A proud 9 days to be a Turbo
I’ll start with our Sprint race
Huge congratulations to Rosie & Atharv winning their respective races, both in the fastest times since 2019; Atharv’s 15:03 is the fastest known run going back to 2002 by 54s (maybe we shouldn’t be surprised, given he runs 14:52 at Battersea “just for filming YouTube content purposes").
But the times aren’t as important as us putting on a good race. Ensuring that everything is well organised, the race runs smoothly and that we are perceived as being a supportive, encouraging, well run club, is almost as important as the financial revenue it brings.
To that, huge thanks owing to Steve Robinson, Phil Parnham, their crew of super-marshals, and indeed, all our superb marshals. I was fortunate enough to be at the finish line, to receive all the thanks on your behalf.
Next our Parkrun pacing takeover
This is a fabulous opportunity afforded to us, by building a strong relationship with the Bushy pacing co-ordinator. We get to showcase our club & colours, as above, showing ourselves as encouraging and supportive to all athletes, at whatever level. And best still, in front of our target audience, fit active folk in the Bushy area – and not just limited to seniors, with Will & Abi pacing too.
But why we do it was exemplified by a comment at the finish to Oli. “A lady came up to me, tapped me on the shoulder and told me it was her first time out of the house since she’d had a liver transplant, and that she was sticking with me the whole way around as 36 mins was her target for her first run out.”,
On to Mallorca
Where to start? Thames Turbos, all in purple swim caps to reflect our status as the biggest racing club; except Nicole & Caz, by virtue of being superstars, wearing gold. They promptly lived up to their billing taking 3rd & 4th in their respective categories.
We had 21 who started the race and a dedicated support crew cheering their every step.
There were some fine performances throughout, with many overcoming injury just to make it to the finish. But huge congratulations to Caz, Nicole, Thomas O, James, Dave, Alex, Jonny, Oli, Holger, Steve, Beej, Lara, Paulo, James W, JT, Mark, Ralph, Tre, Michele, Aaron & Jimmy – and Sarah, Nick, Phil, Jon, Emily, Lewis & Richie.
On the bike chat, we’ve been spoilt with awesome photos from Ian, Ryan, Charles, Guillaume, Ani & Lexie from their Sani2C 3-day mountain bike adventure.
Caoimhe won the VW40+ at Burghley; Gordon 2nd in VO40+ at Crystal Palace, where Roman, Sam W, Daisy, Tom B all excelled in their respective junior categories.