Celebrate every athlete

We were deeply saddened to hear of the tragic event which took place yesterday at the Bala Middle Distance race.  Our thoughts go to the family, friends and loved ones of the athlete who passed away – and to all of the athletes at the race, including one of our own who was close to this very, very sad incident.

Nothing can soften the tragedy of a sudden death, but we hope those involved, and the witnesses, can take some consolation in the fact that this athlete will have passed away doing something they loved to do.

To celebrate the success of a Jackpot athlete at another race this weekend may go against the grain of this post you may think.  At the same time we race because we love it – we love doing what we do.

Nigel Ould has qualified for the Gran Fondo Worlds in Denmark later this year in early September.  Great news Nigel – reading online about the World Champs I am trying to ascertain if you are in the younger age group race of 160k or the older age group race of 115k.

Cat Jameson has written a fantastic report from her outstanding performance at Challenge Salou last weekend here.

Keep safe.

After fighting off an annoying injury Jackpot Racing sponsored athlete Tom Bishop took to Stockholm to compete in the penultimate round of the World Triathlon series against the biggest names in the triathlon world. After Liverpool triathlon was cancelled it was tough for Tom to know what form he was in, but im sure that was all shaken when he stepped onto the starting line. After a promising start in the World Triathlon series earlier in the year at Auckland it was interesting to see how Tom was doing through his rehab process.

A tough swim in extremely choppy and cold water split the whole field of athletes up and Tom managed to make his way out the water directly in the middle of a very strong swim pack. A harsh transition on an extremely steep hill saw Tom fall back into one of the latter cycle packs, but some incredibly good cycling saw Tom manage to work his way into the front pack. In the process, Tom managed to post the third fastest bike split behind just the Brownlee brothers, which goes to show a running injury isn’t always terrible if it turns your cycling into a huge strength!

The sprint format of the Stockholm race only left a 5km run to complete in the race, but the rain kept lashing down. Training in the Yorkshire weather meant Tom was prepared to deal with this weather better than most, and this showed as he moved swiftly out of transition in 12^th place onto the run after leaving onto the cycle in 55^th, gaining a smooth 43 places on the cycle discipline! After not getting a lot of running base training in it was incredible to see Tom hold onto his position, and even beat current World Series leader Javier Noya over the first half of the run before the Spaniard pulled out. A 15:02 run over 5km saw Tom come in a final positon of 13^th for his best finish in a World Series event.

Seeing as Javier Gomez didn’t finish the race (and was behind Tom, when he pulled out) then technically Tom beat him… so that’s quite a nice scalp to stick in the trophy cabinet!

Jackpot Racing sent a strong quartet of teams to the National Club relay championships on 23^rd August to compete in the open category of the first wave of the weekend. The student contingent were put in team 1 whilst a strong quartet of Yorkshire based athletes made up team 2 to give two strong teams to challenge for the win, whilst everyone else was split into two other teams to enjoy the day and have some inter-team rivalry!

Team 1 made up of Kieran Hill, William Cowen, Andrew Whiteley and Mika Brown made an exceptionally strong start to the race, leading the swim from start to finish and coming out over a minute ahead of second place and 3 minutes ahead of Jackpot Racing team 2. Both teams were neck and neck on the cycle, with team 1 only gaining a minute on the second discipline. A strong first run section from Jonny Mclean set his team mates Eddie Howarth, Colin Hill and Kieran Savage in a strong position going into the last three run legs, and with the chance to claw back Team 1. At this point in the race Jackpot Racing had the first place and second place teams in the open category, and 8 minutes ahead of third place!

The gap between teams 1 and 2 yo-yoed between the second and third legs but ultimately team 1 had a gap too big to overcome on just the run. Both teams finished by running down a packed finish line in front of a great crowd cheering them on to take the top two places in the open category in their first year of existence and first time in the race. Team 1 finished in 3:07:17 in tough windy conditions and team 2 finished in 3:09:56 which landed them in 5^th and 7^th overall for the weekend behind teams boasting Great Britain standard talent. Fair to say it was a successful outing for both teams!

Perhaps the greatest aspect of the club relays is the incorporation of all talent levels that can race at the same time, and this was encapsulated by the other two teams racing at the same time whilst still trying to post the quickest times possible. The third Jackpot team made up of Francis Riley, Jenni Muston, Ben Garrard and Richard Knell-Moore put together some strong performances to finish in 3:39:21 whilst also battling some injuries and last minute change of team members! The fourth and final jackpot consisted of Gary Simpson, Ady Stott, Neil Midgley and China Clarke managed to get round the tough conditions in 3:44:42 and did notably well considering one of their team members was battling his first competitive race in the triathlon scene in his first year in the sport.

It is safe to say that all the athletes had a great day out and there were smiles all round throughout the day (except maybe for the early start) which goes to show this format of racing is to be enjoyed by everyone. Taking home a first place and second place trophy along with two top-10 overall places in the first year of existence for Jackpot Racing, especially in such a competitive race, shows promise for next year. Who knows, maybe they can climb up some places and contend for a National title next year?!