5 PACTRACers competed in the World Duathlon Championships in Gijon,
Spain.
Distances were:
Run 6.25 miles
bike 25 miles
run 3 miles.
Matt Gunby fimished 2nd in the Under 23 Elite Category. He
was GBs sole representative in this category. Matt came in after the
first 6.25 mile run in a group of 5 athletes. 2 others then pulled away
on the bike, and Matt came into T2 in the first chasing bunch, which
now consisted of 6 athletes. However, Matt had the fastest 2nd run (3
miles), and pulled away from this bunch, also catching one of the
athletes in front. He, therefore came home in 2nd place overall, just
over a minute down. All of the damage was done on the bike, but Matt
can be proud of a SILVER MEDAL for his country.
In addition, following the age group races on the Sunday, an elite GE
Great Britain Team consisting of Katie Hewison, Mark Buckingham, Matt
Gunby and Georgina Schwiening won silver in the team relay event. So
two SILVER MEDALS for Matt over the weekend!
We also had 4 Age Groupers in action. Kate Armstrong came 7th in her
Age Group (and first Brit), Wendy Gooding was 10th in hers and Sean
Beard 45th in his.
Results:
2. Matt Gunby 30.52 65.20 15.28 = 1.51.40
45. Sean Beard 39.34 75.20 22.47 = 2.17.41
10. Wendy Gooding 44.03 74.08 22.08 = 2.20.19
7. Kate Armstrong 46.11 80.10 22.21 = 2.28.42
Meanwhile Graham Honey competed in the Sprint distance World
Championships over half of the Standard distance.
20. Graham Honey 18:59 37:38 9:43 = 66.20
Unfortunately, both Sean and Graham went into the race with hamstring
trouble, so neither were able to perform freely, but, nevertheless,
gave it their best shot. This is the 5th time out of 6 that Sean has gone into a
major European or World Championship with an injury.
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2 PACTRACers, Giles Cooper and Charlie Brookes competed in the Coast to
Coast 2-day event in Scotland as a team. Both team members had to
compete the whole course together.
This is the link to the event website:
http://www.scotlandcoasttocoast.com
Their were 3 different categories. Our intrepid duo competed in the
105-mile Challenger race over 2-days. Their was also a Racer category
over the same 105 mile course, but taking just 1-day. The final
category was called Expert, and again took just 1-day, but involved
more kayaking, and you needed your own support crew.
Giles reports:
"We finished 33rd overall (from 456 finishers, a mix of solo and pair
competitors) and 4th men's pair. Total time 10hrs 58min (winning time
9hrs 24min)
Day 1 started from the beach at Nairn (approx 10 miles north of
Inverness). First leg was a gentle 7 mile trail run to Cawdor Castle.
We started towards the back of the field of 750 Challengers having
arrived earlier on Saturday morning after a very long drive from
Peterborough. At Cawdor we had a 45 mile road bike section to Fort
Augustus (at the southern end of Loch Ness). Bike choice proved
critical here and we made good progress through the field, many of whom
were on MTBs! Charlie and I had opted for our versions of cyclo cross
bikes (a Decathlon hybrid and Raleigh tourer, both fitted with knobbly
tyres in preparation for Day 2). At the second transition we were back
on the road for a short run down to Loch Ness for a 1 mile kayak.
Overnight camping at Fort Augustus, great weather on arrival but then
rained solidly for 12 hours overnight!
Day 2, which was always going to be the more challenging day, started
with a damp 35 mile on and off-road bike (had to use the same bike on
both days). A 5 mile technical MTB section was interesting on bikes
with no suspension and after the overnight deluge but we managed
reasonably well against the MTBs, with only one fall and one puncture!
After this section we made good progress on fire-tracks and some road
sections although suffered a second puncture. Into transition, which
was a dead-time zone, we changed and prepared ourselves for the 14 mile
yomp from Fort William to Loch Leven. The route was stunning, starting
with a 1 mile climb on the first section of Ben Nevis path, before
heading off on the West Highland Way. We quickly decided on a jog/yomp
strategy, yomping when we were unable to run due to the surface or
steepness of the climb. We completed the trek in what we thought was a
disappointing 3hrs 24min but subsequently found that very few pairs or
solos had gone below 3hrs despite running the whole thing. Final
section was another 1 mile kayak to finish in front of the Isle of
Glencoe Hotel. From here, the finish, we only had to stagger 20 yards
to our room before heading back to the start on Monday morning to
collect bikes and car."
Results:
33rd. Charlie Brookes/Giles Cooper 10:58:22
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Also at the weekend5 PACTRACers competed in the Roade Triathlon at
Northampton over the distances of:
swim 414 metres, (18 lengths of a 23m pool)
bike 12.5 miles - 2 laps.
run 3 miles - out and back twice.
The race was won overall by 3-times Olympian, and 2012 Olympic hopeful,
Tim Don (In reality it is between Tim and 2008 Olympian Will Clarke to
join with the Brownlee Brothers in a 3-man team). Tim's first
transition was 40 seconds. PACTRACs Roz Giles did it in 39 seconds!!!
(The T1 and T2 times have been included as usual in the bike time
below).
Steve and Roz Giles both came first in their respective Age Groups.
16. Steve Giles 8.31 35.16 16.23 = 60.10 AG = 1st.
56. Roz Giles 7.48 37.43 19.50 = 65.21 AG = 1st.
90. Ros Goatly 7.39 40.30 19.36 = 67.45 AG = 4th.
106. Chris Pike 8.16 39.55 20.38 = 68.49 AG = 16th.
461. Roy Mayhew 14.58 55.14 23.58 = 94.10 AG = 2nd.
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We still have 2 major races left this year.
Roger Canham has qualified for the 4th successive year for the Ford
Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii on 8th October.
Dave Patmore-Hill is competing in the Rohto 70.3 (half-Ironman) in
Miami on 30th October.