Team SW win Silver at the IRC’s

Team SW won silver at the Inter Regional Championships, at the British Triathlon U20’s Festival held at Mallory Park on BH Monday 28 August 2017. 

There are 12 TriStar 2 and 3 athletes from each of the 13 regions across Great Britain competing at the IRC’s. These athletes go head-to-head in a bid for the coveted IRC title.

 

Congratulations to Team SW as follows: 

TriStar 2 Girls: Darcy Dryden, Abbie Downing and Taya Dee

TriStar 2 Boys: Zak Clemens, Joseph Martindale and George Mahon

TriStar 3 Girls: Jessica Hudson, Alex Palotai-Avella and Abbie White

TriStar 3 Boys: Ben Cumberland, Ryan Symington and Charlie Cook

Individual Podium place was awarded to Ben Cumberland – 2nd

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IRC Training Enjoys Surprise Visit by Vicky Holland

On the 25 July, 40 triathletes headed to the University of Bath 50m Pool for the start of their 3 day training camp organised by the JSO, led by the Technical Series Officer and supported by experienced Coaches Chris Maxwell, Freddie Webb and Juliet Paterson.

The triathletes were rewarded after their early morning swim set with a surprise visit by Olympic Bronze medalist Vicky Holland and her Coach Rhys.

Following a lengthy question and answer session with Vicky,  training continued at Odd Down Cycle Circuit after a short drive across Bath, where they perfected their cornering skills in anticipation of a very technical track at this years IRC’s on 28 August. The 2 hr session finished with a mini Team pursuit within their groups.

With the bike session over everyone made their way to Leweston School in Dorset where they would all enjoy their next 2 days of swim, bike and run training.

 

 

The final day concluded with a a couple of mini triathlons with and without wetsuits before parents arrived to transport them to Weymouth where they brushed up on their drafting skills on the bike utilising the Weymouth to Dorchester cycle path before biking into Weymouth for the final element of open water training.

 

We wish Team SW the best of luck at this weekends IRC’s taking place at Mallory Park in Leicestershire.

 

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BAD Tri Beats the Weather

The TS1’s completed their Series at Bristol on 22 July and enjoyed some unexpected sunshine having been promised some pretty awful weather. The TS1’s were out in force with 15 of the 22 boys and 6 of the 8 girls taking part in this years Series.

The results have now been posted but these were delayed when it was discovered the athletes in Wave 4 completed 8 lengths instead of the 6 in the pool. After much consultation with the event staff and some of the parents of those children affected by the mistake it was decided the children in Wave 4 would have their swim times adjusted accordingly using the same formula for each athlete to determine their swim time as if they had completed 6 lengths.

The results have been adjusted and are now available to view on the SWS Standings page.

Enjoy the Summer holidays

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Team SW 2017 Announced

I am delighted to announce this years Team SW to represent our Region at the Inter Regional Championships at the BTF’s Under 20’s Festival to be held at Mallory Park, Leicestershire on Monday 28 August 2017 as follows:

Team South West

TS2 Girls:                                  TS2 Boys: 

Darcy Dryden                                   Zak Clemens

    Abbie Downing                              Joseph Martindale

       Taya Dee                                        George Mahon

TS3 Girls:                                   TS3 Boys:

           Jessica Hudson                         Benjamin Cumberland

Alexandra Palotai-Avella                     Ryan Symington

       Abbie White                                     Charlie Cook

 

Team SW will be competing against the best 3 triathletes in each age group

from the 13 Regions across England, Scotland and Wales

 

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Beautiful Bowood

This year the SWS returned to Bowood for its IRC Qualifier for TS2’s and 3’s as well as the OW Triathlon Championship Race for all age groups other than TS1. It was great to see so many of our TS1’s competing here for the first time gaining valuable race experience for the future. The swim takes place in the fresh water lake set in the lower part of Bowood Estate before exiting via the pontoon to a 400m sloping climb to transition. The bike course extends into the ‘wilder’ parts of Bowood Estate on closed roads before heading out onto the scenic run course passing the secret waterfall and Doric temple.

 

The TS2 boys were first off with Zak Clemens the overall winner exiting the lake in third position alongside Joseph Martindale who finished 2nd, closely followed by George Mahon of Leweston Triathlon Club taking third.

 

TS2 girls were next in the lake with Abbie Downing leaving the lake 8 secs ahead of Darcey Dryden of Leweston Triathlon Club who caught up with Abbie in transition. Abbie opened up a clear lead on the bike and with a slightly faster T2 time was now 48 secs ahead of Darcey. However, Darcey clawed back that time with an exceptional run to finish 12 secs ahead of Abbie, recording the fastest run for the TS2 girls and second fastest overall for all the TS2s. Third place went to Taya Dee of Vale Tridents.

 

 

The TS3 boys was a very close race with Liam Openshaw, Ryan Symington, Charlie Cook all from Leweston Triathlon Club and Ben Cumberland of Vale Tridents competing for the top 3 places. Having exited the lake in that order, Ben

worked his way up the long climb to transition and led the way out onto the bike with the fastest T1 time.

The 4 of them worked well together on the bike to come through into transition together before heading out on the run. Ben finished ahead of Ryan with Charlie third.

 

The TS3 girls were next with Alex Palotai-Avella leaving the lake just ahead of Jessica Hudson both from Leweston Triathlon Club making their way together to transition.

Alex and Jessica worked close together and not too far behind was fellow club member Abbie White but it was Jessica with a faster run time taking the OW Triathlon Championship title and Alex a first year TS3 finishing a close second and Abbie 3rd.

 

The Youth boys was won by Tom Stapley of Guernsey Triathlon Club closely followed by Aidan Carter of Leweston Triathlon Club. Daisy Davies also of Leweston Triathlon Club won the Youth Girls by some considerable distance with Isabelle Beech of N1 Triathlon Club taking second place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Juniors raced with the Adults in the Super Sprint in the afternoon and was won by Oliver Jones with Charlie Kendall 2nd.

That concludes the Series races for the TS2’s, 3’s, Youths and Juniors with just Bristol remaining for the TS1’s on 22 July. A massive thank you goes to Luke for all his efforts in organising an excellent days racing at Bowood.

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Bowood House Triathlon – Bike Course Familiarisation

There will be 2 opportunities for those entered in the drafting races to be escorted on a coach-led viewing of the bike course. The timings for these are as follows:

0945 and 1000

Please meet by Registration

Once competitors have registered please ensure the timing chips are worn, this will not effect the timing mat on the bike course. However, please do not cross any other timing mat.

All competitors are to be clear of the course by 1015, no exceptions!

Finally, ‘Gear Restrictions Roll Outs’ will be positioned just outside transition. All TS2, TS3 and Youth’s entered in the drafting races are to ensure their bikes complete a roll out prior to entering transition.

Safe journey and have a great race.

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UPDATE on Traditional Wheels only to be used at IRC’s 2017

Following my original ‘Post’ on 12 April 2017 and after a lot of feedback from across the Pathway at this level, BTF have revised the current ITU definition of a ‘traditional wheel’ to allow athletes to use 16 spoke wheels at the IRC’s. As such athletes will be required to race on wheels with the following characteristics:

• Wheels shall have at least 16 metal spokes
• Spokes can be round, flat or oval but cannot exceed 2.5mm width
• Rims are to be aluminium with a maximum depth/dimension of 25mm
• For obvious safety reasons it is important to understand that all wheels will have to be easily identified as being made by a well-known commercially available brand.

Please note the rim includes the braking surface within the definition

If the trial is successful this year a move to a permanent ruling will be made. This ruling is being trialled for 2 reasons; firstly it will mean a safer race, younger/lighter athletes are not able to control deeper rims properly in windy conditions and secondly it means we keep the sport at this level more accessible as ‘traditional wheels’ are much cheaper then more expensive carbon wheels. Please be aware that this is the only event this year for these age groups where such a ruling will apply. All other drafting races for these age groups will operate on the standard wheel lists as per usual.

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Vale Tridents enjoys Sun, Sport and Sizzling Sausages

Vale Tridents enjoyed both record entries and beautiful sunshine for their annual triathlon on Sunday 11 June. Our thanks go to Tariq and Huw for setting up a great technical bike course utilising the natural bank within the Leisure Centre grounds which challenged even the best cyclists.

And the two Dave’s headed up the infamous BBQ where it’s reputation precedes itself. Supported by the Committee they worked tirelessly to ensure the demand for hot dogs and burgers was met alongside the numerous homemade cakes donated by parents of Club Members.

The TriStar Starts were first to race closely followed by the TS1’s who can be seen enjoying a selection of fresh fruit at the finish kindly donated by Waitrose and cereal bars and bottled water donated by Tesco. In return for their timing chip each triathlete walked away with a pair of ‘Wacky socks’ this years promotional item!

TS1’s Macy Noad from BOS continued her winning form over fellow triathlete Macey Burge with Vale Tridents Evey Powell taking third. The boys event was a very close race with Reen Bowden-Inoue from St Petrocs Dragons continuing his winning form but on this occasion by only 6 seconds ahead of Leo Riggs from Leweston Triathlon Club and a further 6 seconds separated Kian Dee of Vale Tridents finishing third. Reen secures the Series with this third win.

Next up were the TS2 girls and with the Top 8 in the Series going head to head it had the makings of an exciting race. Only 6 seconds separated the top 3 girls with Abbie Downing securing her second win and the Series to her name. Kiya Dee of Vale Tridents was second and Darcy Dryden of Leweston Triathlon Club third. Zak Clemens, secured his third win and the Series for the TS2 boys 25sec ahead of Joshua Cumberland of Vale Tridents and Fletcher Powe third.

Abbie White of Leweston Triathlon Club secured her first win in the Series for the TS3 girls with Olivia Earthy of BOS taking second and the Series and Megan Wright of Chippenham Tri Club taking third. The boys event was won by Ben Cumberland securing a third win and the Series too. Charlie Cook executed a great race to take second place and Ryan Symington third both from Leweston Triathlon Club.

The Youth girls was won by Molly Slade with Maria Cook from Yate Tri-Stars taking second and Charlotte Martin narrowly beating Megan Lawrence to third, both from Swindon Phoenix Triathlon Club. The Youth boys was won by Aidan Carter of Leweston Triathlon Club, a great performance having competed in the Youth Super Series the day before in Leeds. Conrad Cannon took second place with Oliver Chatting from BOS taking third.

The results was followed by the very popular ‘Race Number Lottery’ with some very generous prizes donated by DryRobe, Torq, Ridgeway Cycles, Banjo Cycles, Ashmei, Sportstiks, High5, Better and LPS Events.

Next up is the Bowood Open Water Triathlon on Saturday 1 July which is the IRC qualifier and the SWS Triathlon OW Championship race. This is a full drafting event for both the TS2 and TS3’s and is the final Series race for the TS2, TS3, Youth and Juniors.

The final SWS event for the TS1’s is the Bristol Junior Triathlon on Saturday 22 July.

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SW Aquathlon Championships

Portland hosted this year’s Aquathlon championships on a lovely sunny day on Saturday 3rd June, the weather we are now experiencing held off allowing our first open water race of the season to take place in safe warmish waters.

First off were the TS1s and while still a championship race it did not form part of the series.

8 athletes raced around the buoy’s exited the sea and shed their wetsuits in speedy fashion to head off on the 1500m run. Leo Riggs for the boys and Isla Mcphail for the girls both members of Leweston Triathlon club (LTC) took wins on the day closely tracked by 6 other SW athletes, Henry Birchall and Jack White taking silver and bronze. It’s always impressive to see children so young swimming so well in open water.

In the TS2 race Darcy Dryden of LTC managed to hold off and outrun Abbie Downing current race series leader and Iris Courtney also from LTC to take the win, Abbie and Iris had a tremendous scrap with Abbie taking silver and Iris Bronze.

In the boy’s race a group of four boy’s stormed onto the run course in close order but at the end of the race a gap of around 30 seconds separated the four with Zak Clemens from Gylly Surf Lifesaving Triathlon Club taking the win from Storm Munday of Burnham-on-sea 2^nd and Joshua Cumberland 3^rd Vale Tridents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TS3 saw the boy’s start 30 seconds ahead of the girls, Ryan Symington together with Liam Openshaw took out the lead closely pursued by Ben Cumberland.

Gaps started to develop all of the way through the course with some of the faster girls starting to overtake the boys, Alex PA in her first race of the season overtook all but the first 3 boys coming out of the water with Charlie Cook. Aimee Quarrie also had a fine swim but was to be overhauled during the run by Megan, Orli, Olivia and Phoebe.

Ben of Vale Tridents clawed back Liam of LTC in Transition and Ryan also from LTC during the run to take his second series win, Ryan took 2^nd and Liam 3^rd, Charlie of LTC kept his position to finish 4^th.

For the girls Alex PA also of LTC had a comfortable 29 second lead to take the win from the ever-improving Megan Wright of Chippenham TriStars. Orli Cranston of Hot Chilli Tri Club ran in 3^rd with series leader Olivia Earthy from Burnham-on-sea 4^th.

The Youth and Junior race was combined so that both groups of girls and boys raced together with a gruelling 750m swim, and a 5k run in very warm conditions. Ben Samuel took an early lead tracked by Harry Buttle. Ben set off on the run with a huge lead with Aiden Carter of LTC taking 2nd place.

In the Junior race India Cooper won the girls race with Harry Buttle winning the Junior boys title, Charlie Kendall finished a fine 2^nd.

The SWS tables have now been updated to reflect the racing. Well done to all who competed and a big thank you to Danny for the Race Report.

Hetton Lyons 29/30 July 2017 Individual and Team Relays

Hetton Lyons has been advertised on our Race Calendar since the start of the year. The plan was to hold a Team Relay at this Year’s IRCs at Mallory Park until it was discovered the venue could only be hired for one day.

Hetton Lyons has instead organised both Individual and Team Relays at their Annual Triathlon event on 29/30 July. The event takes place at Hetton Lyons Country Park: 62 Station Rd, Hetton-le-Hole, Houghton le Spring DH5 9DT. The swim takes place in the lake and is followed by an undulating tarmac bike loop before finishing on a fast flat trail run.

This is a very spectator friendly event as all the action can be easily viewed. Moreover, it is expected most of the Regions will be supporting this event to make for a great weekend of racing.

Individual events will take place on the Saturday afternoon with entries closing on 14 July. The cost of the individual races is £20. The link can be found here:

https://www.britishtriathlon.org/events/hetton-lyons-weekend—individual-youth%2C-junior-and-tristars-%28saturday%29_8169

The Team Relay will take place on the Sunday morning and it is the plan to enter as many of our SW triathletes wishing to compete at this event. The cost of the Team Relays will be met by the TESW Regional Committee. The relay will consist of a four-athlete tag team for both Youth & Junior teams (1 youth female, 1 youth male, 1 junior female, 1 junior male) and a mixed TriStars 2 & TriStars 3 teams (1 TS2 male, 1 TS2 female, 1 TS3 male, 1 TS3 female).

Please let me know your intention to race at this event by confirming your entry for the individual event on the Saturday. I will then ensure you are included in the Team Relay.

Should you have any questions about this event please see me either at the Portland Aquathlon on 3 June, Vale Tridents on 11 June or Bowood on 1 July, alternatively please email me at juniortrisouthwest@btinternet.com

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