Last weekend saw Wight Tri members, Nick and Laura Curwood return to Dorney Lake in Berkshire for another para vs able-bodied triathlon race in the Dorney Lake Super Sprint Triathlon.
Nick and Laura had super races with both Nick producing some excellent personal best results.
Nick exited the 400m swim with an all time swim PB of 6.18 in 2nd place, 51secs behind a very swift youth category triathlete. Nick showed his strength and experience to post faster times on the bike but could not quite catch him on the run to fall short by 33secs. A super swift 10k bike PB of 15.31, and a final 2.5k run of 10.12, saw Nick finish 2nd overall and 1st in his 55-59 age group with an overall time of 35.04, knocking almost 2 minutes off his previous personal best.
Laura was similarly thrilled with her own results. She exited the swim mere seconds after Nick, achieving a 400m all time PB of 6.33 and again, achieved a PB on the 10k bike of 21.21. There was no PB on the 2.5k run, but only just. At 9.18, she was only 8 seconds away from a perfect hat-trick but was still extremely happy nonetheless. Laura came 11th out of the 67 able bodied competitors, was 4th female overall and 2nd in her 25-29 age group with a final time of 41.46…a mere 33 seconds away from beating her current PB.
Newforest Standard Triathlon
Wight Triathlon members and sisters Arielle and Lizzi Elton-Walters along with team mate Addy Swann headed to the New Forest at the weekend to take part in 2 of the Challenging Events New Forest Triathlons, which was based at the beautiful Ellingham Lake.
Arielle tackled her longest triathlon distance to date with an excellent performance at the Challenging Events New Forest Standard Distance Triathlon. Taking advice from her sister, Lizzi, who was in an earlier wave, Arielle started her swim towards the back of her wave to allow her to settle quickly into her stroke for her first open water event. Despite being called ‘standard’, this event was anything but, with an extra 1.45km run from the lake to T1 which all counts as swim time. Arielle’s 1km swim, trainer donning and the accompanying run saw her enter T1 in 37 mins 28secs.
Building on her WLWM Summer Time-trial cycling experience, Arielle overtook lots of competitors on the bike on a difficult open road course. The 33km (non-standard!) race distance took her 1.13.38, which was well within the top half of the bike times on the day.
The event itself had 3 different triathlon distances along with a duathlon and an aquabike taking place concurrently so negotiating the entrance/ exit of the transition area was a fourth discipline here. Arielle managed it better than most and exited transition for the last time for her 10km run. By this time the sun had come out and there was a huge hill to climb on the run. She coped with both challenges extremely well to finish in 2.56.38; 27th female overall and 4th in her 35-39 age category.
Lizzi entered the Middle Distance Event (the bizarre name given to the longest distance available, an approximation of a half ironman distance) as part of a relay team with fellow Wight Tri member Addy and their Southampton Tri Club teammate Ed Simpson.
Lizzi was pleased to find her rhythm in the swim after a panicky start, completing the 1900m swim and the aforementioned run to T1 in 47mins. Addy set numerous PB’s on the bike leg for power and speed to complete the 90km circuit in 2 hours 55mins and Ed brought the team home in the blazing midday sun with a 21k-ish run in 1 hour 35mins.
They finished in an excellent time of 5.20.58, the 5th fastest time overall for the distance and second team; all grateful for their teammates and swearing to never enter the same distance/event as individuals.
