Some impressive racing over the long distance this weekend from Tom van Rossum and Matt Wilson at Ironman Sweden. Tom smashed the 10 hour barrier with 9:38:50 to claim 14th in AG (obviously a very competitive group that one!). His splits were 1:07, 4:56 and 3:31 – good grouping and, as expected, particularly impressive bike.
Matt (no profile yet!) finished his IM debut with an impressive 11:34:55 with splits of 1:12, 5:21 and 4:49 and apparently had stamina to go chasing Swedish girls afterwards.
Back in Blighty, though you wouldn’t believe it from the race title, Ben Gerrard raced the Spanish City Sprint (exotic sounding for the rather bleak Whitley Bay). “Great Race,” said the diplomatic Ben when describing a choppy North Sea swim, a hurricane-like bike and a run which incorporated stairs. So a time of 1:13:03 for a 12th place overall demands respect. Olé!
Kieran Bones-Hill thought he was sneaking under the radar by racing the lesser-known Frome Sprint. But since he finished just ahead of my Coach, Joe beer, the beans were spilled. Kieran came 2nd overall in 1:07, beaten by a local whose knowledge of the very technical cycle section probably accounted for the difference.
Good racing once again everyone.