Ribby Hall Triathlon by Dale Kenyon

Ribby Hall Sprint Triathlon  - 22^nd April 2012

Sunday 22^nd April marked a special date for the A&T triathlon team as the first event on the calendar of our  inaugural club triathlon championships took place. Ribby Hall was the venue and was the first of a 3 race series, all of which form part of our club champs. A number of our members competed in these flat, fast, friendly and reasonably priced events last year and the Fylde coast weather has tested us each time. The gale force winds and hailstone of last year wasn’t there but it was certainly a wet one!! A great turn out from A&T saw 13 of us setting off in different waves of swimming ability with 258 competing overall. Unfortunately with the smaller, less organised events (with no chip timing) there were a few anomalies in recorded swim time where John Lee swam further than required and Craig Bradbury seemingly had time for a brew and put his feet up for a while in T1 – but for the money charged, I think they put on a really good event. The relatively short and flat 10.5 mile bike section was punishing due being at top pace for virtually the whole distance with the fastest bike splits averaging over 26mph!! The 5km run was 2 laps and involved a number of out and back stretches round the roads of the holiday park. There were a few sneaky hills in there which were testing after the swim/bike but the massive A&T support at the half way point gave a boost to everybody representing the blue of A&T. A special mention must go to this support (Suzanne, Dave, Shaun, Emma, Christine, Kim, Debbie, Anita, Neil, Anthony plus the Foster, Kenyon, Reason, Wane families, various dogs and many more!!!) which is a great advertisement and shows the strength and camaraderie of our awesome club. Onto the results and it will surprise nobody that Alex Foster was 1^st A&T home coming 2^nd overall competing with athletes who compete at GB level. John Hyde (13^th) managed to pip John Lee (14^th) but I’m sure that Mr Lee will rue them extra metres swam and look forward to a good battle next time out. Colin Rigby post the 3^rd fastest run of the day to take 21^st ahead of the Reason Brothers in their first triathlon, Mike in 26^th and Dan in 32^nd, next was myself in 47^th followed by Craig Bradbury in 73^rd (his swim time hasn’t been corrected unfortunately). Kellyanne Towns celebrated her birthday by being first A&T lady home in 106^th, followed by Brenda Wane in 129^th and 2^nd F50 (brilliant effort considering lack of opportunity to train lately!!). Next home was Linda Whittaker in 146^th, Tri Capt Clare Unsworth in 168^th  knocking 7 and half minutes off her effort last year and Jane Ecclestone in 211^th.

Well done to Alex, John Hyde and John Lee collected the Team Prize for the men to add to the silverware collected by Alex and I wouldn’t but against them doing it in all 3 races!!. Full results below (including Alex’s Dad Tony Foster). If anybody feels inspired and wants further information on the Triathlon or Duathlon side, please refer to the section on the website or contact our Captain Clare Unsworth. Next race is St. Anne’s Triathlon on the 22^nd May 2012.

.........nothing else happened at all, no parking incidents, no towing from a farm hand, nothing (I reserve bloggers rights to include/exclude any details I deem unsuitable – Suzanne!!!!! But thanks to Shaun, John and Dave)

Pos	Num	Name	Cat	Pos/Cat	Swim400m	Psn	Bike10.5	Psn	Run 5k	Psn	Overall
1	274	Chris Joyce	M	Jan-71	00:05:29	1	00:27:24	8	00:16:54	1	00:49:47
2	273	Alex Foster	M	Feb-71	00:06:20	4	00:26:28	2	00:17:52	5	00:50:40
3	266	Ian Roberts	M	Mar-71	00:06:38	10	00:26:58	4	00:17:32	4	00:51:08
13	228	Jonathan Hyde	M	Aug-71	00:07:42	28	00:28:34	21	00:19:34	21	00:55:50
14	242	John Lee	M40	Jun-72	00:08:50	64	00:28:30	19	00:18:32	9	00:55:52
21	191	Colin Rigby	M40	Oct-72	00:07:56	37	00:31:13	53	00:17:29	3	00:56:38
26	256	Michael Reason	M	13/71	00:08:13	47	00:29:34	35	00:19:11	19	00:56:58
32	226	Dan Reason	M	17/71	00:09:09	75	00:29:57	37	00:18:59	13	00:58:05
47	223	Dale Kenyon	M	25/71	00:08:10	45	00:31:20	56	00:20:54	53	01:00:24
73	209	Craig Bradbury	M40	31/72	00:11:24	150	00:32:52	85	00:20:19	39	01:04:35
106	203	Kellyanne Towns	F	Aug-35	00:09:20	83	00:36:05	141	00:23:21	104	01:08:46
127	121	Tony Foster	M50	Oct-28	00:12:00	172	00:33:39	97	00:24:55	134	01:10:34
129	221	Brenda Wane	F50	02-Oct	00:09:36	93	00:35:59	137	00:25:30	147	01:11:05
146	102	Linda Whittaker	F40	Sep-31	00:11:42	160	00:37:43	166	00:23:32	112	01:12:57
168	156	Clare Unsworth	F	17/35	00:09:33	91	00:36:35	149	00:30:41	225	01:16:49
211	157	Jane Eccleston	F40	22/31	00:10:00	107	00:40:51	208	00:32:06	237	01:22:57