Episode 2 June2023 Triathlon etc. Round Up

9 September 2023 - By Anita Grainger

After a few early races in May June saw the first of the heatwaves and a busy month of racing.

Ironman Hamburg

Angela Wray kicked the month off competing in Ironman Hamburg on 4th June.

This consists of a 3.8km swim loop from the jungfernstieg jetty through the Binnenalster and the Außenalster lakes, followed by a 180km 2 loop ‘flat & fast’ bike course heading out from Hamburg & finally a 42.2km run ,better known as a marathon, consisting of 4 laps round the centre of Hamburg.

Her months of training paid off and she finished in fantastic time of 12hours 25mins & 41 seconds with the emotional announcement along the finish funnel of ‘Angela you are an Ironman!’.

Splits below

Swim1:17:32

T1 14.10

Bike 5:57:40

T2 13.41

Run 4:42:38

Total: 12:25:41

Royal Windsor Olympic Distance Triathlon

The following weekend Katie Layley headed off to Windsor to complete in the Royal Windsor Olympic Distance Triathlon (1.5km swim/40km bike/10km run). This is a popular event on the triathlon calendar and the run offers a stunning backdrop of the castle grounds. Katie finished in a new PB time of 2.53.14, well done Katie! splits below

Swim     00:27:44

T1           00:06:26

Bike        01:24:48

T2           00:03:01

Run        00:51:17

Total       02:53.14

Eastbourne Olympic Distance Triathlon Qualifier Event

On the same weekend Anita headed off to the seaside to compete in the European Standard Distance Qualifier at Eastbourne. Anita had a decent swim in the sea after a pile up round the first buoy and headed out of T2 ready to take on the hilly bike course which went over Beachy Head twice. However, for some reason she thought it was a good idea to do a scoot mount uphill and crashed just as she mounted . Luckily the main damage was pride and a cut elbow and she picked herself up and carried on but it definitely knocked the stuffing out of her impacting both the bike and run sections. The run was scorcio along the sea front and once finished Anita was seen to by the medical team who dug out the grit from her cut elbow. Way off PB, splits below:

Swim 00:28:26

T1 00:05:09

Bike 01:41:47

T2 00:04:12

Run 01:09:32

Total 03:24:58

Harwich Sprint Distance Tri

Closer to home on the same day  James Attenborough made his debut in triathlon along with Dean Whittaker at Harwich Sprint Tri consisting of 300m pool swim, 24km bike & 5km run. Looks like they were playing tag with each other finishing very close together! Times and splits below

No. Name M/F Cat Club ▴ Swim T1 Bike T2 Run Position Total
108 Dean Whittaker M I Witham Running Club 07:40 4:20 0:53:01 1:36 22:50 86 1:29:26
172 James Attenborough M H Witham Running Club 05:35 1:56 0:56:48 1:02 23:56 85 1:29:18

Stewartby Standard Distance Aquabike Worlds Qualifier

Rounding up the month Anita headed off to Bedfordshire to compete in Stewartby Aquabike (1.5km swim/40km bike) on 25th June. The swim was a lake swim and the bike course was a flat fast 4 lap route, definitely one for TT bikes.  With the continued heatwave the swim was very close to being non wetsuit .It was deemed optional and Anita chose to wear it to keep full advantage, although it was a bit like boil in the back waiting to enter the lake! The swim came up long at 1.7km, as shown on slower swim times for all. The extra distance worked to Anita’s advantage being a stronger swimmer and she was 4th in her age group exiting the lake but slipped to 7th during the course of the bike leg and needs to remember there was no run afterwards so she could go flat out the on the bike! Anita finished in 1.50.10, splits below

Swim 34.08

T1   00:01:36

Cycle  01:14:25

Total: 1.50.10

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