Last Wednesday we held the 7th PACTRAC Mini-Series Triathlon
of 2011, at Oundle, over the usual course and distances.
Neil Tandy won his first ever Mini-Series race. Unusually, he wasn't
first out of the water, but 3rd behind Thomas Kane and Georgie Freeman.
Thomas was in his first Mini-Series race and pulled out a superfast
time of 4:28 (Josh Daniels holds the record with 4:07). Georgie then
led Neil out 20 seconds later.
It was another 45 seconds before Dick Rollings led Rob Hammond out with
Dave Wagstaff not too far behind.
Neil gained one place in transition, and by the first turn on the bike,
he had taken the lead.
This is Neil's 4th Personal Best time for the course in 5 outings this
year. Tonight he knocked 1 minute and 14 seconds off, largely by
knowing that he was in the lead, and going for it. It was down to the
others to catch him, and they couldn't. He knocked a minute off his
previous best bike time, and 25 seconds off his best run time. His swim
was slower, having decided to take pace from Georgie, rather than set
the tempo himself, and his tactics were spot on.
His superfast bike meant that he came into T2 a minute ahead of his
nearest rival, Steve Coward, with Dave and Rob a further 30 seconds and
1:10 behind respectively. At this point Sean Beard had moved up to 7th
place 3 minutes and 35 seconds behind Neil.
Sean had the fastest run of the night, and Neil the 2nd fastest run.
Neil was able to hang on to record his first ever Mini-Series win by 44
seconds, with Steve Coward a comfortable 3rd.
Georgie Freeman was the first lady home for the 2nd time - finally
resurrecting her form of last year (Roz Giles has won the other 5 to
retain her Mini-Series crown for the Ladies). Only 3 PBs were recorded
tonight including Neil, and Steve Coward (by 1 second). Another 4 First-
timers took part including Thomas Kane who went under the hour to
finish in 7th.
With just 2 races left, the race for the Mini-Series Trophy hasn't
changed. Simon Hoppe and Steve Giles still lead with 40 points apiece,
but with Simon having only competed in 4 races, he has the best chance
to secure the Trophy if he can manage just one more outing. Rob Hammond
gained 1 point to move up to 36 points from 5 races, whilst 4th place
Jaap Flikweert with 27 points from just 3 races, may not compete again,
due to racing in Belgium this weekend.