Recent race results, social news and dates
As promised, as part of a regular communication through the season, I’ll be picking out various club highlights, whether notable performances, forthcoming races or social news and key dates to be aware of. A very fine day of racing & activities to summarise below, so please read on.
You will have seen that we are trialling Spond as a new booking app for Monday’s Turbo sessions (please download it), allowing you to book on at the last minute, but until this goes live for other sessions, please can you sign on in advance via https://thamesturbo.co.uk/booking-management/. It becomes hugely disappointing & awkward for coach and athlete, should anyone have to be turned away.
Performances & races
Right, lots of fabulous achievements to celebrate, but only one place to start.
Huge congratulations to Ian Shaw who’s booked his place at Kona next year to join James Drake. Ian finished a superb 5th at Ironman Maryland backing up a superb sub-5 hour bike with a 3:40 marathon in 25 degree heat. He may have finished higher up, had the swim not been curtailed to 900m – with the Kona place in the bag, I’m not sure he’ll be that bothered,
Another swim was fully cancelled for the Weymouth 8 amidst grim weather conditions. James Drake finished 7th amongst some incredibly strong Weymouth fields. Steve Hughes suffered a puncture on the bike deflating his charge. James finished in 4:16, Steve in 4:22, Luigi 4:49, Lewis, 4:49, Sarah Moore 5:32 with ex-Turbos Amy Burton 5:13 & Jess Hillard 5:21. Only Corin was a non-finisher on the run, but had been poorly in the run-up. I believe only Steve & Mark’s North Norfolk triathlon didn’t fall foul of weather nor cancelled swims.
Last weekend saw plenty more long distance Turbo action, back in scorching conditions. Tim Cox finished a superb 14th in the European Long Distance Championships (Challenge Almere) in a fine time of 10:45. Hoping no lasting sunburn from the zip malfunction.
Possibly more impressive / insane was Angelo’s Thames Path Challenge – Angelo appears to have smiled the duration of his 100km on one of the hottest days of the year. A big shout out to Ian, Mark and Szymon for heading to join him at various points, epitomising the Turbo spirit. Also Alan Doolan and Matt Denham completed a 15km swim of 4 parts in the Isles of Scilly.
On a more serious note, huge congratulations to Mark, Nick, Glen, Jon, Phil, Matt, Malcolm, Richie, Chris and Sarah for donning their super hero costumes and consuming as much wine as they were allowed as they crawled around the Denbies vineyards for the Bacchus Half Marathon. We’ll be calling on you all to recreate this fancy dress spirit for the Halloween Relays on 1st Nov (see below).
Also lots of junior action to celebrate from the finale of the British Super Series at Mallory Park. Sadly it was just one run too many for Charlie Brook, finishing 33rd on the day & 13th in the overall standings. Whether it’s enough to get into the NextGen program – fingers crossed.
Henry Mythen finished 9th in the Tri Star 2 A final, with brother Tom a fabulous 6th in the Tri Star 3 A final. Rachel Riedlinger was 23rd, having made it through to her Tri Star 3 A final, where former Turbo, Kitty Scott, finished 2nd, whilst Camilla Baluch was 18th in the B final.
Huge congratulations to all.
Now competitive eyes turn to the World Championships in Pontevedra next weekend, with Lauren Steadman in the PTS5 on Saturday & David Barker in the Aquabike on Sunday.
All race results that I know of have been added to the https://thamesturbo.co.uk/club-champs/ and with the standings reflecting these. But as always, please let me know of events you’ve signed up to (thamesturboresults@gmail.com) so I can look for results and put you in touch with others.
Also as always, please can you share your photos from events or socials so we can post to social media to showcase the club to anyone looking in?
Social news & dates
Pontevedra, Barcelona and Cascais aside, most have drawn to the end of the competitive season, so now’s the time we can have more social fun as a club, without the pressure of the next race.
After training this week (21st), we have our Thirsty Third Thursday drinks in the Beech House (our usual area has been reserved) – hoping to see you there to celebrate Ian’s Kona spot and to wish Chris Middleton well on his move to Vancouver.
Weather permitting, we might have one last Friday night ride, but please get involved with the Sunday rides. We’ve had multiple groups out in recent weeks, which means everyone gets a decent ride – and hopefully all meeting for coffee and cake.
A reminder of the key social dates for your calendar.
Wednesday 1st November - a Halloween themed FUN 3-person relay courtesy of Copeland/Drake productions –at St. Mary’s track on, followed by drinks in the Alexander Pope. Full details and invitation to follow very shortly, but if the quality of the flier is anything to go by, it’s going to be good. You’ve got a further 6 weeks’ notice to make yourselves available for this one evening.
Monday 13th November - AGM on at the Anglers Pub, 19:30 – this an important meeting to ensure we have officers in place to ensure the club’s smooth running & a summary of the club’s activity over the past year. Please make an effort to attend.
Saturday 18th November – Parkrun tourism to Dulwich – a fabulous course for PB opportunities. Hopefully this will kick start more frequent Turbo runs (a handicap Tamsin Trail loop has been mooted) and regular Parkrun tourism. But please get involved with our regular socials like the thirsty third Thursday at the Beech House or coffee after Bushy Parkrun on the first Saturday of the month.
Saturday 9th December – the double header of the annual mob match vs Ful-on-Tri and Xmas party (the Adelaide as last year).
And also I’d encourage you all to suggest other activities you’d like to do as a group.
Whatsapp Groups Reminder
If not already, please get involved with our club WhatsApp groups:
“TTTC Social & General Chat” with “TTTC Everything Bike”, There is also now a specific women’s only group – for which you’ll need to ask another member for an invite. Also Strava invites & routes are downloadable from our Strava club page.
Lots of opportunities to get involved on the social side outside of just the training sessions.
Turbo back to school Highlights
Social news & dates
Right, I’m starting proper with the social news on this update & some key dates to ensure are in your calendar. We might be drawing to a close of the triathlon race season, but this shouldn’t mean a drop off in training numbers (note Alan’s email on booking yourselves on) and you should have fewer excuses not to join in on participation for the club social events.
The first is the AGM on Monday 13th November at the Anglers Pub, 19:30 – this an important meeting to ensure we have officers in place to ensure the club’s smooth running & a summary of the club’s activity over the past year. Please make an effort to attend.
The second date is the annual mob match vs Ful-on-Tri and Xmas party (the Adelaide as last year), both on the same date, Saturday 9th December.
The next is a new date and hopefully a fun new addition to the calendar from Copeland/Drake productions – a Halloween themed FUN 3-person relay at St. Mary’s track on Wednesday 1st November, followed by drinks in the Alexander Pope. Full details and invitation to follow very shortly, but if the quality of the flier is anything to go by, it’s going to be good. You’ve got two months’ notice to make yourselves available for this one evening.
Hopefully this will be a pre-cursor to more frequent Turbo runs (a handicap Tamsin Trail loop has been mooted) and a return to Parkrun tourism. But please get involved with our regular socials – thirsty third Thursday at the Beech House (21st being the next) and the 1st Saturday of the month, coffee after Bushy Parkrun.
And also I’d encourage you all to suggest other activities you’d like to do as a group.
Performances & races
As previewed, a fabulous day and lots of racing to catch up on.
We’ll start with a hugely successful New Forest triathlon. Lauren Steadman stepped up her preparations for the World Championships in Pontevedra with a dominant win in the sprint event. In the standard, Kester McQueen was so far ahead of the rest of the field, the marshals assumed he was doing the sprint and sent him round on the 5km loop (which he completed twice) and was blatantly the winner, 7 full minutes ahead of the next “finisher” (who must have been truly embarrassed to be awarded the winner’s prize) – Kester deservedly earning bragging rights over Megan (predictably the 1st woman in 5th overall).
Also taking an overall win was Steve Hughes at the Belvoir sprint triathlon.
In Tenby, John Taylor has just completed IM Wales for the 7th time (his 19th Ironman) in 14:25 (1:22, 7:12, 5:22), finishing a very fine 2nd in the M65s; whether this is enough for a Kona spot – here’s hoping. (But John, didn’t you realise you were keeping me waiting from sending the mail?) Whilst over in Munster, Germany, Julia Snaith produced a beautifully controlled paced run to come home in 3:44, comfortably inside the London GFA time, now just have to hope on a successful application. Turbo friend, Josh, ran 3:02.
Closer to home in Richmond Park, in the London Duathlon, Sam Holness produced a solid 2:20 for 16th, Lewis Vanhinsberg a 2:30 & Mark Gee a 2:31. With 3 club rides to Windsor, the Surrey Hills and the Col de Tourmalet, it’s been a truly successful day.
Last weekend saw another Turbo friend Megan Chapple finished a quite magnificent 5th overall (2nd in 25-29 AG) at the Ironman 70.3 World Champs in Lahti, in a time of 4:28 (a 2:22 bike followed by a 1:26 half – splits I immediately said I’d be happy to match).
Spencer Bateman produced easily his best international result to date, finishing a fabulous 5th in the European Aquathlon in an absolute deluge in Menen, Belgium. I decided to have an altercation with the metal steps coming out of the river, and limped home 6th in the M50-54. Fortunately, I had the middle distance champs on the Sunday to take out my frustrations, duly matching Megan’s 2:22 & 1:26 splits (albeit on a different course / conditions), on my way to a 70.3 PB of 4:25 for 4th – in both races, my times would have had me on the podium in the M45s.
Sara Deakin overcame sickness (wasn’t sure she’d be in a well enough state to compete 24 hours beforehand), to finish 7th in the MD Aquabike – only (like many of us) to succumb to Belgian belly afterwards.
On Bank Holiday Monday, Charlie Brook finished 13th in the Eton Eliminator series of triathlons (possibly one race too many) & stands in 12th place overall in the British Super Series, with just the Grand Final at Mallory to go.
And the previous weekend saw lots of Ironman action. Oli Hammans produced a 12:43 at Kalmar & Simon Beal a 15:43 in Vichy, where in the 70.3 Ben Newman & Willy Duhen came home in 5:33 & 5:38 respectively. Mark O’Brien overcame “interesting” swim conditions at Cork 70.3 to finish in a fine 5:30, where ex-Turbo Elaine Harris came home in 6:38. Whilst Alan continued his racing come back with a fine 2nd placed AG finish at Box End.
Very fine performances all.
Next weekend sees Tim Cox in action at the European Long Distance Champs at Challenge Almere and lots of running action. Angelo Bella takes on the Thames Path 100 on Saturday, whilst others head to Denbies for the Bacchus Wine HM – whilst there’s the temptation of Kayleigh’s birthday brownies for those running parkrun at Bushy (bar set high after last year), whilst Matt Denham heads to the Isles of Scilly for a swim challenge.
The following one sees a whole host of Turbos & (ex-Turbos) heading to Weymouth 70.3 - Sarah M, Luigi, Lewis, Steve H, James D, Jess, Amy, whilst Ian travels to IM Maryland chasing very limited Kona 24 spots, whilst others take on various distances at Swim Serpentine.
All race results that I know of have been added to the https://thamesturbo.co.uk/club-champs/ and with the standings reflecting these. But as always, please let me know of events you’ve signed up to (thamesturboresults@gmail.com) so I can look for results and put you in touch with others.
Also as always, please can you share your photos from events or socials so we can post to social media to showcase the club to anyone looking in?
Whatsapp Groups Reminder
A reminder that the two main WhatsApp groups have been slightly repurposed, with “TTTC Social & General Chat” & “TTTC Everything Bike”, with Strava invites to the rides/routes here. There is also now a specific women’s only group – for which you’ll need to ask another member for an invite.
Lots of opportunities to get involved on the social side outside of just the training sessions.
July performances & races
Performances & races
Again, lots of varied races to update on, many of them featuring Kester, who’s had a very eventful three weeks 😉.
He started his odyssey by qualifying for the Glasgow World Champs, with a sensational 3rd place overall in the Isle of Man Gran Fondo, before demonstrating his bike prowess, posting the fastest bike split overall in the British Triathlon Championships in Sunderland. He won silver in 20-24, qualifying for next year’s worlds in Malaga and finished a quite sensational 15th overall, in what was only his 2nd ever triathlon. His achievements really deserve time to reflect upon.
Sadly a bike mechanical issue derailed his chances of making it a hattrick, and he was arguably over-shadowed by Megan, who followed up her overall win in Sunderland, with a 9th place finish in the bunch sprint at Glasgow.
Sunderland wasn’t quite so kind to Charlie Brook, who wasn’t able to match his win the preceding weekend at Dorney, but still stands 11th in the Super Series with a chance to improve in the final two events. Another whose race didn’t go to plan, was the Cervino Matterhorn Ultra Race for Maria, for whom the previous night’s illness meant a DNF.
Oli Hammans and Gail Edmonds completed the point to point adventure Castle to Coast triathlon (Dorney to Brighton sea front), whilst due to a timing chip issue, Terry Hernandez was briefly showing as the overall winner of the Castle Howard triathlon (reduced to an aquathlon due to adverse weather).
Today saw another busy weekend, less impacted domestically by the weather. Steve Hughes finished 1st vet at the London Triathlon, posting the 7th fastest bike leg on his way to a 2:13. Mark Fielding-Smith posted a 2:50 and Oli a 6:10 in the 70.3 distance, as part of his preparations for Kalmar. We also saw a very welcome return to action for Josie Middleton-Smith in the sprint event, Another making a long awaited return to action was Mike Deevy, who turned in 3 solid legs on his way to a 2:10 9th place (2nd vet) at Dorney in his first race since lockdown. Out in Duisburg, Sara Deakin ignored the thunderstorms to post a 2:31 (35.6 kmph bike) on her way to a 5:06 in the 70.3, whilst husband Tim came home in 4:41.
I think we have a weekend off, before Mark, Oli & Ben head to Cork, Kalmar and Vichy respectively for Ironmen on 19th Aug.
All race results that I know of have been added to the https://thamesturbo.co.uk/club-champs/ and with the standings reflecting these. But as always, please let me know of events you’ve signed up to (thamesturboresults@gmail.com) so I can look for results and put you in touch with others.
Also as always, please can you share your photos from events or socials so we can post to social media to showcase the club to anyone looking in?
Social news & dates
Socially it’s been another good spell, with a couple of groups (and one solo) enjoying our annual Brighton trip, where the weather was never as bad as threatened.
Today’s club ride had one of the best turnouts for many weeks, and a new & to be recommended coffee stop at Velolife Wargrave. Having the numbers for multiple groups meant a better ride for all. Again, the same refrain, please get involved; help welcome newer members and having many of the stronger riders together improves everyone’s riding. On this note, we have another paceline ride coming up on Friday.
Again, as always, if there’s something you’d like to do together as a group, please suggest it. A few have mentioned the return to Parkrun tourism; I think this will have to wait until after the summer holidays, but would be great to get buy in to make it a proper group event.
If anyone is keen to join the Southwater Triathlon Relays teams on Sun 3rd Sept, please let Mark Bateman know, so that he can organise the team entries. It’s a 3 man sprint triathlon relay (each does their own sprint triathlon, before handing to the next team member). We had great success with the 3 teams we sent last year, would be great to build on this.
Whatsapp Groups Reminder
A reminder that the two main WhatsApp groups have been slightly repurposed, with all “TTTC Social & General Chat” and anything bike related (including club rides and Zwift) in “TTTC Everything Bike”, with Strava invites to the rides/routes here. There is also now a specific women’s only group – for which you’ll need to ask another member for an invite.