4 big end-of-season races. Dave, George and Jim qualify. Paul and Roger compete in the World Ironman Championships.

We had 2 members competing in the Bedford Autodrome Duathlons. Jim Fellcompeted in the Sprint Distance Duathlon and George Prodrick in the
Standard Distance Duathlon. Both were qualifying races for the European
Championships in Ibiza next October. Jim had already qualified for the
Standard Distance race in Ibiza through his earlier efforts at Clumber
Park. He, therefore, competed in the Sprint distance at Bedford, came
1st in his Age Group, and has now qualified for both races.

George competed in the Standard distance race at Bedford, came 1st in
his Age Group and will be going to race in Ibiza next year in the
Standard Distance European Championships.

The whole race was based on laps of the motor-circuit with different
laps for the bike and run.

Distances:

Sprint:

run 3 miles - 2 laps.
bike 12.5 miles - 4 laps.
run 1.5 miles - 1 lap.

Standard:

run 6 miles - 4 laps.
bike 25 miles - 8 laps.
run 3 miles - 2 laps.

Results:

Sprint.
231. Jim Fell....23:35 39:46 13:29 = 76:50 AG 1st.

Standard.
147. George Prodrick....60:34 88:09 31:41 = 3:00:24 AG 1st.

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Roger Canham competed in his 9th consecutive Ironman World
Championships in Hawaii, whilst Paul Lunn was competing in his 1st.

Distances:

swim 2.4 miles in the sea.
bike 112 miles.
run 26.2 miles.

It is very difficult to qualify for this, as most long distance
athletes in the world covet one of only 2,221 places. Even if you do
qualify, you have to contend with the soaring heat and wind in the
barren lava fields. This year the temperature was up to 34 degrees.

Roger is normally in the top 10 in his Age Group, but in June he
suffered a broken collar bone, following a fall on the bike, and had to
have 8-weeks off. He managed to recover sufficiently to race, but lost
a lot of quality training time and this year finished in 55th place in
his Age Group. He had qualified, so went along and enjoyed the race
instead of going hard all the way, as usual.

Paul Lunn competed in his first Hawaii Ironman World Championships and
took 5th place in a tough Age Group where 293 top athletes had all
qualified in their own right. After a good swim, Paul moved through the
field with the fastest bike split in his category. He was only 6-
minutes from winning his Age Group.

Results:
106. Paul Lunn 65:59 4:55:54 3:23:09 = 9:25:02 AG 5th.
915. Roger Canham 70:47 5:52:34 3:47:18 = 10:50:39 AG 55.
2221.

Roger's report is below:

"I came into the race pretty relaxed, with no real expectations of
getting a result to match previous years. I know what it takes in terms
of work and life commitment to get in the right shape to be competitive
and my preparation was well short of that standard. The late June bike
crash and broken collar bone brought about an enforced 8 week rest and
a subsequent 9 week fitness build for the race.

My ambition for the swim was to stay out of the combat zone and just
swim within myself right from the gun, no sprinting, no elbows, no
punches, just long easy strokes. Boom, off went the cannon and off I
went, breathing to both sides and keeping away from the A types gunning
for a time. It turned out to be a really relaxing swim and not really
much slower than usual. Note to self, saving energy at the gun by not
sprinting pays back in the second half.

T1 was a calm affair, taking my time with no anxiety about losing more
time to my competition. A good day for me wasn’t to be measured by how
high up in the field I placed, it was how much I enjoyed the day and
fuelled my love of the sport. For about the only time in my life I was
in Zen Roger (ZR) mode !

The first 9-miles on the bike is through town with lots of hills,
riders mashing the pedals to establish an
early advantage, ZR just let them go and started the discipline of self-
preservation. I was not going to make it to the finish line if I bent
the racing rules I had promised myself. Normally, I suffer from bib
number paranoia and consequently if I spot anyone in my Age Group
riding by I have to retake them and then smoke them lest the race
disappears up the road! However, the whole ride was pretty uneventful,
and it was novel to be able to stay strong right to the end and not
start to implode in the blasting hot wind on the return leg.

T2, like T1, was ZR just strolling through the tents and out onto the
run. I had a clear plan that I had spent the last 9 weeks practicing;
run 1.25 miles, walk 60 seconds, which pretty much meant I would walk
through each aid station to cool and fuel, it was the only chance in
order to last the distance.The yanks don’t do metric or precision so I
had to kinda improvise but broadly stick to the plan. I knew I would be
in a hole by half way due to the lack of preparation so when it came
before half way I accepted the discomfort and stuck to the run/walk
plan albeit the run portion was now much slower. More athletes in my
age group passed but ZR just let them go.

Prior to the race I had figured what good looked like, under 11 hours,
so I was doing the mental gymnastics to tick off the miles and know I
would beat the glow stick challenge.
I crossed the finish line just before sunset, sans glow sticks, very
chuffed. I am leaving the Big Island hungry to race head to head with
the best. I’ll be back."

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Dave Patmore-Hill competed in the Gloria 70.3 Half-Ironman triathlon in
Turkey finishing 9th in his Age Group in a great time of 4:52:41. Dave
qualified for next year's World 70.3 Half-Ironman Championships in
South Africa. A massive achievement given that he is at the top end of
his Age Group and will move into the next 5-year bracket next year. All
of the hard work and training has paid off.

Dave said "I've always wanted to race in South Africa. Coming off the
bike, I was in 16th, so I had to have a decent run time, and I've
worked on this over the last few weeks. I had the 3rd fastest run in my
Age Group."

Distances were:
swim 1.2 miles.
bike 56 miles.
run 13.1 miles.

76. Dave Patmore-Hill 38:59 2:40:51 1:32:51 = 4:52:41 AG 9th.

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3 PACTRACers competed in the Challenge Peguera Triathlon - a half-
Ironman distance race in the south-east of Majorca.

Distances were:

swim 1900 metres in the sea. Out and back over clear water where you
could see the bottom, shoals of small fish and a couple of jellyfish.
Plenty of space for all, in salty water with not much swell.

bike 56 miles - 2 laps in the hills around Es Capdella and Calvia. The
two main uphill stretches included plenty of twists and turns to make
your way to the top. We passed a few riders with punctures, one with a
broken chain and one who missed a sharp right-hander on a descent and
ended up half-way down the hillside.

run 13.1 miles - 4 laps taking over the whole town of Peguera. Various
dog-legs including along the beach front which was where the 25 degree
temperature felt at it's worst. There were plenty of Aid Stations which
helped and 85% of the runners wore a hat, which is highly unusual and
highlighted the quality and experience of the field.

The fastest PACTRACer home was Tristan Matthews who had a good all-
round race, whilst Steve Hope came away with a 2nd place in his Age
group, which is the first time that he has come anywhere near the
Podium in a big International race. Steve has come 5th a few times in big
races at home, and won his Age Group in a number of local triathlons
since turning 50, but this was another step up.

Last year he came 9th in his Age Group in Paguera, but realised that with
a better race he could get close to the Podium. This year he knocked 16-
minutes off of his time, didn't run out of energy and came 2nd.

Results:

117. Tristan Matthews....34:21 2:47:43 1:40:45 = 5:02:49 AG 18.
261. Steve Hope..........35:42 3:00:25 1.55.16 = 5:31:23 AG 2nd.
517. Rory Suckling.......33:52 3:27:17 2:16:30 = 6:17:39 AG 74.