Kieran Hill claimed a glorious 3rd (so close to 2nd – 16 seconds away!) overall at The Gauntlet (middle distance) at Hever Castle in Kent over the weekend. Finishing in 5:05:13, Kieran had the fastest swim of the day!
Kieran – 3rd – Boom!
Back in sunny Yorkshire, three of our Jackpotters raced at the well known Ripon Triathlon – this year with the most entrants received yet. Craig Boggon, Tim Ashelford and Paul Freeman put on a good show for the spectators (I was watching!) under grey cloudy skies. Craig Boggon has written a super account of race day:
‘Ripon was a nice 1300hrs start giving you plenty of time to have a good breakfast and get things sorted! I racked up and noticed the 3 guys who finished in front of me at Allerthorpe! It was going to be a fast race again! And there were other fast names and faces there! I just racked my bike up did my thing and chatted with Tim Ashford about the race and other competitors. Did a little warm up with the wet suit on and proceeded to the swim start. Speaking to Tim he suggested it best to start on the right as it was a clockwise swim, so I swam to the back of a little pack on the right hand side. As my training buddy said he felt that swim start was pumped with young testosterone (mainly from the 3 lads I’d race at Allerthorpe – it turned out 2 of them were just racing as a relay!). So the swim was off I didn’t have a clue where I would end up and I knew my training partner would kick my butt in the swim (especially as he swam county when he was younger!). Anyway I pulled on, catching the feet and hips of as many people as I could. As per usual I had no idea where I came out but I knew my race started now! So I was quick out the wet suit and onto the bike! It turns out my T1 made me 22 positions (from 39th to 17). 53 seconds behind Tim at 22:01 and 2mins 50s behind my training partner! Paul Freeman, another Jackpotter, came out around 24:31. But I pressed on and had a storming bike (1:00:52- 3rd fastest biker!) in the wet and windy conditions. There was a tail wind on the way out and a head wind coming back in. As I was nearing transition I was happy that I hadn’t yet felt my niggle in T1 and when on the bike (but I didn’t have to stand on the pedals- as it’s not very hilly!). So as I dismounted and ran to T2 I was in two minds to run or not to run and I was fine when I reached my shoes so I put them on and was out of there- all within 0:31 seconds. Tim came off the bike posting 1:03:41 and Paul in 1:03:42.
Ripon being a local big event for a lot of Triathletes a friend called out that I was now running out of the racing venue in 10th and told me to count down. I ploughed on through the run and only felt the calf niggle around the 3km mark but other than that kept good form and went for it. I made up three more positions but I knew that two people ahead of me were relay runners so that meant I was 5th overall. I kept pushing to attain my typical 4th position for the season but I couldn’t manage, but over the moon with overall 5th, 2nd in age group and a time of 2:01:41. Plenty to work on with Aaron Harris for Liverpool. Tim Ashelford finished in a respective 19th, 1st in his age group in a time of 2:05:58. Paul Freeman completed the standard distance in 2:15:31, 58th overall and 6th in Age group. Unfortunately Tim and I were a little disappointed that there wasn’t any group prizes! All in all a good event with the great organisation’.
TOP RACING Craig, Tim and Paul!
Katie Jemima Synge claimed 7th position at the Tartu European Cup in Estonia at the weekend finishing the sprint distance race in a speedy 1:04:59. Conditions look wetter than races in the UK in the photo! Many congratulations Katie!
Ian Gilham’s route to the World Triathlon Championships in Cozumel took in one of the evening races at Eton Dorney on Tuesday evening. Ian was 16th overall in the sprint distance race and 1st in his age group finishing in a very nice 1 hour 6 minutes!
Down in Devon in Lifton on Sunday, Hannah Drewett won (overall!) the middle distance race at The Equalizer event. Described as ‘A battle Royale between the sexes as the entire women’s field set off 32.30 minutes before the men’…Hannah blitzed the flat swim (26:08 – 3rd fastest overall men and women), annihilated the hilly bike (2:47:42, 1st lady) and smashed the road/off-road run (1:42:57, 3rd lady) AND came home with a prize purse of £2000! What a win!
Hannah – a good day had.
Chloe Scotchbrook also came back with more gold for the silverware cupboard at the Stowe Sprint Triathlon, a whole six minutes ahead of the second lady. The race took part in National Trust property at Stowe House and Gardens and the ride past the Silverstone F1 Circuit and surrounding villages. Tremendous going Chloe!
Chloe – before the win!
Meanwhile in Holten (Holland), Jess Learmonth was out racing again (catching Matt Hallam up on number of races!). Jess finished as 8th lady at the ETU Sprint European Cup and 2nd Brit home just behind Lucy Hall – she was first out of the swim and to put the speed of the race into perspective, just 40 seconds behind the race winner. WOW!
At the ITU World Triathlon Stockholm, Adam Bowden put in a blazing performance finishing 10th overall and 3rd Brit home behind the Brownlees. Adam had the 3rd fastest run time overall – 31:04 for the 10k run – just a phenomenal run and an outstanding race. An incredible year of racing so far Adam!
Hannah Drewett took the almighty win in the Olympic distance over two minutes ahead of second placed Cat Jameson and seven minutes ahead of third placed Emma Deary. Hannah stole was first out of the water, moved to second on the bike then stole the show on the run section. A glorious win!
And we have another win at the same race (and another win in a bit!) – Will Cowen took gold at the same race for the men! Will finished a full two and a half minutes ahead of second place – two wins in two consecutive weekends….I am reckoning the week training in Mallorca at Easter has done some good. Will finished in a cracking 2:04:26 – tremendous going Will!
Jack Hall popped an overall 5th in the same race finishing in 2:10:30 – great racing Jack! And welcome to Jackpot Racing with your first (great!) race!
And then! In the Super Sprint, Kathryn Dickinson came home with another win! WIN WIN WIN! Kathryn finished over a minute ahead of second place over the 400m swim, 22k bike and 4k run course. Just superb racing!
Happy – Will and Kathryn – a win and a win!
Still in Blighty – we will get to Ooh la la – Kieran Hill won the Cricklade Sprint Triathlon in a most impressive 55:16 with a 4:34 for the 400m swim, 29:50 for the 11 mile bike and 17:51 for the 5k run. Cracking racing at Cricklade Kieran 🙂
Over to la bella France and Chateauroux for the ETU Sprint Triathlon European Championships. Jess Learmonth was out in action again just two weeks after the ITU race in Leeds – racing tooth and nail against Lucy Hall, Jess finished in a brilliant second place, just one second behind Lucy in 57:49 – proper racing! Heather Sellars placed 9th in a fast 59:10 (awesome run!) – the figures show just how close this competition is!
Jess Learmonth and Lucy Hall fighting it out tooth and nail!
In the men’s race, Aaron Harris finished in a colossal 13th position, 59 seconds behind the race leader in 52:58 and David Bishop in 18th position in 53:31 – ridiculously fast swims + bikes + runs. The type of swims and bikes and runs I dream of. Wonderful. And a massive well done from your counterparts here at Jackpot HQ.
P.S. Tom Linton-Neal won the Kielder Off Road Triathlon at the weekend and led from start to finish in the race! Distances were 1.5k swim – 20k bike and a 10k trail run. Tom finished 26 seconds ahead of second place – some keen racing there. Many congratulations Tom!
