Mini-Series 1.
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Wednesday 22nd May saw the first of this year's 11 PACTRAC
Wednesday night Mini-Series Triathlon's at Oundle pool.
The distances are:
swim 400 yards - 8 lengths of the pool.
bike 10 miles - 1 lap towards Fotheringhay, and around Southwick.
run - 3.5 miles out to Glapthorn and back.
The road between Glapthorn and upper Benefield
now has 2.4 miles of freshly laid gravel on it, which has not yet been
sufficiently ground in by passing traffic. As a result we had to change
the usual course and head out towards Fotheringhay, and back via
Southwick. This turned out to be a fast course with the added challenge
of Southwick Hill.
The Novice Mini-Series has, therefore, been put
back 2 weeks until Wednesday 12th June, with the 2nd Novice Race on
Wednesday 10th July. These races will be open to competitors new to the
sport or who have been competing for less than a year. Entry will be by
turning up at Oundle pool on the night. No advance notice is necessary.
Neil Tandy led the swimmers out in 4:31 minutes, a whole minute ahead
of 2nd placed Richard Rollings. Another 19 swimmers exited the pool
within a minute of Richard, with Paul Vernon lying 22nd after 6:35
minutes.
Neil then had the fastest bike leg of the evening to extend
his lead to 2:09 over Jaap Flikweert, with Jon Cox only 3 seconds
behind Jaap, and Paul a further 7 seconds down. Paul had moved right
through the field into 4th place by the start of his favoured run
discipline. The roles were reversed as Paul then had the fastest run,
with Neil the 2nd fastest. Paul managed to claw 1:31 back, leaving Neil
to win his 2nd Mini-Series race by 48 seconds. Sean Pooley outsprinted
Jon right at the death to move up from 5th to 3rd on the run
discipline.
Paul and Sean were competing in their first ever Mini-
Series race, whilst Jon did a Personal Best by 2:46 minutes and Neil a
PB by 46 seconds. A great evening the top 4 boys.
First lady home was Roz Giles in 12th place from 46 starters.
results are on http://www.pactrac.co.ukunder "races", "race results".
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Mini-Series 2.
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Last Wednesday saw 33 athletes competing in the 2nd PACTRAC
Wednesday night Mini-Series race at Oundle. This race should have been
a Novice race, but due to a relaid road surface, became a normal race;
with the Novice Race now being put back to Wednesday 12th June. The
earlier rain also put a few off, but conditions on the night were dry,
al-be-it a little windy, with only 4 Personal Best times recorded on the night.
The distances were:
swim 400 yards - 8 lengths of Oundle Pool.
bike 10 miles - around Glapthorn and the Benefields.
run 3.5 miles - out to Glapthorn and back.
Nathan Tweedie impressed with his
first Mini-Series victory. Nathan is just 17-years old, and knocked 2:
50 mins off of his previous best time, whilst also recording his best
split times in all 3 disciplines. His swim time of 4:11 was just shy of
the course record, as he exited the pool 47 seconds clear of Henry
Morton in second. Tony Daniels followed a further 5 seconds behind, and
then another 24 seconds elapsed before Sean Pooley led a steady stream
of swimmers out onto the bike course.
Steve Giles had the fastest bike
split, moving himself up from 17th out of the water to 3rd in off the
bike. Nathan was still 1:38 mins ahead at the end of the bike section,
with Rob Hammond heading 7 chasing athletes all within 20 seconds of
one another. Paul Spain managed to come through this pack of 7 to take
2nd place by a mere 11 seconds from Steve.
9 athletes beat the hour, including first lady, Christina Cork in 9th place overall.
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Mini-Series 3.
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The 3rd Mini-Series Triathlon took place at Oundle last Wednesday, with Neil
Tandy winning his 2nd race of the series, and joining the exclusive sub
50-minute club. Christina Cork blitzed the course in a new Ladies
record time, whilst Nathan Tweedie beat the old swim record, but didn't
finish the race, so the record is nullified.
Course and distances were the same as usual;
swim 400 yards in Oundle pool - 8 lengths.
bike 10 miles - 1 lap around Glapthorn and Upper Benefield.
run 3.5 miles - out to Glapthorn and back.
40 athletes took to the water, with last
week's winner Nathan Tweedie coming out first in what would have been a
new swim record. (Unfortunately, Nathan didn't complete the race, and
so the record is nullified) Nathan came out in 4:07 minutes, 1 second
better than the current record, but will have to try again, due to
problems on the run causing him not to finish the event.
Neil Tandy
was next out in 4:29 with nearly another minute to 3rd placed Richard
Rollings. A further 5 athletes then came out in the next 22 seconds,
with a gap then, before other leading contenders, Dave Allsop (10th)
and Steve Giles (17th) emerged.
First lady out was Roz Giles in 6:04
closely followed by Christina Cork in 6:06.
Neil extended his lead
with the fastest bike split of the day to come into T2 in 27:55 mins.
Simon Hoppe has yet to make an appearance in this year's Series, but
has only produced a sub 28-minute T2 time on one occasion, as has Josh
Daniels (twice) and Matt Gunby (once), putting Neil's effort into
perspective.
At this stage, Neil had a 1:52 minute lead over Antony
Brown, with Christina flying into transition in a fine 3rd place, just
ahead of Nathan. Jon Crowley was a further 33 seconds behind, closely
followed by Steve Giles and Dave Allsop. Steve Coward was next in, 32
seconds adrift of Jon, whilst 2nd lady Roz Giles, was now in 9th place,
nearly 2-minutes down on Christina.
Neil had the fastest run of the
evening, to extend his lead to over 3 minutes from Dave, who had the
2nd fastest run, and moved up into 2nd place. Steve Giles moved up into
3rd, but was unable to keep with Dave and came in 20 seconds behind.
Neil, who received the club's "Most Improved Trophy" in 2012 for,
amongst other performances, his 51:42 Mini-Series, has so far this year
recorded times of 50:56 and now 49:45. He joins an exclusive club of
athletes that have beaten the magic 50-minute barrier.
3 athletes then
came home in a terrific battle for 4th, with Steve Coward just catching
Jon, who in turn just caught Christina. Neil, Jon and Christina were
among the 17 athlete's who recorded PBs tonight, with Christina
BLITZING THE LADIES RECORD with a fantastic 54:35. Christina's previous
best time of 58:23 was done in 2008, the year that she came 3rd in the
World Championships in Canada! The Mini-Series Ladies record was held
until Wednesday night by Emma Cranfield who recorded 56:39 back in
2007. Christina beat this record by over 2-minutes. Where did that come
from !!!