Paralympics, Marathon Swimmers & Ironman Finishers
Event Review
As the curtain falls on the Paralympics, two athletes performances to really celebrate. Firstly, Turbo friend Fabienne Andre, finishing 5th in the 100m & 4th in the 800m T34 events – harshly overshadowed by Hannah Cockcroft. We’re still hopeful that she’ll look to restart her swimming & come to join our track sessions.
The other is Lauren. She is quite simply a phenomenon. In the 18 months she’s been training at the club, we’ve seen the various difficulties she’s faced & overcome. This year, she picked up long Covid following a cancelled race in Abu Dhabi; suffered with calf injuries which prevented her running and struggled to find adequate coaching support. Yet her determination, resilience and unbelievable work ethic got her to the start line. She knew she wasn’t going to retain her title, but still gave it her best go, trying to drop Grace & Claire on the bike. She has the biggest heart of anyone I know. Seeing the pictures of her breaking down after the line, realising the enormity of her achievement, processing everything she had been through & realising it was probably her last summer Paralympics, said everything. And her cheeky smile & grin on picking up the bronze – well, I won’t pretend to hide my admiration.
She’s got a busy few weeks ahead, with her sister’s wedding & then (possibly) the European Champs in Vichy on Sep 21st, but is proposing celebratory drinks on Weds 25th at the Alexander Pope, after track (and hoping to be down early to train with the juniors beforehand).
Right, on the others, where to start?
We’ve had marathon swimmers – Emma Payne swimming the Dart 10k, whilst Julian & Gail firstly at the Henley to Marlow, then the 17km of Windermere (only one way), Julian fundraising for Level Water and subsequently winning Riverside Communicators (Toastmasters) award for speech for his account “The Wooden Spoon” about the Ham Lake Swimming Relays. The Ham Lake relays being another great social evening, with Jimmy Pank & John Taylor being part of the winning team & Ryan, ahem, winning the award for the fastest swimmer on the night – with 13 Turbos enjoying the evening.
Since the last update, Mark Fielding Smith, Chris Scott & Aaron Sells, each overcoming difficulties, completed Ironman Copenhagen, Adam the Outlaw in Nottingham (10:43). John Taylor completed his 20th Iron distance race at the Killarney Hardman. However the accolade for the Killarney Hardman belongs to Charlie Chute, completing the 120km Kerry Way Ultra in 38 hours (and without rupturing any internal organs this time).
Ian completed the Hradec Kralowe 70.3, Eero the Tallinn 70.3, Angelo the Zell-am-See 70.3, Sam Marks & Maria Jovani the Vitruvian, which was the English Middle Distance championships. Maria in her first triathlon season, underlined her improvements in the pool & on the bike, with a fabulous 4th place finish. Alan, Oli, Chloe, Gordon, Steve & Sam have been in triathlon action in the Cotswolds, London & Dorney.
Today at Bournemouth in a qualifier for Istanbul, Will Harding and Caoimhe both secured their spots with Q3 finishes, whilst Ryan is as good as there on roll down, finishing 22nd overall in 2:06. At the British Sprint distance champs, Will finished 6th in the M55s & Jess 5th in the F20s. It’s been quite a few weeks for Jess, with a 24:57 at the Westerley 10 and an 18:32 at the Bushy 1,000. Whilst yesterday at Bushy, Atharv produce a fabulous pb of 16:09.
Next Sunday, we have the biggest Turbo turnout of the year, at Weymouth 70.3. With a strong contingent, we might be in contention for team recognition, but important that everyone has signed up as a Thames Turbo https://my.ironman.com/
Social events
So before the aforementioned celebratory drinks with Lauren, we have a Bella/Porter production of a pizza night pencilled in for Saturday 21st September. More details will follow on Spond. These will replace the regular 3rd Thursday drinks.
Although we’ve had a few sad farewells in recent weeks, they’ve been more than balanced by new members joining and the highest level of triallists in my time at the club. I know you will, but please make an effort to encourage & make everyone feel welcome - and please join in on the club socials.
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