the bike section but not enough to trouble any of the riders. The run section then included an out and back run to a turn-point, which also included a marshall controlled crossing point across Jane Murray Way, where failure to comply with their orders would incur a time penalty.

The event was exceptionally well organised though and a great success with some very generous spot prizes resulting in Jo picking up one of the ‘most courteous triathlete to marshall’ awards and winning free family swim tickets, whilst Dave also won a new cycling jersey after his race number was picked out of the hat at random! Jo confirmed afterwards though that it was one of the most friendliest events she had taken part in and would definitely be back next year!  Jo also finished 2^nd in her BTF gender age category out of 13 others, and Dave managed to knock 5 mins off his previous years times, so both competitors were very happy with their performances.

Report by Dave Kitt

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A total of 11 CWTC members made the short journey to Arundel for the sprint (400m/19km/5.25km) and standard (800m/37km/9km) distance races on Sunday 3rd June. The early starters in the standard race were met with overcast conditions and some light rain but thankfully it wasn’t too cold. The races began with a very pleasant lido swim in the shadow of Arundel castle, before heading out on a triangular route of the local ‘A’ roads including two climbs up the London Road hill for the standard race. The run was certainly challenging with a climb up to the local trig. point. A lot of people were ‘power-walking’ their way up the end of this section!

Club members put in a solid set of results. For me, I think it’s time to break out the TT bike to see if I can sneak into an AG position!

Standard Results:

Sprint Results:

Report by Toby Bigwood

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On a clear blue sunny morning two CWTC members managed to locate each other in their pen on Regent Road, Edinburgh. We were joined by 23,000 other runners from 100 countries for the main marathon. This was the main event of the 10th Edinburgh Marathon Festival weekend.

David was running to raise money for the Chronic Granulomatous Disorder (CGD) society, from which his son suffers. Paul was running to beat his previous Edinburgh time of 5hrs 7 mins & 7 secs set 2 years previously.

Both runners were aiming for 4 hrs 30 mins.

It was a pretty spectacular setting, with Arthur’s Seat in clear view and being surrounded by the historic Scottish architecture.

The sun was starting to warm up and we knew it was going to be a warm day.

At 10am we were off…, well, not so fast. It took another good 15 minutes or so to reach the start line!

We were both looking forward to a pleasant onshore breeze as the route followed the coastline, though this failed to appear. The first 3 hours or so were fairly comfortable, but there was a definite “hitting of the wall” around the 18 mile mark by both runners.

Temperatures were in the order of 20 degrees. Organisers provided 131,085 bottles of water along the 26.2 mile route and another 29,000 at the finish. There did seem to be a distinct lack of water around the 18-22 mile mark though, which even lead to David having to make a short diversion into Lidls to buy a large bottle of water!

Both runners successfully completed the marathon.

David has done an amazing job of raising almost £3k for the CGD Society. His target was £1k. (http://www.justgiving.com/DAVID-KITT-CGD-EDINBURGH)

Paul beat his previous time, which was set in an even hotter 30 degrees!

The men’s race was won by Kenyan athlete John Mutai in 2:19:52. Ukrainian woman Natalia Lehonkova was the first female to cross the finishing line 20 minutes later.

Times:

David Kitt – 4 Hrs 44 mins 30 secs
Paul Reynolds – 5 Hrs 4 mins and 4 secs

Report by Paul Reynolds and Dave Kitt

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