Three of our Jackpoters raced at Yokohama this weekend: Adam Bowden, Tom Bishop and Ian Gilham!  Adam and Tom both raced on Saturday making for a cracking and oh-so-close race for a podium. This being Adam’s favourite all time race, Adam finished 12th overall within a minute of the winner Mario Mola – it was literally seconds between Adam and Mario on the swim and bike sections – Adam’s 10k time was a ridiculously fast 30:23!  Tom finished as 3rd elite Brit and 49th overall, again putting in an extremely strong bike giving his fellow competitors something to worry about.  Fantastic racing both!

Ian raced in the age group category at Yokohama…”Inspired by watching Tom Bishop and the other GB guys boss the bike in the elite race on Saturday!”

“Tremendously well organised and supported race (felt like half the town had volunteered as marshals and the other half were out in the streets cheering!) lead to a great atmosphere through out the whole course.

Had a decent swim (despite the attentions of a few jelly fish) (same jellyfish possibly from Mallorca last week!) – out of the water 5th on the first lap slipping to 8th by the end of the swim (is it me or do all of those buoys look the same?). Got passed by a couple of folks on the bike but managed to regain a couple of places on the run to finish 7th out of 68 in my age group”.

A tremendous finish for Ian! Congratulations! Eton for Ian next week for a bit of draft-legal mayhem!

team battle between Mika Brown and Craig Boggon!  Mika led by 90s out of the pool over Craig. Craig then took 60s out of Mika’s lead on the first lap of a hilly bike leg, then another 45s on the second lap to lead Mika into T2 by 15s. All looked set for a battle royals in the run, but Mika’s legs deserted him on the uphill section of the run and he faded to give Craig a comfortable victory in the end.

This was not however the only battle – there was an outsider in the form of a horse box.  On the bike a horse box and 4×4 contrived to nearly knock both Craig and Mika off their bikes. A couple of Leeds Bradford Tri-ers also complained about theatrics of horse box drivers as well.

It was a happier ending with the cash prizes for Craig’s Gold and Mika’s Silver- £100 cash and £50 cash not coupons (nor last year’s prize of a year’s supply of tea!).

Yet more silver to add to the podium cabinet from this weekend’s racing!  Katie Synge raced for the first time with Jackpot scoring a WIN at the Oldbury White Horse Sprint Triathlon – Katie was 1st lady over the line by 5 minutes, 7th overall (#girlpower) and had the FASTEST swim and the only athlete to go under 5 minutes (4:25.60 to be precise! How fast?!) over the 400m distance. Katie broke the course record finishing in 58:37.35.  What a race!

Team mate Max Hazell also podiumed at the same race finishing 20 seconds behind the winner and posting an outrageously fast run of 16:13 over the 5k distance – the fastest time in the race overall!

In sunnier and less snowy climes, David Bishop headed over to Madrid for the 2016 ETU Triathlon European Cup on Sunday. David finished 24th less than 5 minutes behind the 1st position, putting in a sub 18 minute swim over the 1500m distance, 1:05 on the 40k bike and 33 minutes on the 10k run. Ridiculously fast – top racing David 🙂

The weekend also saw the BUCS Sprint Triathlon Championships held at Calne in Wiltshire.  We have another podium!  Hannah Drewett took silver over the 750m pool swim (3rd fastest swim!), 20km bike (non drafting – Hannah had the fastest bike of the female race) and 5km swim.  Fantastic going Hannah!

Team mate Chris Perham also raced finishing in the top ten in 9th position just 1 minute behind the race leader. Chris had the 4th fastest swim and like Max, put in a 16 minute 5k.  Tremendous racing both!

No sign of Matt Hallam this weekend but we think he is due a weekend off!

Adam Bowden took to the stage in Cape Town at the weekend in the sprint distance race, finishing 16th overall but just 54 seconds behind the winner Fernando Alarza (puts things into perspective doesn’t it – just how fast!) in 55 minutes 6 seconds. Adam put in a 14:53 for the 5k run and was 9th fastest on the run! Ridiculously fast! Wonderful racing! Safe trip home Adam 🙂

Back in Yorkshire and Jackpot maintained their title at the City of York Relay yesterday over the sprint distance putting in a full 6 minutes on next team! Tom Linton-Neal put in a supersonic swim with broken toe (5:35), Dave Morley steamed away on the bike leg (33:27) and China Clarke on the run (20:06 – including an additional 400m after missing the finish line – unofficial time 18:29) – they were 1st in each of the disciplines.

Then…guess who…yes, Matt Hallam was racing again!  At the Stockton Duathlon over the standard distance.  Matt popped an ultra speedy 6th overall and bronze in his age category.  Competition was high at Stockton – Matt ran a 35 minute 10k, biked a 59 minute 40k and ran a final 5k in 17 minutes. Absolutely tremendous racing Matt – quite a season you are having already!

An exciting weekend was had over in Germany on Saturday for the ETU Duathlon Championships in Kalkar where two of our Jackpotters had qualified to represent GB both in the standard distance race.

Craig (to)Boggon was first off in the afternoon in the 20-24 age category so narrowly missing a podium…by 8 seconds!  But what a phenomenal race – Craig cracked the 2 hour barrier, cruising in in an overall time of 1:59:26.  Craig was 3rd Brit home which means he qualifies automatically for next year’s ETU Champs.  Cracking race Craig!

Then the weather turned – just for the ladies – the heavens opened.  Claire Pickersgill, racing on a dicey calf, put in a storming performance andsuch a strong bike (can’t wait for the relays!) and punched home as 3rd Brit and 9th in her age group – again, Claire qualifies for the Champs next year.

Top racing both – safe trips home.

Matt Hallam who is making a sterling habit of racing every weekend popped down to Ludlow for the ‘Storm the Castle Duathlon’, sold on the website as follows:

‘Storm The Castle – the UK’s toughest duathlon – will be back in Ludlow on 17th April 2016.

We will be racing over the same course which means the opportunity to test yourself on some of the most stunning terrain that Shropshire has to offer and finish your race in the grounds of Ludlow Castle. Set in the picturesque market town of Ludlow and the stunning surrounding countryside of Shropshire & Herefordshire, it offers a genuine challenge to athletes of all abilities. Both the run and bike course are tough with sections of rolling hills mixed in with some seriously steep sections, making it arguably the UK’s toughest duathlon.’

Matt finished 3rd overall, a whole 3 minutes ahead of 4th position over the 10k – 33k – 5k course!

Missed by me last week (so sorry Matt!), Matt also raced at the Dales Duathlon … and WON!  Is there no end to this man’s talents?!  I am getting a repetitive strain injury from writing up all your wins and podiums!  The race as was a 5k road run, 20k undulating bike and then a 5k hilly trail run over near hull in the Brantingham Dales. Matt killed off the field and was 3 minutes ahead (habit forming!) of second place. Tremendous!

Lastly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSICA LEARMONTH! 🙂

…for the viewer’s as well, as people tuned in at going home time for night clubbers to watch the ITU Gold Coast Race early hours Saturday morning. Tom put in a superb bid for that last spot for the Rio Olympics with a cracking swim just behind Alistair Brownlee…and then…the FASTEST bike of the race…what a move by Tom! He blitzed the field!  It made for incredible watching.  Hearts were racing and stomachs were twisting watching this breakaway.  Hats off to you Tom.  It was a momentous moment in that race.

Tom finished 42nd overall and 3rd Brit home.  Viewers could see the heat taking it’s toll on athletes including Jonny Brownlee at the end of the run. Tremendous Tom, just tremendous!

And now to a slightly cooler Halesowen for the sprint triathlon where Chloe Scotchbrook flew the Jackpot flag stealing 5th position and 2nd in age group! Chloe put in the fastest ladies swim of the day by far (how fast?!!!).  A great start to the season for Chloe 🙂