Roger Canham won his Age Group at the Bolton Ironman on Sunday and was the 10th fastest Age Grouper, coming home in 22nd place overall, if you include 12 Pro's ahead of him.
His 10:02:37 sees him qualify for the Ironman World Championships once again. These are held in Hawaii in October every year.
10. Roger Canham......1:02:54......5:46:24......3:13:19...=...10:02:37...AG 1st.
Roger moved up from 126th after the swim to 61st on the bike, before a blistering run.
767. Graeme Hall...........1:12:11......6:21:37.....5:49:02...=...13:22:50...AG 101.
Graeme was 422nd after the swim, before moving up to 256th on the bike.
Steve Skelhon.........1:06:15......6:50:33......
Steve was 228th after the swim, before dropping to 507th on the bike. Unfortunately Steve's calf just didn't hold out and he had to pull out of the race early in the run.
Andy Chapman..........1:04:22......
Andy lasted over half-way through the bike, before his knee went on him, and he had to pull out. He started the bike section in 171st position overall.
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Zoe Smith from Oakham (Not in PACTRAC), also qualified for Hawaii. Zoe finished 10th best female Age Grouper and 4th in her Age Group in 11:24:18.
169) Zoe Smith......1:05:05......6:29:36......3:49:37...=...11:24:18...AG 4.
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20th July 2014. Ironman UK - Bolton, England.
Swim 2.4 miles in the lake - 2 laps.
Bike 112 miles.
Run 26.2 miles.
Temperature 24oC.
Roger Canham is the British Age Group Champion in the 50-54 year Age Group, coming 22nd Overall.
Earlier this year, Roger won a slot to the Half-Ironman 70.3 Championships in Canada in September.
He has now made it a year for doing the Ironman World Championship Double - The Half=Ironman in Canada in September and Full Ironman in Hawaii in October).
Roger says:
"It’s a two lap swim and I beat my expectations with a sub 63 minute swim. I was stoked!
I had got pretty hot by the end of the swim with the water over 21oC.
I set about hunting down the guys in my Age Group, managing to bag my first scalp before we hit the two 45 mile loops on the bike course.
The main climb is upon you, early on the loop. It's not especially steep, but certainly long enough to have to be conservative with pace rather than push hard to the top. By the time I crested the hill the weather had closed in, it was raining and the mist was so thick that the decent was almost blind in parts. I sat on the brakes all the way down, this was a time to exercise some caution as there was lots of racing ahead. It wouldn’t be for another hour or so that the weather would lift and the roads dry out a little. The course had changed this year and whilst there were less hills it was quite technical.
I hit T2 behind plan and uncertain how much I had left myself to do. As I exited a friend shouted out 3rd place, 2 minutes off 2nd, 10 minutes off the lead. Fantastic, time to go to work. This put me in a really good place mentally, I could relax, find my running legs and if I simply held a reasonable Ironman pace I would be good for third and a Kona slot, but of course I was there to compete not settle for third. I nailed second within 5 miles and then reeled in first by 11 miles, legs feeling great I just pushed on but being careful not to over reach. Not a time for heroics, just tap out the pace and make it to the finish line.
There were lots of friends and family on the course, really helping to keep me on task, in the lead and heading for the tape. I crossed the line chuffed to have bagged the win, booked my ticket to Kona and finished 22nd overall. It was a great result and my year at the ripe age of fifty would be marked with the Ironman World Championship double, it’s not all bad getting old".
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PACTRAC have had some outstanding results at the Kimbolton Sprint Triathlon in recent years', with Jon Crowley finishing 3rd overall 2-year's ago, and Neil Tandy winning outright last year. High hopes were there for another first place overall, but unfortunately, Nathan Tweedie is currently trying not to aggravate a knee injury, and was, therefore, a non-starter.
Nevertheless, the 5 PACTRAC starters all finished in the top 50, with Ros Goatly 2nd lady and winning her Age Group. The other 4 all came 2nd in their respective Age Groups, headed by Jon Crowley, the best placed, in 9th overall. Ros missed first lady by just 10 seconds.
9. Jon Crowley 7:09.... 33.01.... 20:30 = 60:40 AG 2.
12. Steve Hope 7:27.... 34:37.... 19:47 = 61:51 AG 2.
29. Ros Goatly 7:19.... 36.34.... 22:53 = 66:46 AG 1st.
46. Pedro Polson 7:22.... 35:57.... 25:17 = 68:36 AG 2.
47. Jo Lee 6:53.... 37.36.... 24:16 = 68:45 AG 2.
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The previous day, at Kimbolton saw a very large turnout of over 300 competitors, in the Children's triathlons. This was an Eastern league event, and it was good to see 4 Junior PACTRACers racing. The weather held and the sun shone which made the run more testing than expected. A good effort especially to those whose 1st competitive event this was!
TS2
10. Katie Tasker........ 2:52....8.12....8:34 = 19:38
26. Alexandra Cooper.. 2:16....10:00....9:52 = 22:08
34. Archie Stewart..... 3:32....9:14....10:50 = 23:36
TS1
35. Lottie Tasker..... 3:14....8:28....7:26 = 19:08
Katie, Lottie & Archie will be competing in this category again next year! – If Katie keeps making the progress in the facets that she has this season she is looking at a podium finish before long.
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In the Pitsford Olympic Distance Triathlon (swim 1500 meters in the lake, bike 25 miles, run 6.25 miles) Rob Hammond was 7th overall and 2nd in his Age Group, whilst Roz Giles came 2nd Lady and 1st in her Age Group.
7. Rob Hammond.... 24:49....1:09:32....43:41...=...2:18:02 AG 2.
15. Chris Brennan. 29:05....1:09:15....46:31...=...2:24:51 AG 5.
17. Steve Giles.... 34:23....1:09:42....41:44...=...2:25:49 AG 7.
24. David Yarnall. 29:59....1:17:31....43:08...=...2:30:38
35. Roz Giles........ 28:51....1:15:41....51:54...=...2:36:26 AG 1st. and 2nd lady.
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Rob Hammond then competed in midweek in the Quadrac Racing Off-Road Triathlon at Boxend and came 3rd overall, and 1st in his Age Group. Rob was 3rd out of the 750 meter lake swim from 95 athletes. A couple of riders changed positions, but Rob held onto 3rd on the bike leg and through to the finish on the run.
3. Rob Hammond 12:04 24:55 21:38 = 58:37
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Last Wednesday saw the 8th of 10 PACTRAC Mini-Series Triathlon's for this year.
Simon Hoppe competed in his 2nd Mini-Series Tri of 2014 and this time took the honours. Two weeks ago, he recorded exactly the same time and came 2nd to Nathan Tweedie.
This time Simon was first out of the water, with a steady stream of 9 swimmers out in the next 34 seconds. He then had the fastest bike leg to come into T2 48 seconds ahead of Tony Brown, and 90 seconds ahead of Jon Crowley. The next 4 cyclists came in within 17 seconds of Jon, including Steve Giles, who had the fastest run of the night to move up to 2nd overall, but 1:37 behind Simon.
Mark Weathersby came in third with a new PB. The only other top ten finisher to record a PB was Scott Lloyd who had the third fastest run of the night. David Yarnall dipped under the hour for the first time, whilst Roz Giles was first lady.