Weekend Round Up 18th 19th May
ARUNDEL LIDO TRIATHLON
What a phenomenal turnout from Tuff Fitty in the sun under clear blue skies at Sunday’s Arundel Lido Triathlon.
STANDARD DISTANCE TRIATHLON
First off with an early 5:45am start to enable the cycle to finish before the roads became busy was the Standard distance; a 750m swim in the tropically heated Lido – 29 degrees, before heading off for the climb up to Whiteways Lodge. The distance is 2.8 miles from roundabout to roundabout, so a bit of a slog, then competitors got some respite on the downhill through Fairmile Bottom. Back along the A27 to Arundel before starting a second lap of the same route amassing 1,430 foot of ascent; a 23 miles course. Then a 5.1 mile run including the cheeky switchback road to South Stoke and back, finishing alongside the Lido.
In this race we had eight racing with great results. First Tuff home in 8th position overall and 3rd in his age group was Jon Cassell, looking strong as he works toward his GB age group race. Second Tuff, using the race as good preparation for his forthcoming Ironman was Olly Sampson. Great to see an equal number of male and female Tuffs in this distance with Liane Davids using her strong run split to achieve 1st in her age group; impressive as she attended off the back of an injury. Tuff finishers continued with Isis Solato finishing just over a minute later as she claimed 2nd in her competitive senior age grouping.
It is fantastic news to celebrate the performance of our next two finishers. Adam Stringer had only come along to last Thursday’s swim training before signing up enabling him to race as a Tuff. Adam hasbeen busy having raced Winchester Tri, Bluebell 10k & Worthing Half within the last four weeks. Paul Fielder was our next finisher and whilst also a newer member has attended our track, swim and Dom’s ride – so we have two further strong Tuffs in our ranks.
Janet Shepherd also raced the standard and finished in 2nd for her age group. Vicki Hedger has been doing well on her comeback and whilst had a problem with broken goggles is always smiling and positive so we are delighted to have all eight of our standard racers safely home.
SPRINT DISTANCE
The sprint, doubled up as our Sprint Triathlon championship race and we had a very impressive 30 Tuffs start their 400m swim, 12 mile bike and 3 mile run. Mark Walford was our first Tuff across the line in 1:00:40. He notched up the quickest Tuff bike split which propelled him to 3rd position overall and 1st in his age group category. Tom Goddard was also at the sharp end of the results finishing 9th overall and secured the fastest Tuff swim split of just 7:03. Crossing the line 11th overall was Alex Webb who took the fastest Tuff run split of the day with a split of 19:08. This took Alex to 3rd in his age group. Approaching the race carrying an injury, Barry Davids was keen to start but out on the course found he was going well, taking the third quickest Tuff bike split in the process and crossed the line in 20th position to see four Tuffs in the top twenty.
The strong results continued with Gareth Coombes in 21st position, just two seconds behind Barry, and then Adrian Oliver crossed in 28th position followed 8 seconds later by Phil Scales using his strong run to great effect. In his first Arundel Triathlon, Simon Grundy was 33rd and hot on his heels Dom Amey finished just 2 seconds behind. His 34th position was notable as some of his gear had been kicked out the way leading to a frantic hunt delaying his transition exit. Also close timewise was Katie Young using the third quickest Tuff swim split to finish 1st in her age group.
There was now a steady stream of Tuffs finishing with Marc Flinders finishing 28 seconds ahead of Ed Lay. Olivia Morey was our second lady to finish. Clare Worgan secured third Tuff lady home absolutely smashing her previous race times at Arundel Tri. Fraser Kidd returned good times across all three disciplines to finish 30 seconds later and then it is great to formally welcome Dan Lawrence to our club. Dan is another of our newer members showing no weakness in any discipline.
Tuffs continued to finish to the cheers of fellow members with Will King our next athlete, Catharine Gray was our 4th lady home, then Paul Martin and Amy Flinders. Callum Kalbfell finished 15 seconds ahead of Karl Halom. Karl, whilst joining just prior to Christmas has been brilliant encouraging both his brother Jon and Adam Stringer to join – good man. Linda James was racing here for the third time and finished 4th in her age group. Jess Coombes was next and then James Brock used his strong swim to his advantage as he returned to Triathlon. Bob Rogers was followed by Shelia Bailey and Jenny Oliver. Claire Moyle saw our 30th member to finish whilst the morning continued with plenty of non-Tuffs finishing later.
Special mention goes to Darcie Lacey, competing alongside mum Verity, Darcie flew the Tuff flag doing rather well in the under 20 category coming 3rd in her age group with a particularly strong swim.
Our Aquabikers – Ross & Verity
STANDARD AQUABIKE
We just had one member race the Standard distance Aquabike – Ross Court. Ross punched out the quickest 750m swim of the aquabikers and then sped off to clinch the quickest bike split which all added up to 1st place overall – beating the second place Aquabiker by an impressive 5m 20sec. If that wasn’t enough Ross then headed to Goodwood for a 21mile ride around the Motor Circuit.
SPRINT AQUABIKE
Joining in the Aquabike celebrations was Verity Lacey. Verity ran out of transition with the fastest Aquabike swim split and then also used her power on the bike to finish as 1st female and 2nd position overall with a time that was 6 minutes ahead of third position.
In summary that was 40 club members who took part across all four events. This was not the end of the story as the course was packed with Tuff officials. Debbie Boxall was Raw Energy’s race director. Tiff Orton was on registration and timing. Moving onto the swim, Trevor Harvey undertook race briefing before Clive Harvey undertook race starter with Glenn Parisi Kate Cooper and Lucy Goldsmith as lane counters. Into transition and bike in/out with marshals around the course, we had Andy Rossiter, Jon Roper and Andy Gomm. Colin and Sue Simpson, Karly Martin. Les Pearce, Rhian Standley and Grant Smalley. Andy Ward was on the PA – 17 Tuffs on the Raw Energy team for the morning.
With Tuff supporters well into double figures, we had over 70 Tuffs present, plus a previous member who is inspired to make a Tuff comeback. 15% of the competitors were Tuffs. This together with such illustrious back up and support; what an awesome morning of Tuffness in the sun.
Adrian Oliver & Sue Simpson have submitted some photos which have been loaded in the Flickr album below:-
AJ BELL GREAT BRISTOL RUN
Having rightly applauded some of our newer members, a further great performance was being undertaken at the Great Bristol Run, an event comprising either a 10k or Half Marathon: this year with over 15,000 competing. Often described as the best race in the South-West, it also serves as an England Masters qualification event. Conditions were bright and very hot ranging between 18 & 21 degrees. Our representative was Nathan Cooper who has already demonstrated his pedigree on track and in the pool. Nathan took part in the half Marathon which wound its way around many of Bristol’s landmarks, including harbourside and the Avon Gorge beside the River Avon (above pic).
Nathan supported the view that conditions were very hot and some participants were concerned at the lack of water. Having not studied the route map very hard he was surprised how it incorporated a lot of turns towards the end of the race. These conditions clearly didn’t affect Nathan unduly as he raced home in a time of 1:30:34 – very impressive.
PARKRUN ROUND UP
We start at Littlehampton parkrun where there was a cause for celebration as Steve Fryer completed his 100th parkrun. 60 of these have been achieved at Littlehampton. Steve has continued to record swift running times despite including parkrun within his longer marathon training and was first Tuff home in 20:41 Steve Bridgeman was our next runner home. Alistair Evans was our third runner then Sue and Colin Simpson who ran together and then Chris Evans rounded off the Tuff six.
Maidenhead parkrun saw Trevor Harvey earn both a running credit together with a volunteer credit for course set up.
Across at Worthing parkrun Paul Howie was our first runner home followed by Edward Lay who was running ahead of the next morning’s Arundel Triathlon. Nina Tully was also running
Bognor parkrun saw Clive Harvey in action.
Well done to all eleven.
SUMMER TUFF RUN SERIES
As posted on Spond we are just over a week away to the first fixture of our STRUN which stands for Summer Tuff RUN series. For our newer members what is the STRUN?. This series of five fixtures is undertaken under an age graded basis to effectively negate age or gender creating a level playing field for everyone. The age grading will be familiar to those who attend parkrun and co-incidentally a parkrun is our first fixture. This is scheduled to be Littlehampton parkrun on Saturday 1st June. If not registered yet, please do so as you will need to have your barcode scanned as it will be the parkrun results that will be used by us. With five fixtures participants will be able to take their best three scores to count. Our other fixtures are as follows (not Dawn on The Downs as previously advertised as this has been cancelled)
Sat – 1st June – Littlehampton parkrun – 9am start – 5k
Mon – 22 July 2024 – Beat the Tide (Worthing) – 10km 6:15pm *
Sat – 10th August 2024 – Worthing parkrun 9am start- 5k
Sun – 25th August 2024 – Arundel Castle Trail Race 9am start -10km
Wed 4th September 2024 – Evening Track Run (Worthing) 7pm start 10k
- Please note : Beat the Tide is approaching capacity; so don’t delay.
OPEN WATER SWIM CHICHESTER LAKE
By popular request we have hired Chichester Lake at Westhamptnett again. Scheduled for Saturday 8th June we are using Chichester Watersports facilities between 9am and 11am. This is a fantastic opportunity for some open water swimming. As we have the facility for two hours, it represents a great opportunity for those looking at distance events to ‘go long’. Equally if people wish to swim shorter distances, that’s fine, and provides great opportunity to watch others as you sample perhaps a coffee from the building overlooking the lake. To provide some structure, two courses will be set up with buoys where you can practice sighting and turns around these markers. There will be a 400m rectangular route and a 900m route. Underlining how the swim really is open for all there will be a chaperone option during the first twenty minutes where more experienced swimmers can guide you to build confidence. There is a requirement to wear a wetsuit, for those who haven’t got one you will note our post about discounted suits from Zone3. The price of £5 per person is being heavily subsidised by your club and whilst acknowledging it is a race weekend for some, it is hoped a large number will wish to attend as last year was exceptionally well received, whether you are an experienced swimmer or are viewing as a chance to build confidence. Further details on our Spond posts.
