News Headlines 2005
4th Dec Some photos from the North West Award Dinner 2005 showing Dave Rigby picking up his Regional Referee of the Year award. The club also collected a total of 11 NW Series & Championship Winners medals.
26th Nov Tri Preston's Matt Moorhouse won the 20th Wesham 10k road race this morning in a time of 32:54. Other Tri Preston finishers: Andrew McCracken 40:02 (41st), Andrew Tabernacle 40:33 (52nd), Martin Kerry 40:45 (58th), Stephen Hinde 41:38 (67th), Darren Slater 43:04 (89th) and Karl Bolton 43:52 (98th). Andrew McCracken so nearly broke 40 minutes less than a week after smashing his PB by 8 min 47 sec at the Preston 10 with a 66:03. Other Tri Preston finishers last Sunday were Adam Bolton 63:04 and Darren once again in 73:23. Adam and Darren are both in training for the Rome Marathon on 26th March next year.
12th Nov ITU Tiszaujvaros and Hamburg World Cup events earlier this year claimed the right to “most dramatic finish ever!”, but that title was stolen from them today in New Plymouth. Within a few hundred metres of the finish the final result was anyone’s call as the world’s best Triathletes charged head to head to the finish. Click here to go the Tricast™ page and then launch the New Plymouth Tricast™. Talking of finishes, ITU Online Services have a special Tricast™ for the 2005 ITU Honolulu World Age Group Triathlon Championships where you can watch every competitor who finished the race finish.
12th Nov John Hampson once again completed the Karrimor International Mountain Marathon over the last weekend of October. John, partnered this year by Preston Harrier Alan Metcalf, gained a Silver Certificate in the Long Score event, finishing 90th out of 251 starting pairs with 480 points and a time of 13:19:23 for the 2 days. All the event reports from the 2005 KIMM are on a special section within SleepMonsters, the UK’s adventure racing portal.
27th Oct Thanks to everyone who voted in British Triathlon's Regional Volunteer of the Year Awards 2005. The winners have been announced and Tri Preston's Dave Rigby has won the Regional Referee of the Year Award for the North West. Dave has refereed at a total of 8 regional events this year, namely the Bolton Children's Aquathlon, Tri Preston Duathlon, Salford National Aquathlon, Salford Triathlon, Cockerham Triathlon, Rivington Triathlon, Brinscall Triathlon and the Youths and Junior Inter Counties Triathlon at Speake. In addition to the sacrifices he has made as a referee this year (he is now a qualified BTA Level 2 referee) Dave is also a qualified UK Athletics Level 2 Endurance coach and has spent much time coaching his chosen running club, Lytham St Annes Road Runners, and organising both track and road running sessions for Tri Preston. He has also achieved some momentous personal goals by completing his first Ironman at Sherborne, the Bala Middle Distance Triathlon and Triathlons at Stratford, Shropshire, Chester and Boundary Breeze as well as representing the club at the National Club Relays in Nottingham. He thoroughly deserves this award for all the time he has dedicated to Triathlon in the region. Congratulations Dave.
27th Oct The Wesham 10k may be full, but there's a choice of 3 Cross Country Leagues to be going at this Winter. The Red Rose and South East Lancs Leagues have already started, whilst the Mid Lancs kicks off on in Towneley Park, Burnley, on Nov 5th. Take a look at the fixtures section on the Rochdale Harriers website for details of the Red Rose and SE Lancs XC Leagues.
27th Oct Next club meeting is Sunday 6th November, 6-7pm, St. Teresa's Parish Centre (next to the church), 34 Queensway, Penwortham, Preston PR1 0DS.
17th Oct Andy Brooks, Anna Willetts, Martin Kerry, Nicola King, Rodger Wilkins and Steve Schofield all did the club proud with some excellent performances in the ITU World Triathlon Championships in Honolulu on 9th October. Steve finished 27th in the World (5th Brit) in 2:05:19 with Rodger 34th (6th Brit) in 2:07:41, Andy 67th (11th Brit) in 2:08:36, Martin 36th (6th Brit) in 2:17:50 and Nicola 67th (13th Brit) in 2:30:16 in their respective age groups. Steve and Rodger's times were good enough to place them 136th and 198th respectively out of more than 1700 age groupers on the day. Anna seems to have flummoxed a few people (CSTV and Triathletes UK included) after puncturing with 5k left on the bike. Full credit to Anna though; she's made her way back to T2 and completed the run.
16th Oct Dave Rigby collected a Lancashire 5 mile Championships Bronze medal in the Vets 45 category with a time of 34:55 in this morning's Green Drive Five in Lytham. Other Tri Preston finishers on a flat, well marshalled course completed in glorious sunshine with a good T shirt (Grey + Red print this year) for finishing were Stephen Hinde 33:02, Phil Davidson 33:33, Karl Bolton 36:11 and Dawn Walmsley 45:44. Having completed the Garstang Half Marathon three weeks ago in a PB of 1:32:27, Andrew McCracken improved it further with a 1:28:27 and 110th place (out of 1253 finishers) at the Gt Cumbrian Half Marathon.
9th Oct Adam Bolton and Darren Slater both completed this morning's Cardiff Marathon in times of 3:03:29 and 3:29:41 respectively. In only his second attempt at the distance, Darren's time was nearly 17 minutes better than his previous PB, 3:46:18 recorded at the Paris Marathon in April.
8th Oct Results for the Age Group World Championships will be displayed on the ITU website. There will be periodic updates during the race so you can follow Andy, Anna, Martin, Nicola, Rodger and Steve live as it happens. Full results will appear after the races. Race start is 6am Honolulu time (5pm UK) on Sunday 9th October. A full schedule of events can be viewed on the event website.
25th Sept After missing out by an agonising 9 seconds last year, the same Tri Preston 'A' team of Steve Schofield, Andy Brooks, Paul Sanderson and Rodger Wilkins today returned to Cleveland and won the Team Relays by a convincing 8 minutes.
19th Sept Next club meeting is Sunday, 2nd October at the new venue of St. Teresa's Parish Centre (next to the church), 34 Queensway, Penwortham, Preston PR1 0DS, same time 6-7pm. Our old venue, South Ribble Tennis Centre, is now under new management with Circle Leisure in partnership with the council. Whereas we were previously getting the room for free, the cost of hiring the room at the tennis centre is now £10 per hour. The new venue is costing us nothing so if those of you attending could perhaps purchase a drink or even a packet of crisps at the bar, it will all help.
18th Sept Dawn Walmsley today completed her first Triathlon, the NW Classic, in a time of 1:29:03, finishing 6th of 12 in her age group. Dawn took a while to get out on the bike after time spent patting feet dry and putting socks on. However, her bike to run transition was seconds thanks to her new Flatlines elastic laces. Other Tri Preston finishers at Nantwich were Nicky Brookes 1:24:05, Helen Atherton 1:29:43, Tricia Lemon 1:30:56, Mark Curley 1:08:04, Neil Dunn 1:15:03, Mark Russell 1:16:20 and Dave Fielding 1:26:33. Duncan Anderson finished his Tri season in style with a 2:10:22 (PB) and 26th place in the Bala Olympic Triathlon. Chris Vaughan showed the strides he's made over the last year, finishing in 2:26:17 (an improvement of 4 mins 22 secs) and 131st place.
15th Sept Tough girl Anna gets GB call and Anna's heading for Hawaii articles from This is Lancaster and Lancaster Today respectively.
11th Sept Andrew McCracken secured himself a qualification slot for the inaugural Ironman 70.3 World Championships scheduled for November 2006 in Florida with a 5:27:19 finish and 112th (of 534) Overall in today's Ironman UK 70.3 at Longleat. Other Tri Preston finishers on a course where times were some 20 minutes down on Sherborne last year were Chris Wild 5:37:52 (151st), Mark Buckley 6:07:52 (281st) and Shirley Hunt 6:28:58 (370th). Like Andrew before them, Chris, Mark and Shirley were all competing in their first HIM.
11th Sept After an early season struggling with illness, Alyson Woodall continued her fine form of late, finishing an impressive 2nd in her age group in today's Rivington Triathlon. This follows a podium place at Salford, running the anchor leg for the Ladies team at the National Relays and her age group victory in last Sunday's Cockermouth Triathlon. Other Tri Preston results, in a race where 9 of the top 19 places were filled by Tri Preston athletes, were: Stephen Schofield 2:13:00 (3rd Overall), Rodger Wilkins 2:13:44 (4th), Andy Brooks 2:19:02 (7th), Paul Sanderson 2:22:08 (10th), Martin Kerry 2:22:32 (11th Overall, 3rd MV), Duncan Anderson 2:23:18 (13th), Warren Smith 2:25:46 (14th), Colin Hughes 2:30:15 (18th Overall, 1st MSV), Jaron Sharples 2:31:15 (19th), Neil Smith 2:40:48 (33rd) and Stephen Hinde 2:41:35 (34th). The results don't show it, but the first 4 to exit the water were all Tri Preston (Andy, Steve, Paul, Duncan). Extra work required on those transitions, Mr Chairman!! More photos from Rivington, including one for Andy, can be viewed in the Photos section and on the Bolton Metro Tri Club website.
1st Sept Tri Preston had 4 finishers in the Cockerham Triathlon on Bank Holiday Monday including 3 of the top 12 (top 10 if you exclude the Relay teams). Chris Wild won his age group in 1:04:00 to finish 4th overall with Andrew McCracken close behind in 10th place. Andrew's time of 1:05:11 was an improvement of 2 mins 15 secs on his time from last year as he continues to make great strides. Jaron Sharples' 1:06:52 placed him 12th with Chris Stryker completing the quartet in 1:23:02 for 78th position overall.
28th Aug Two tough races this weekend. Duncan Anderson finished a superb 12th in the Horwich Triathlon in a new club record time of 2:14:37, and in Scotland, Stephen Hinde registered his fourth Olympic finish of the season with a 2:55:06 at the Firth Of Forth Triathlon, affectionately known as 'The Hell of The Forth'.
21st Aug Dave Rigby completed Ironman UK today, joining a select list of Ronan Phelan, Alan Mears, Danny Banks, Paul Sanderson, Heather Wells, Tim Armit and Mark Buckley that have completed the Ironman distance in Tri Preston colours. Dave finished a very impressive 651st of 1227 starters (there were 93 DNF's) with an Overall time of 13:16:03. His splits for the 2.4 mile swim, T1, 112 mile bike, T2 and Marathon were 1:21:49, 7:01, 7:04:30, 7:18 and 4:35:23 (2:10:10 for the 1st Half and 2:25:13 for the 2nd) respectively. A tough day was not helped by a two hour delay at the start due to mist on the lake.
21st Aug Andrew Tabernacle and Andrew Knowles finished 12th and 28th respectively in the 40-44 age group at todays's European Triathlon Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland. The course for next year's World Championships in Lausanne will be the same as this year's European Championships so this report from Crystal Palace Triathletes is worth a read.
14th Aug The club had 7 finishers in todays Denbigh Sprint Triathlon, the penultimate race in Wrecsam Tri Club's High5 Challenge series. Rodger Wilkins led the way in 10th place with a 1:07:50 followed by Andrew Knowles 1:11:52 (16th), Warren Smith 1:12:04 (19th), Paul Ferguson 1:19:21 (81st Overall, 4th MSV), Neil Dunn 1:20:14 (97th), Jason Robinson 1:22:00 (116th) and Glenys Ferguson 1:37:22. The combined time for the Men of 7:33:21 was enough to secure 3rd place Overall in the team event behind Wrecsam Tri (7:19:51) and Chester Tri (7:29:43).
13th Aug Clare Kane is currently ranked 1st in the Youth A Women standings after 4 rounds of the Biathle World Tour.
12th Aug Steve Worthington 5lst (1:58:59) in the Elite Men. Andy Brooks 8th (2:01:56), Stephen Schofield 11th (2:03:13) and Rodger Wilkins 19th (2:06:17) in the Mens Sub 2:30 Wave. Richard Holmes 15th (2:18:10) out of 568 in his age group in only his second race at the distance. Anna Willetts 11th (2:33:37) in the Female Sub 2:30 Wave. Simon Barnes 2:36:27 in his first Olympic distance race. Jason Robinson 2:42:04 in his fourth Olympic distance event of the season. Heather Wells 13th place (2:43:47) and a new PB in her age category. Take your pick, the club continued to ExCeL in the London Triathlon last weekend. Full results in the Results section and some photos courtesy of Richard Holmes. Quicktime movies 1 (4.2 MB), 2 (4.2 MB), 3 (4.2 MB), 4 (9 KB) and 5 (2.8 KB) also come courtesy of Richard.
7th Aug John Hampson completed the Hebburn Triathlon today, placing 19th M40, 56th Overall, in a field of 173. His time of 1:02:53 was 24 seconds up on last year. Read the race report here.
6th Aug Tri Preston had 4 teams, double the number from last year, competing in the National Relays at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham. There are two race formats for the Relays. Format 1, the Team Relay, consists of a team of 4 Triathletes, Male, Female or Mixed, all having to complete the swim consecutively, then the same for the bike and the run. Each team member must tag the next with the team order remaining the same throughout so whoever is first off in the swim is subsequently first off on the bike and run. Format 2, the Team Time Trial (TTT), again consists of a team of 4 Triathletes, Male, Female or Mixed, but this time the team race together throughout the swim, bike and run. The run section must be completed by all 4 Triathletes and the finish time is taken as the 3rd team member crosses the line. Due to the event being heavily oversubscribed in 2004 and in order to accommodate all teams wishing to enter the event, Saturday's Team Relay was split into two waves for the first time. The 9.00am Wave saw the Tri Preston Female team of Louise Raines, Shirley Hunt, Nicky Brookes and Aly Woodall record a total time of 4:03:26 for the 4x400m Swim, 4x15k Bike and 4x5k Run with splits of 41:00, 1:47:09 and 1:35:17. In the same Wave the 4th fastest bike time from the Male Vets team of Andrew Tabernacle, Martin Kerry, Andy Crawshaw and Andrew Knowles helped them to 3:24:39 and 17th position with splits of 35:40, 1:28:42 and 1:20:17. In the 2.00pm Wave, the Tri Preston 'B' team of Duncan Anderson, Mark Midgley, Phil Davidson and Mark Curley narrowly defeated the Tri Preston 'A' team of Paul Sanderson, Chris Vaughan, Mark Buckley and Dave Rigby. A one minute 22 second lead after the swim was cut to 41 seconds by the end of the bike. The race was effectively won on the run leg with each of the 'B' team outperforming their 'A' team counterparts, 5 mins 48 secs separating the teams at the finish. The 'A' team weren't helped when Chris had to complete his swim leg without a wetsuit after it was stolen minutes before he was due to make his way down to the swim transition area. Saturday evening saw several members make their way into Nottingham city centre for a Chinese buffet before returning to the campsite at Holme Pierrepont. The Team Relays continues to be a great weekend blessed with good weather, is very social and a chance to do a Sprint Triathlon on a closed circuit with long gaps between each discipline. Hopefully the club can manage even more teams next year including a first ever team in the TTT.
1st Aug Yesterday was not a day of rest. Jill McGee, Alyson Woodall, Andrew Tabernacle and Colin Hughes all made the podium at the Salford Triathlon with Jill (1st), Aly (3rd), Tabs (3rd) and Colin (2nd) each placing in the top 3 in their respective age groups. Tabs' Olympic PB of 2:15:41 included a 40:52 run, some 5½ minutes better than his previous best 10k in a Triathlon. There were course PB's also for Colin, Andrew McCracken and Darren Slater and a 2:46:29 on her Olympic debut from Shirley Hunt.
30th July Congratulations to Chris Wild on a new PB at Milton Keynes last weekend. Situated in picturesque Emberton Country Park, Chris finished the Olympic distance event in 2:24'57" on a pretty fast course despite, in his own words, a dreadful run.
17th July Ashford was cut off from the rest of the civilised world by a blanket of "spooky" fog today. As a result some of Britain's most finely honed Triathletes were left waiting on the starting blocks for 2 hours. After eventually starting the swim was cut down from the published 1500m to a splash around of 350m. As if by magic the start of the swim coincided with the disappearance of the fog to be replaced by a fine summer's day later roasting the poor unfortunates on the run section of the event. Nicola King didn't allow events to distract her though as she became the 6th member of the club to qualify for the ITU Triathlon World Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii. No such problems with the weather at Boundary Water Park in Cheshire where competitors where treated to another gloriously sunny day, the perfect conditions making for fast bike times. Charlotte Tompkins successfully defended her Boundary Breeze crown albeit with a little less time to spare however the club couldn't quite repeat the successes of last year when we returned with 7 Age Group Winners and both team prizes. Colin Hughes was our only other Age Group winner on the day, winning cat J just 2 days before his 50th Birthday in a time of 1:14:11. Winners apart, Tabs led the way in a fantastic set of results for the club which included PB's for John Hampson, Mark Slattery and Phil Davidson.
14th July Great News. Rodger Wilkins took a call from Ian Pettitt at the BTA yesterday and has been informed he has qualified for the World Championships in Hawaii as a result of his finishing position at the Dambuster Triathlon. Rodger took a full 6 minutes off his PB from last year in registering a 2:09:26 in the first qualifier at Shropshire and then proceeded to better this by some 3½ minutes with a 2:05:53 at Dambuster. I'm sure all in the club will join in congratulating Rodger on his achievement.
12th July A strong British Biathle team returned with a total of 29 medals from the fourth round of the 2005 Biathle World Tour in Holland where there were wins for Tri Preston's Rachel Jones in the Ladies event and Clare Kane in the Junior Ladies. Rachel had finished a strong second in the previous event in Italy. In race 3 of the GB Biathle Series held in Weymouth at the weekend, Clare finished fourth. Add this to her first place from Bath University in race 1 and she currently lies second in the GB Series.
7th July Congratulations to all the Tristars that competed for Tri Preston in the North West Winter Series 2005. 5 races made up the series this year, the Chester Children's Duathlon, Ribby Hall Aquathlon, Salford Aquathlon, Wirral Aquathlon and Bolton Aquathlon, with the best 3 from 5 to count. Jessica McCracken, Freya Hunt, Chloe Slater, Katie Sharples, Lydia Brewster, Morgan Hunt, Patrick Beswick, Stephanie Midgley, Ceri Armit, Melissa Slater, Amy Brown, Alex Brewster, Mark Brown, Sophie Brown and Sam Brewster all represented Tri Preston at some stage. Jessica McCracken's 100% record guaranteed her 1st place in the Tri Start class with Stephanie Midgley a narrow 2nd in TS2.
7th July Cycling Plus write up on the Decathlon Sport 7.1 R road bike, price £260. There is also a smaller bike, the 7.0 Kid, designed for 7 to 11 year olds and priced at £119. Both bikes are available from Decathlon in Stockport.
6th July Due to popular demand the next two Open Water Swim sessions at Carnforth will be Monday 11th July and Monday 25th July at 7:00pm. Format as previous. These dates fit in better with the forthcoming races at Ashford, Boundary Breeze and Salford.
5th July Heather Wells completed her second Ironman, Ironman Austria, on Sunday with splits of 1:19:46, 5:41, 6:28:04, 8:06 and 4:33:51 for Swim, T1, Bike, T2 and the Marathon. Heather’s finishing time of 12:35:29 was just outside the 12:22:12 she recorded at Ironman Florida last November. Heather will no doubt take a deserved rest before resuming her training for Ironman UK. There were PBs all around at the Chester Deva/Deva Divas Triathlons where Tri Preston posted a club record 24 entries. Chester is a great race in a stunning location with some nice little touches. The personalised bike stickers. 'Allez', Tour de France style, spray painted on the course along with 'Looking Good' kept everyone smiling. Exceptionally clear, well marked, bike and run courses with masses of marshalls, all highly visible, friendly and encouraging. Some of the best (technical) Ts for finishing around and the results were out very quickly. One very minor niggle was the turnaround on the run at the far end by the river. This would have worked better anti-clockwise as the run came in from the right as it hit the meadow and would have kept the flow and avoided the confusion of not knowing which way to pass runners coming the other way. Tri Preston times: in the Deva Divas, Anna Willetts 1:24:11(2nd Overall), Shirley Hunt 1:27:39(5th Overall and a PB), Nicky Brookes 1:43:22(in her 1st Triathlon start) and Tricia Lemon 1:45:22, and in the Deva Triathlon, Paul Sanderson 2:09:25, Duncan Anderson 2:16:12(1st Olympic), Richard Holmes 2:16:24(1st Olympic), Andrew McCracken 2:16:54, Nicola King 2:22:18(2nd in Age Group), John Hampson 2:23:14(PB by 7min 37secs), Chris Vaughan 2:23:55, Mark Curley 2:24:13, Chris Wild 2:27:25(PB by 55secs), Phil Davidson 2:27:28(PB by 1min 11secs), Mark Midgley 2:28:46(1st Olympic), Simon Cole 2:30:13(PB by 13min 21secs!!), Karl Bolton 2:33:18(PB by 2min 37secs), Dave Rigby 2:38:55(PB by 6min 25secs), Stephen Hinde 2:39:36(PB by 3min 49secs), Mark Russell 2:50:40(1st Olympic), Peter Knott 2:53:38, Dave Fielding 3:06:54(1st Olympic), Mark Slattery 3:23:06(1st Olympic) and finally Helen Atherton, 3:33:28 in her 1st Olympic distance Tri. I'm told Helen forgot to put her timing chip on after the swim when she became distracted looking for a socket for her hair dryer!! Nicky Brookes will have learnt a similar lesson after being credited with a DNF in her first Triathlon after her timing chip came off with her wetsuit in T1. Fortunately we have timestamped photographic evidence suggesting otherwise so we are able to allocate her an approximate finishing time. Lastly, if you look very closely at the pictures from the Blue Wave start you may spot a singular gold cap in amongst the blues. No prizes for guessing, but his initials are MM!!
30th June Several of our members took part in the latest round of the Red Rose Olympic TLI Express Race League at Preston Sports Arena last night. Chris Vaughan bagged himself 3 points with his best finish yet (9th) to move himself nicely up the Current standings. Adam Bolton, in only his first outing, and John Hampson, in his 2nd, both finished in the main bunch to register 1 point apiece, the same score as Andrew Tabernacle and Andrew Knowles. The final 2 races in the series are Wednesday, 6th July and Wednesday, 13th July. Racing starts at 7:00 and is £5 for TLI members and £6 for non-members.
29th June Andy Brooks and Anna Willetts finished 4th and 40th respectively out of 94 competitors in tonight's Dee Mile with times of 23:47 and 31:14. The open water swim race, which was won by Chris Standidge of Team Sabar in 22:58 and has a history stretching back to 1922, has several idiosyncrasies. It starts at the Red House pub, which is white, and the distance is actually a mile and a quarter. You swim downstream around the Crook of the Dee to finish at the suspension bridge. Being all downstream, the course times vary considerably depending on the seasonal flow with the winning men’s time varying from 20 minutes 44 seconds to 33 minutes 25 seconds.
28th June Dambuster Qualifiers for the ITU World Age Group Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii.
21st June Heather Simpson's partner, Greg Parkin, completed his first Ironman at the weekend. Greg completed Ironman France on Sunday in a time of 12:47:00 with splits of 1:16:37, 6:48:25 and 4:41:58, placing him 575th out of 1294 competitors. At the club Training weekend in May a few people expressed interest in Greg's coach and the trips he organises. Greg is coached out of Le Sancture Des Sportifs, based in the sanctuary of the Pyrenees Orientales, one of the sunniest and most breathtaking regions of Southern France. Greg originally went for a cycling holiday and had so much free training that he signed Richard up as his coach. Richard will only coach people he has met so that he knows their mental attitude, strengths and weaknesses. He is an excellent coach who works on correct technique (even on Running and Cycling) and not just heavy sessions. His strength is been able to train all as individuals and not just doing sets that suit some but not all. Take a look at the customer comments for reassurance.
20th June Videos 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 from the club Training weekend back in May.
13th June Shropshire Qualifiers for the ITU World Age Group Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii.
12th June 2 down, 8 to go. Anna Willetts and Martin Kerry qualified for the World Triathlon Championships in Hawaii today whilst Nicola King, Stephen Schofield and Andy Brooks were all very close. Anna grabbed the 3rd of the 5 slots in her age category whilst Martin Kerry took the 5th and final slot in his. Interestingly enough, Adam Bolton's 2:13:32 would have been good enough to have ranked him just outside the top 5 in the same category (I) had he applied for selection. Adam's sights are no doubt set on qualifying for the biggest Triathlon of them all, Ironman Hawaii. Full Tri Preston results: Stephen Schofield 2:02:21, Andy Brooks 2:03:19, Rodger Wilkins 2:09:26, Martin Kerry 2:12:16, Adam Bolton 2:13:32, Andrew McCracken 2:16:27, Andrew Tabernacle 2:18:09, Chris Vaughan 2:22:33, Nicola King 2:23:34, Colin Hughes 2:24:53, Anna Willetts 2:27:26, Phil Davidson 2:36:10, Jason Robinson 2:42:15, Heather Wells 2:45:01, Dave Rigby 2:45:20 and Stephen Hinde 2:51:09.
28th May Gruelling triple test article from today's LEP.
22nd May Mark Buckley can be added to Tri Preston's Ironman Hall of Fame. Mark completed his first Ironman in Lanzarote yesterday, in tough conditions, in 15:33:12 with splits of 01:21:44, 11:45, 08:09:05, 09:47 and 05:40:53 for the 2.4 mile swim, T1, 112 mile bike, T2 and Marathon. Danny Banks completed Lanzarote for a 3rd time, following up his 2001 and 2004 finishes with a 14:32:30. Danny's splits for the toughest Ironman of them all were 01:11:14, 06:11, 07:31:29, 05:10 and 05:38:28.
9th May Andy Brooks followed up his 4th place at Chirk with an inspired 2nd place behind Elite Duathlete Jonathan Hotchkiss (Sigma Sport) in Sunday's Stratford Triathlon. Andy was the first Triathlete off the bike, receiving great applause and encouragement from the hundreds of spectators at the event HQ as he made the transition from bike to run. Further success, with Steve Schofield placing 7th and Rodger Wilkins 9th, ensured Tri Preston had 3 top ten finishers in a Mens race which included 684 competitors from Triathlon and Athletic clubs around the country. High positions were also achieved in the Womens race with Charlotte Tompkins placing 8th and Anna Willetts 12th out of a field of 231.
28th April This year's Open Water Swims are due to start on Thursday evenings at Salford Quays. The first swim will take place on Thursday 5th May 7:00pm - 8:00pm. To enable registration on their new computer system and to avoid long queues, it is essential that registration forms are returned with the appropriate fee asap. There will be no registration at all on Thursday evenings. This year there will also be a series of Aquathlons taking place on selected Thursday evenings, running alongside the Open Water Swim. Full details including a Registration Form, Race Information Pack and Race Entry Form are in the Training section.
25th April Well done to all that competed in Tri Preston colours yesterday, with another fantastic set of results from both the Tristars at Bolton and the Seniors at Chirk. Tristart Jessica McCracken made it 4 out of 4 at Bolton and at Chirk, the Tri Preston team of Andy Brooks, Andy Tabernacle, Rodger Wilkins, Stephen Schofield, Martin Kerry and Richard Holmes took the team prize by a clear 18 minutes from Chester Tri. Andy Brooks was 4th Overall, Andy Tabernacle 2nd Vet, Colin Hughes 2nd Super-Vet and Charlotte Tompkins 1st Junior Female. More importantly Andy Brooks has bragging rights at least until Stratford after coming out tops in a terrific battle between himself, Stephen Schofield and club chairman Paul Sanderson. The sight of the 3 of them neck and neck in the swim was something to behold. And club camaraderie even extended to Rodger Wilkins setting off the fire alarm on exiting his swim to allow Chris Vaughan the opportunity to swim the course for a 2nd time (Chris had commented beforehand about the lack of opportunity to warm up so how thoughtful was that). Paul's new swim course record will, however, continue to be the source of much debate within the club as he appeared to exit the swim early after an early tap on the head!
24th April Tri Preston's Clare Kane took first place in the Youths A Girls race in Race 1 of the GB Biathle Series held at Bath University today. Clare's time of 14 minutes 5.6 seconds was a full 43 seconds ahead of her nearest rival.
17th April Perfect conditions at the Cambridge Duathlon produced some fast times for the 270 competitors and were ideal for the Elite athletes attempting to confirm their place in the Great Britain team. Tri Preston's Matt Moorhouse, on his way back from injury, finished 11th Overall, 4th in his category in the 7k 35k 7k (RBR) event with a combined time of 1:40:03 which included the 2nd and 3rd fastest run times of the day. Conditions at Harlech for the first Triathlon of the season were anything but perfect. However, horizontal rain didn't prevent Tri Preston's Martin Kerry finishing 16th Overall, 4th Vet in his 4th year at Harlech. Karl Bolton and Simon Cole, both competing at Harlech for the second year, finished 103rd and 136th respectively out of a field of 270 also. Elsewhere, Andy Crawshaw and Heather Wells both produced PBs at the London Marathon with times of 3:27:38 and 4:00:59 respectively, Andy beating his previous best by some 45 mins.
11th April Tarleton Evening 10 Mile TTs start April 14th and run til 1st September with Southport CC. The Entry fee has been kept the same as last year at £2.00 and 1st rider off is still at 7pm. Sign on from 6:30 in the lay-by on the A59 by the Bretherton roundabout. Please Note as per the PETTS the first 2 events will start at the earlier time of 6.45 pm.
10th April Congratulations to Adam Bolton and Darren Slater, who both completed this morning's Paris Marathon in times of 2:58:52 and 3:46:18 respectively. I understand it's not the first time that Adam has gone under 3 hours for the Marathon and 3:46:10 is a fantastic time for Darren on his Marathon debut. Well done to both of them. Also this morning several club members completed the scenic Three Bridges 10k up at Lancaster. Tri Preston times were Rodger Wilkins 35:34, Andy Brooks 37:39, Stephen Hinde 42:31, Anna Willetts 43:11 and a new PB, Simon Hocking 50:11 and Nicky Brookes 58:01.
9th April Andy books his flight for Pacific challenge article from today's Lancashire Evening Post.
3rd April The 10th anniversary of the Swindon Duathlon saw a change of venue to the Science Museum, Wroughton, with a closed course on wide ex-airfield runways. The Elite Men and Women lined up with qualifying places for the European Duathlon Championships at stake. In the Women's Elite race Annie Emmerson had a convincing lead until she punctured. European Bronze medalist Helen Lawrence recorded the fastest 5km run to take the win from Caroline Kloiber in second. Tri Preston's Rachel Jones took fourth place.
20th March Tri Preston's Rachel Jones was first lady home, 7th Overall in the Legends Speed Demon Duathlon. Formerly the Lancashire Flyer and then the Pimbo Speed Demon Duathlon the race had yet another new venue this year, at the Legends Health & Leisure Club in Crewe. The event was the 2nd in the 2005 North West Duathlon Series following last weekend's Merseyside Wheelers Duathlon. Next up in the series is our very own 8 to 80 Duathlon at Preston Sports Arena on 10th July.
19th March Sunday's Tri Preston 8-80 Aquathlon, held at Ribby Hall nr Kirkham, proved to be a successful event with nearly 100 competitors enjoying the sunny conditions. The first competitors to start were the 8 year old Tristars who began their swim at 8:30. These were followed by the older Tristars, Youths & Juniors and then finally the Seniors & Vets. The Aquathlon consisted of a swim (varying in distance from 50m up to 400m) followed immediately by a run (600m up to 3km). The run for the Tristars was around the golf course which thankfully proved to be dry with excellent conditions underfoot, whilst the Youths & Juniors and Seniors & Vets courses were on the roads within the Ribby Hall complex. The event was well supported with many local clubs represented including Tri Preston, Kirkham & Wesham ASC, Preston SC, Fulwood SC, Carnforth Otters and Wesham Road Runners. Read Darren's full report from the Evening Post.
13th March Glorious sunshine marked the start of the 17th running of the 5.5 mile Roddlesworth Roller, an all terrain scramble through woodland around the reservoirs north of Abbey Village. Chairman Paul Sanderson completed the race in 39.56.
13th March 10 mile Time Trials: The Preston Evening Time Trial Series (PETTS) is being held on Tuesdays throughout the summer, and will run from the 19th April to 23rd August 2005. Sign on is at St Lawrence's Church Hall Barton (Map) from 6:30 and 1st rider off is at 7pm. Note! The first 2 events will start at the earlier time of 6.45 pm. Course is L105. Entry fee will be £1.50. There is no event on the 24th May & 28th June. 16th August is a 2up T/Trial. 23rd August is a hill climb (Scorton).
3rd March Chirk Sprint Triathlon is now Full.
23rd Feb The next 4 swim sessions at Brinscall have been confirmed. They are Sunday FEB 27th, Sunday MARCH 6th, Sunday MARCH 20th and Sunday APRIL 3rd. The times for all sessions are Tristars 2.30 - 3.30, Adults 3.30 - 4.30. Please Note the time changes from last year.
6th Feb Stephen Schofield, filling in admirably for the injured Andy Brooks, produced the quickest Tri Preston time of the day in last Sunday's Chernobyl 10k. Stephen finished in 14th place in a time of 36:25, just outside his personal best. Other Tri Preston finishers, in a race which had a change of venue this year due to building work, were Andy Crawshaw 39:56, Martin Kerry 40:57, Andrew McCracken 42:09, Anna Willetts 44:03(new PB), Alyson Woodall 44:04, Chris Vaughan 46:19 and Helen Callon 49:51. Andy Crawshaw's time would have been even better had he not just set off on his warm-up loop as the hooter sounded for the start of the race!
25th Jan There will be both A & B Rides this Sat. 29.01.05. Both rides
will depart promptly from Paul Hewitts Bike Shop, Leyland @ 9.30."AM".
"A" Ride - Two Hours Maximum (suitable for those planning to run the 10K Race on Sunday).
The aim of the ride is to work on Group Riding skills with particular attention to rotating
riding positions in the group. These skills will assist in safer group rides and give everybody
the opportunity to ride on the front of the group. The plan is for this ride to be at a
reasonable pace with the possibility of some short spells of slightly faster riding should
the opportunity arise.
"B" Ride. Again this ride will be suitable for members who may not have been out on their
bikes for some time and wish to ease themselves back onto their bikes. This ride is also
ideal for those members who are new to Tri Preston and wish to develop their bike skills
and improve their confidence and ability. If you're interested please support this "B" Ride
and join us this Sat. This ride will be for a maximum of one and a half hours.
If intending to join either ride please advise
Colin Hughes in advance.
15th Jan Martin Kerry continued his good early season form with a 40:33 in last weekend's Garstang 10k. Not bad for someone who doesn't consider himself a runner! Other Tri Preston results: Steven Worthington with a blistering 35:45, Paul Ferguson 42:39, Charlotte Tompkins 45:41, Stephen Hinde 50:19 and Glenys Ferguson 57:51. Stephen also completed the Fun Run with family members Katie and Cheryl. The women's 10k race was won by a certain Tracey Morris. Remember her from last year's London Marathon?
11th Jan Lets be positive, there will be a bike ride this Saturday. We are planning to facilitate both "A" & "B" group rides on Saturday with both groups meeting at Paul Hewitts Bike Shop @ Leyland @ 9.30 "AM". The "A" group ride will be a steady ride, two hours plus, targeted at those members who are experienced at riding in a group and are able to maintain a reasonable pace. The "B" group ride will be for a period of 90 mins max, targeted at any members who are new to cycling, inexperienced at riding with a group or those members who would appreciate a gentle reintroduction to their bikes / group riding. Experienced riders will be on hand to offer advice to those who are keen to learn, on the skills that members will need to work on should they aspire to improve their cycling & get the confidence and ability to progress to being comfortable on "A" group rides. Should you be planning to attend on Sat. please advise Colin Hughes. This not only lets us know in advance who is attending but also gives us the opportunity to contact you should the ride need to be cancelled at short notice, as was the case last Sat.
2nd Jan Anna Willetts and Andy Brooks endured gale force winds, lightning and a hale storm at yesterday's Edinburgh Bicycle New Years Day Triathlon. Anna was 71st overall, 2nd Female U23 in a time of 1:22:07.90 for the 400m swim, 11 mile cycle and 3.5 mile run. Andy finished 9th overall, 5th in his category, with a time of 1:09:51.35 in spite of a stomach bug. Even though the swim and cycle are short the race is harder than any Sprint Triathlon with three long climbs presenting a real challenge on the bike. The Elite Heat, in which Andy took part, took the form of a ‘Lanzarote style’ mass start in the Commonwealth Pool with the competitors able to select which lane they swam in and with no limits on how many per lane.
