Tuff Fitty’s Summer Solstice Aquathlon/BBQ
The first of Tuff Fitty’s Summer Lido races, with this timed to fall at the start of the Summer Solstice. The northern hemisphere of the earth is tilted towards the sun resulting in increased sunlight and warmer temperatures. After the weather we have had recently this is most welcome, although the bright summer Friday did produce a chill wind as the party continued.
Two waves were staged to get everyone out on the run course whilst our Tuff chef’s were preparing the feast. Several were non-committal stating they were just viewing as a training session or working up an appetite, but once the swimmers started their 400m (16 length) swim, the usual competitive spirit came to the fore. This said it was appreciated that several jumped in the pool with the plan to keep some in reserve as this wasn’t their ‘A’ race this weekend with other events including the River Arun swim the next day.
There were some impressive times returned. The split time was taken as swimmers hauled themselves over the side of the pool with the run time including the time in the Lido grounds taken up with transition. Tom Goddard achieved the fastest swim split of 5:45 with Oliver Thomas second and Gareth Coombes third. The good news continued with 12 swimmers exiting on or under the 7 minute mark.
With the run including transition, impressive times were also returned here, particularly if we consider the route took runners up the cheeky climb from the Black Rabbit. This is where Alex Webb got into his stride returning the evenings quickest run split of just 19:20. Tom Goddard was in hot pursuit and with these two in the same wave, there was a super sprint between them down the finish straight. Whilst Tom achieved the second fastest run split, Alex prevailed to be our overall champion by just 1 second. It is nice to report that Cameron Coe achieved the third fastest run split, whilst our newest member, he has proved across both swim and run that he is another worthy Tuff finishing fourth overall finishing just 12 seconds behind our third finisher overall – Gareth Coombes.
The ladies produced equally close racing as the stronger swimmers and stronger runners converged on the straight back down the side of the Lido. Susan Douglas demonstrated her ability in the water with the fastest female swim of just 7:04. Both Clare Worgan and Charlotte Lattin-Rawstrone climbed out of the pool together in a swift 7:25. Juliette Reader had the fourth fastest swim (7:30) and used her strong run leg to finish at 1st female overall. It was a close contest however as both Iris Bennett & Lucy Goldsmith achieved sub 25 minute 5k’s. Lucy took 2nd place just 9 seconds behind with Iris taking 3rd with the fastest ladies run split. Hazel Tuppen was next having secured the fastest ladies swim split. (6:41)
We only had one relay team comprising Sue and Colin Simpson, perhaps we can get more next time.
Whilst the runners were out on the course, others jumped in for a social swim. The time to socialise and mingle is a key component of these evenings and with almost the same number of people attending to help &/or eat as undertake the Aquathlon, the event was another great success. It was particularly rewarding to see many of our newer members taking part and a few on the comeback trail who had taken time out.
Thank you to everyone who brought along salads and desserts. Trevor Harvey for taking pictures. The album has now been updated with more from Sue Simpson (so worth scrolling through again). Adrian Oliver took some great video footage on the links below and equally, Ness & Dan Green who did such good work on the barbecue with their helpers. . The biggest thanks go to Jenny & Adrian Oliver who put so much work into coordinating the food and particularly that everyone had proper plates, cutlery and mugs which meant they had a carload of race signs and piles of washing up to take home. Thank you.
Thank to to every single one of you for making the evening a success. Missed out this time? our return to Arundel for our summer Aquathlon barbecue is Friday 26th July.
| 400m Swim | 5k Run + Trans | Total Time | ||
| Alex Webb | 6:48 | 19:20 | 26:08 | 1st |
| Tom Goddard | 5:45 | 20:24 | 26:09 | 2nd |
| Gareth Coombes | 6:09 | 21:44 | 27:53 | 3rd |
| Cameron Coe | 6:58 | 21:07 | 28:05 | |
| Ben Abbott | 6:42 | 22:28 | 29:10 | |
| Nathan Cooper | 7:00 | 22:15 | 29:15 | |
| Henry Teague-Smith | 7:24 | 21:53 | 29:17 | |
| Marc Flinders | 7:15 | 22:05 | 29:20 | |
| Phil Scales | 9:20 | 21:39 | 30:59 | |
| Dom Amey | 7:16 | 24:10 | 31:26 | |
| Ross Court | 6:21 | 25:57 | 32:18 | |
| Oliver Thomas | 6:00 | 26:31 | 32:31 | |
| Anthony Towers | 6:30 | 26:02 | 32:32 | |
| Juliette Reader | 7:30 | 25:10 | 32:40 | 1st |
| Michael Barrett | 8:15 | 24:27 | 32:42 | |
| Lucy Goldsmith | 8:00 | 24:49 | 32:49 | 2nd |
| Iris Bennett | 8:30 | 24:47 | 33:17 | 3rd |
| Hazel Tuppen | 6:41 | 26:55 | 33:36 | |
| Mark Walford | 7:00 | 26:45 | 33:45 | |
| Sue Simpson (S) / Colin Simpson (R) | 8:20 | 26:20 | 34:40 | |
| Graham Liddell | 7:41 | 27:13 | 34:54 | |
| Kate Cooper | 8:26 | 26:47 | 35:13 | |
| Jo Baldwin | 8:35 | 26:43 | 35:17 | |
| Paul Martin | 9:21 | 26:21 | 35:42 | |
| Clare Worgan | 7:25 | 28:31 | 35:56 | |
| Leah Simms | 8:29 | 27:27 | 35:56 | |
| Catharine Gray | 9:21 | 26:36 | 35:57 | |
| Adam Stringer | 8:01 | 28:16 | 36:17 | |
| Charlotte Lattin-Rawstrone | 7:25 | 29:13 | 36:38 | |
| Karl Halom | 8:04 | 30:10 | 38:14 | |
| Paul Fielder | 6:35 | 32:40 | 39:15 | |
| Susan Douglas | 7:04 | 32:47 | 39:51 | |
| Les Pearce | 7:41 | 35:44 | 43:25 | |
| Chris Evans | 8:15 | 41:04 | 49:19 | |
| Barry Davids | 6:20 |
