ABU DHABI WTS TRIATHLON: Saturday saw the first of the World Triathlon Series take place in the warmer climes of Abu Dhabi with two of Jackpot’s athletes representing Great Britain. The ladies race was first to kick off and Heather Sellars put in a fantastic performance on her debut to the WTS circuit, coming in as the third Britain and just over two minutes behind the infamous winner Gwen Jorgensen.
In the men’s race, Adam Bowden came in just over one minute behind the winner Mario Mola, taking a sterling 20th position and second Britain.
DAMBUSTER DUATHLON, Rutland Water: Back in Blighty, two more athletes flew the Jackpot flag at the standard distance world qualifier race. Craig Boggon stormed into 17th position overall taking 3rd place in his age category, 20-24, as well as claiming one of the golden tickets to Adelaide next year for the Worlds. Matt Hallam also had a blinding race though started late due to timing chip issues and still landed himself a very high position in 22nd overall and 9th in his age category (25-29).
SEAGRAVE DUATHLON: Matt Hallam came in with an almighty first place on Sunday 1st March destroying the field behind him at the Seagrave Duathlon in Leicestershire. Over the sprint course of a 5k run, 23k bike and finally a 5k run, Matt was ahead of second place by 5 minutes exactly and in windy conditions. This was a great sharpening up race ahead of the Dambuster Duathlon next weekend. Podium photos will be added later…
Slightly further East on the Saturday was the BELVOIR CHALLENGE. Neil Midgley finished in a storming 20th position on the off-road and undulating marathon course. The course is renowned for it’s 3000 cakes over the whole 26 mile course at the check points. We do fear this may have slowed down our athlete and he consumed more calories than lost.
The Last of the Summer Tri sprint distance race was held yesterday in Holmfirth with Jonny McLean winning the race in a time of 1:17:03, a full two and a half minutes ahead of second position! The course is renowned for its steep hills on the bike and run stages though the swim is flat. Elite athlete Mark Buckingham who is from Holmfirth like Jonny, put in an appearance for the race. It appears Holmfirth has a wealth of healthy fit people.
Then down to the Royal Parks Half Marathon where China Clarke put in a storming performance in a time of 1:24:17 however China, when searching through the results, you are down as a girl not a boy. China ran for the Bone Cancer Research Trust.
China ready to rock and roll
Back in Yorkshire, it was the infamous Spadgers Sportive ride. Richard Knell-Moore, Matt Wilson, Dave Morley and Jenni Muston shot around the course which was thick with fog for most of the ride. There were 1400 riders registered and still more riders who could not register on the day and were warmly told to ‘get on their bikes’ and join the Sportive 🙂
Jackpotsters Richard (in his Guccis), Jenni, Dave and Matt at Spadgers
Sunday 5th October saw more medals added to the Jackpot Racing family silver cupboard with Andrew Whiteley taking 3rd place at the Tri-Crazy Bedford Sprint finishing just a minute behind the winner. Andrew spread the Jackpot love to his family with all of them racing at Bedford. It was a shorter than normal swim resulting in a lung buster of a race in a very strong field and Andrew running an awesome 17:07 for the 5k!
Andrew Whiteley spreading the Jackpot love
Further north in Cheshire, Oulton Park held two qualifying events for the European Duathlon Champs 2015. Kieran Savage led the field out in the sprint distance in a lightning speed run just under 5 minute miling – too fast for a photo! Whilst Kieran describes his bike as disappointing, he still managed a huge 4th overall place and age-group win and qualification!
Kieran – we hear Dave Morley has offered you his TT bike 😉
The standard distance followed the sprint where Jenni Muston came off the run in 1st position however dropped to 2nd on the bike (and 3rd in transition! Something to practice on Jen?). Jen finished 2nd overall and has qualified for the Europeans 2015…however nobody knows where these are yet…
Jen on the run…
Heading East to Goole, Ben Garrard finished with a tremendous overall position of 10th in a time of 58 minutes, cruising in 4 minutes behind the winning time. Awaiting full results…!
Lost on the Mountain…could not be more apt after hearing about the trials and tribulations of our athletes Eddie Howarth, Richard Knell-Moore and Neil Midgley in the Wasdale Triathlon on Sunday 28th September…and the Wasdale Tri Facebook page posting 15 minutes ago, ‘Huge Thanks Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team for assisting Norman off the mountain after he fell and injured’.
Still awaiting results as we understand some athletes are still lost in the fog at the top of Scafell Pike but according to Rich, the race went something like this:
‘Swim was warmer and shorter than expected. Beautiful water, then onto a ridiculous ride. Not too bad over Hardknott pass and Wrynose on the way out. On the way back it was like riding into a wall. Eddie did some Jayne Fonda stretching before attempting it apparently. It must have worked though! There is a sneaky climb out of Gosforth that just about did for me, I honestly nearly didn’t bother with the run/walk. Steady trudge all the way up, past the ******* training camp on the Corridor route. Got lost in the mist coming off the top of Scafell Pike, down and then back up Scafell which was effectively rock climbing. Lost the path a few more times, then just as you make it off the descent, you end up in peat bogs (which was fun). I’d already blown to bits by this point in time, enjoyed a little sit down, whist trying to keep food down. Then a couple of little crests and more descending all the way back past Wastwater. I managed a hobble to the finish line, which was lucky as Eddie had the camera out.’
We also await photos please Eddie! And our good wishes go out to Norman.
Moving over to Alanya where Tom Bishop had a tremendous performance at the 2014 ITU Triathlon World Cup. 1st Brit home – PODIUM in British terms – and 12th overall, Tom finished in a time of 1:46:48, just less than a minute behind the winner and having one of the fastest swims on the day.
Meanwhile, back in Yorkshire Jenni Muston leisurely poled up for the start of the Autumn Skylark sportive of 115k. Not appreciating the terrain and expecting to be home for lunch, the 8,500ft ridiculous up down up down up down up down up down 74 mile ride took 5.5 hours with Jenni allowing a (male!) cyclist from Lancashire CC to draft behind her up Cragg Vale 50 miles into the sportive. Joint first lady back with her training pal 🙂
**** WASDALE RESULTS + SOME *****
Wasdale results and grimacing photos now in! Eddie finished 11th in 7:36:01 and 2ND in AGE GROUP, Neil in 9:11:24 in 74th closely followed by Rich in 9:14:24 in 79th. Clearly this was more IRONMAN than WasdaleMan!
The view at the top of Scafell Pike 🙂Red Bull gives Eddie wings 🙂Neil – Hallelujia!Rich coming in to the finish…
Then to Eton Dorney – Jackpot will travel far afield to claim these victories…Andrew Whiteley competed in the standard distance as a guide for Haseeb Ahmad who podiumed at the Worlds in London last year. Haseeb won the vet 40 category assisted by Andrew and was 4th overall. They came out of the water in 70th and ramped up a massive 65 places on the bike to come off the bike in 5th place then one more to 4th in the run! Splits were as follows: swim 27:39, bike 58:40 and run 38:55….AWESOME!
