Turbo Highlights: Weymouth & Serpentine
Event Review
We’ll start on Saturday and the Swim Serpentine. In the 2 miles - Me 0:49, Angelo 0:59, Charles 1:05, Szymon 1:06, Maria 1:14, Ben 1:20, Anish 1:24, Chloe 1:32 and in the one, Terry 0:36. For Angelo, Chloe & myself it was about completing the London Classics (with London Marathon & Ride London) and the 2nd for Maria. Whilst I’ve snuck inside the top 25 of the 3,000-odd, the real stars were Maria taking over 10 minutes off her time from last year and Chloe, in what was her longest ever swim, coming from novice to completing the classics in the single year. Awesome!
Right, Weymouth, just wow! https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAB0H4vtmu5/
We had 17 Turbos take to the start line. It was an event which built its own momentum with the WhatsApp group, people filling in the calendar https://thamesturbo.co.uk/member-race-calendar and FOMO. Right, the roll of honour:
We finished second in the club competition, based on the performance of our athletes, with only online affiliations around us. The division is based on club size, and says we’re many times smaller than Total Tri, and still only missed out on top spot for one more good finisher.
The conditions were as good as we could hope for for mid-September, but despite the morning sun, was deceptively chilly for the first couple of hours. The sunshine encouraged phenomenal support on the run leg, easily surpassing any previous triathlon I’ve done. The amount of cheers for Turbos and personal call outs were immense.
We had 2 in the top 50 overall (out of >2,000 starters). Sadly James missed out on a podium place by just 30 seconds and with it, seemingly a Marbella spot. Whilst the most likely scenario remains that one of the qualifiers wasn’t able to register and pay, freeing up a slot after the presentations had finished, I’d like to think that Jo Murphy, the announcer, who’d looked up & knew James’ result, had watched him enthusiastically cheering every last winner, realised he’s the sort of person you want at an Ironman event and pulled some strings. I may never know, but I do know his qualification is so richly deserved. The attached photo encapsulates the very epitome of a club man.
We had 5 at 5:00 or below (with Ian, Gordon & Adam), with Adam’s time placing him in 109th overall. Duncan, Atish and Tim all finished in the low 5:20s. Sarah and Nicole both finished in the top 10 in their respective age groups (Nicole’s 5th including the 5th fastest women’s swim of the day, and that despite having to swim head up for a spell to get used to the cold). Nicole's performance lifts her to the head of the Women's Club Championship standings with a perfect 4 x 1st places. It would be fitting if Jess could match her at the top, with a better than 107% performance in the World Championships next month - here's hoping.
John, despite stomach problems, turned in a very creditable performance in his 70.3 debut and is determined to stay with the club to improve on it. Our final finisher across the line, Chuck was our final athlete home in a hugely respectable 6:07, placing him in the top half in what was his first ever triathlon – his transformation in the 3 months at the club has been staggering.
The day wasn’t without mishap. Ryan suffered the worse of us all in the cold & ended his race being monitored in an ambulance for several hours, his core temperature having dropped to a scary 29 degrees. Thankfully, he’d recovered sufficiently to come back to the course to cheer us on (legend). Lewis had 3 punctures, eventually rolling the bike home on a flat (but with his race scuppered), whilst Teresa’s back & Matt D’s calf didn’t allow them to complete / compete on the run leg.
Harshly relegated to footnotes, Alan finished 11th in the Woking triathlon and Turbo friends, Chloe Dooley finished 14th in the British Super Series elite field, whilst Megan & Kester both qualified for next year’s Gran Fondo world champs on the Great Ocean Road out of Melbourne, having finished 7th & 20th respectively in this year’s qualifier on the same course.
Event Preview
This Saturday sees Alex and Nikhil take to the Emilia Romagna Ironman, whilst Will and Lauren head to Vichy for the European Triathlon Champs (Will goes in the sprint on Saturday, Lauren in the Paratri on Sunday).
James P & Martin take on the Giro 100km Gravelfest (I’ll be interested in the route details afterwards), whilst Alan races in the Dorney season finale.
Social events
Pizza Social this Saturday 2pm at the allotments next to the pool – hopefully you’ve all indicated your attendance with Jon, but please contact him directly if you’re now deciding to attend. They are asking for charitable donations on the day - so bring cash!
Then on Weds 25th, we have drinks in the Alexander Pope after track with Lauren, to celebrate her Paralympic bronze (and hopefully additional European silverware).
Given the timing of these, we’re postponing the regular 3rd Thursday drinks for now.