PACTRAC's Novice Mini-Series race at Oundle attracted 44competitor's.
The course and distances were the same as usual:
swim
400 yards in the 50 yard pool at Oundle.
bike 10 miles - 1 lap around Glapthorn and the Benefield's.
run 3.5 miles out to Glapthorn and back.
Tom Stead a 15 year old triathlete from St.Neots did his first
Mini-Series race, and despite not knowing the course in advance, proved
that he is one to watch. Tom was out of the water in 9th place, so had
plenty of athletes to chase, as he had the fastest bike split of the
night to start the run in pole position, over 1/2 minute up on Henry Morton.
We had some COPS swimmers on the night, as Matt Brigham
recorded a superfast swim split of 4:11 - just 4 seconds down on Josh
Daniels swim course record of 4:07. Nathan Tweedie in his 3rd Mini-
Series race was just 5 seconds adrift, whilst Matt Allsop and Henry
Morton also recorded sub-5 minute times.
Tom was over 2 minutes down
at the start of the bike, whilst Henry had the 2nd fastest bike split
to move up to 2nd overall at the start of the run, 1 1/2 minutes ahead
of Nathan in 3rd. At this point, Stephen Smith was 9th, and with the
fastest run split of the night, moved up to 6th overall. Nathan held
onto 5th after being overtaken by a couple of fast runners in Matt
Allsop and Jon Cox. 8 athletes beat the hour, whilst first lady home,
Tracy McCartney was just outside in 9th.
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PACTRAC held their annual Off-Road Triathlon at Harringworth
on Sunday. The poor weather conditions attracted just 8 competitor's,
but 4 of those were past winners of the event, so a quality field was
assured.
Distances were:
swim 800 meters in the private lake.
bike 8 miles off road on grass and tracks - 2 laps.
run 4 miles on the same course - 1 lap.
Course Record Holder and 2010 winner, Jaap Flikweert
emerged triumphant, having led the charge on the bike, to hunt down
lead swimmer Jon Ratcliffe. Rob Hammond then took over the lead on the
bike to come into T2 44 seconds ahead of Jaap. However, a slow
transition, with Rob (as well as others later), still being too cold to
quickly undo his cycle helmet, allowed Jaap to gain some time.
At this point Rupert Conant (winner in 2007 and 2008) had clawed his way
up to 3rd, with Steve Giles (reigning champion from 2011) 4th, and Jon
Ratcliffe (winner in 2009) still in contention in 5th. With all 4
previous winners present, it was going to be a tight race.
Jaap then had a fast run to pull away and come home just 25 seconds ahead of Rob.
Steve moved up to 3rd with both the fastest bike and run of the day.
The rain continued throughout, but couldn't dampen the spirits.
Results:
1. Jaap Flikweert.... 14:31 ....35:15.... 24:41 .. = 1:14:27
2. Rob Hammond.... 14:54.... 34:08.... 25:50 .. = 1:14:52
3. Steve Giles ........ 19:01 .... 31:59.... 24:20.. = 1:15:20
4. Jonathon Ratcliffe 12:59 ....38:37.... 26:53.. = 1:18:29
5. Steve Hope ........ 15:59 ....36:34..... 26:36 .. = 1:19:09
6. Rupert Conant .....17:25 ....33:19.... 29:52 .. = 1:20:36
7. Roz Giles ........... 18:11 ....37:19 ....31:54 .. = 1:27:24
8. Georgina Jennings 19:30 ....58:52 ....49:15 .. = 2:07:37