Mini-Series 1.
PACTRAC held their 1st Mini-Series Triathlon of 2015 at Oundle pool
last Wednesday.
Swim: 400 yards - 8 lengths of Oundle
Pool.
Bike: 10 miles - 1 loop around Glapthorn and the Benefields.
Run: 3.5 miles - out to Glapthorn and back.
Nathan Tweedie recorded his 3rd Mini-Series win, following on from his
two wins last year.
In last year's Mini-Series 9, he reduced his own Swim Course record
down by 1-second to 4:02 minutes. On Wednesday, Nathan equalled that
feat, with another 4:02.
Nathan also recorded another PB; his 49:05 reducing his time by 3
seconds, taking him ever-closer to the 49-minute barrier that has only
been broken by Matt Gunby, Josh Daniels and Simon Hoppe in the past.
On Wednesday, Nathan was 1 minute slower on the bike due to the
excessive winds, but 1 minute quicker on the run, to record an overall
PB by just 3 seconds. On a better night for cycling, he is due to break
that 49-minute barrier soon.
26 athletes started this race, with over half - 14 coming out of the
water in under 6-minutes. Nathan had a lead of 11 seconds from GB
athlete, Kim Bell; with Simon Hoppe, a minute down at this stage, just
ahead of Liam Stokes and Abi Schofield. a long gap of 23 seconds
ensued, before the next 9 athletes all came out within 20 seconds of
each other.
It was a windy night for biking, with Simon making up just 8 seconds,
and Matt Greenhill moving up into 3rd position. Nathan had the fastest
run of the night to pull away and win by nearly 3 minutes. Simon held
onto 2nd, with a fast run from Wayne Stainsby pushing Matt back into
4th.
Sean Beard was over 3 minutes behind in the swim, but moved up to 11th
on the bike and 5th after the run.
6th and 7th went to Rob Hammond and Stefan Lawrence who had the same
swim and run times, with just 18 seconds separating them on the bike.
1st lady was Kim Bell in 11th position, returning from International
Duty with the GB Elite Squad to knock 2:28 off of her PB.
Another promising Junior is Liam Stokes, who recorded 58:37 for 12th
place in his first Mini-Series. 14 athletes beat the hour on a windy
but dry night.
This Wednesday sees the Novice-only Mini-Series, where other juniors
are expected to make their debuts.
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PACTRAC held their annual Novice Mini-Series at Oundle last
Wednesday. The distances and Course were the same as usual:
swim 400
yards in Oundle Pool - 8 lengths.
Bike 10 miles around Glapthorn and
the Benefields on this undulating, sporting course, with 2 uphills, and
2 fast descents.
run 3.5 miles out to Glapthorn and back.
We had 20
Novices competing on another windy but dry night. 18 of the 20 did
Personal Best times, because they were either competing for the first
time or have only recently started competing in the Mini-Series (within
the last year); but all have just started out on their triathlon
journey.
Liam Stokes led the swimmers out with Jonathan Oakey right
on
his tail. Another 3 swimmers soon followed before a gap of nearly 1
1/2
minutes to 6th placed Nicholas Partridge. Marcus Widdess was just
12
seconds behind Jonathan, but moved into the lead on the bike, coming
into T2 39 seconds ahead. Fastest cyclist on the night was Nigel
Tomlinson who moved into 3rd spot, over 2 minutes behind the leading
two, with Liam holding onto 4th, a further 43 seconds behind.
Jonathan
had the fastest run of the night by 2 minutes and overtook Marcus as
the pair left Oundle on their way to Glapthorn and back. Liam moved
back up into 3rd and Josh Mould moved up to 4th, finally catching Robin
Laukaitis in a sprint finish.
The top 4 athletes were all Juniors
ranging from 15 to 18 years of age. Nathan Tweedie won the first Mini-
Series of the year, last week, and he is in his last year as a Junior.
Some promising talent is pushing through behind him.
The first
lady
was Amy Young in 11th place. Amy only started in the sport last
year
and was the most experienced Mini-Series athlete in the race,
producing
a PB in this, her 9th attempt.
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PACTRAC held their 2nd Mini-Series (plus the Novice race) at Oundle
last Wednesday.
Nathan Tweedie smashed his own swim record, bringing it
down from 4:02 to 3:56. He came out of the water 1:21 ahead of the next
swimmer, Abi Schofield.
Nathan's best swim times have been:
2012 - 4:12
2013 - 4:07
2014 - 4:02.
So far in 2015 he has recorded 4:02 and 3:56 showing that even with
having to train for 3 disciplines, he is still improving in the swim.
Nathan was only 1 second away from his best bike time to come into T2
in just 27:34. When Matt Gunby broke the Course Record back in 2009 he
recorded 27:23 for the first 2 disciplines.
However, Nathan suffered with cramp on the run and the race was won by
Paul Vernon in a PB of 48:25. Paul joined an elite group of athletes
who have recorded sub-49 minute times:
Josh Daniels (3 times), Matt Gunby, Simon Hoppe and now PAUL VERNON.
Paul recorded the 5th fastest time ever on the course
2009 Matt Gunby 0:04:43 0:22:40 0:19:11 = 46:34
2010 Josh Daniels 0:04:07 0:23:49 0:19:27 = 47:23
2008 Josh Daniels 0:04:24 0:22:47 0:20:19 = 47:30
2010 Josh Daniels 0:04:09 0:23:22 0:20:00 = 47:31
2015 Paul Vernon 0:06:18 0:22:32 0:19:35 = 48:25
2009 Simon Hoppe 0:04:52 0:22:28 0:21:28 = 48:48
Paul was only 4 seconds off of taking Simon Hoppe's bike course record,
as he recorded the 2nd fastest bike split ever, even with a bit of wind
around.
This was also the 5th time that Paul has gone under 20 minutes for the
run, as he recorded the 3rd fastest run-split for the course, 24
seconds behind Matt Gunby's record, with only Josh Daniels having also
gone faster.
Nathan led the swimmers out in a Course Record time of 3:56. Abi
Schofield followed 1:21 minutes later, with a steady stream of 8
swimmers out in under 6-minutes. Paul Vernon was 11th= at this point.
Paul then had the fastest bike split, by over a minute, but was still 1:
16 minutes behind Nathan at this point. Wayne Stainsby moved up to 3rd,
a further 1:21 behind, whilst Rob Hammond held onto 4th place only
another 18-seconds adrift.
However, with Nathan suffering from cramp, he managed to hold Paul off
until the return run, back to Oundle. He hung on gallantly to finish,
thereby assuring the swim record, but was also overtaken by Wayne with
400 meters to go. Nathan's day will come, as he has already ran a 20:24
this year.
First lady was Abi Schofield, who managed to catch Christina Cork on
the run. Third lady was Sue Burnett who held off another promising
Junior making her debut, Hannah Bassett, in a sprint finish. Hannah was
delighted to beat her dad, Dan. No doubt, there will be some battles
ahead between these two, but Hannah's running may make her difficult to
beat.
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In the 3rd PACTRAC Mini-Series Triathlon of this year, Nathan Tweedie
did a Personal Best time by 1:43 minutes to win the race by nearly 4-
minutes from Sean Beard, who also recorded a new PB.
Nathan's time of 47:22 is the 2nd fastest ever on the course, and only
48 seconds behind Matt Gunby's Course Record. Sean's PB is an
improvement on his previous 2008 time by 7 seconds, largely due to a
much improved swim.
Nathan led the swimmers out in a superfast 4:01, 17-seconds ahead of
Junior, Jonathan Arnold, making his debut. Liam Stokes made it 3
Junior's in the top 3, with Abi Schofield just ahead of Richard Moys in
4th. Sean was out in 21st position, over 2 1/2 minutes behind Nathan.
Nathan easily held onto his lead on the bike, coming in 2:44 ahead of
Jaap Flikweert. 8 cyclists recorded sub 31 minutes into T2, including
Sean who moved up to 8th. With Nathan and Sean having the fastest 2 run
splits, Nathan extended his lead to 3:54 over Sean. Steve Giles and
Chris Brennan moved up the field on the run, and were only separated by
8 seconds at the finish.
19 athletes beat the hour, with 15 recording PBs.
Results are on http://www.pactrac.co.uk
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PACTRAC held their 4th Mini-Series Triathlon of the season at Oundle
last Wednesday.
The usual course and distances apply: swim 400 yards,
bike 10-miles, run 3.5-miles.
Paul Vernon won his 2nd Mini-Series race this year - with Nathan
Tweedie having won the other 2. (In their only head-to-head, Paul won
Mini-Series 2 with Nathan having calf problems on the run.). The best 5
results count for the Trophy.
Sean Beard came 2nd for the second consecutive week. The top 3 athletes
in the Novice Mini (all Juniors), were all competing again, and
finished in the same 1-2-3 with Jonathan Oakey 3rd overall and Marcuss
Widdess 5th overall, both in PB times, whilst Liam Stokes was a minute
down on last weeks PB.
Jaap Flikweert completed his first triathlon this year, finishing the
run without any niggles in 4th place.
Liam Stokes was first out of the water in 4:52 just ahead of Jonathan,
with Marcus 3rd. The Juniors were showing the way, but Tony Daniels was
right on Marcus's feet. Paul Vernon was 1 1/2 minutes behind with Sean
a further 30 seconds down. Paul then had the fastest bike of the night
and came into T2 15 seconds ahead of Tony. Jaap and Sean were nearly a
minute and a half behind, with Steve Skelhon hard on their heels in his
first Mini-Series race, and Jonathan and Marcus just 10 more seconds
behind.
Paul had the fastest run of the night to extend his lead over Sean who
had the 2nd fastest run. Jonathan moved up 3 places on the run to
secure 3rd place overall from Jaap in a sprint finish.
14 athletes beat the hour, whilst 1st and 2nd lady also went to a
sprint finish. Another PACTRAC Junior, Hannah Bassett (in her first
season against the seniors), led Sue Burnett (a PACTRACer back in the
1980s and '90s) by 27 seconds after the swim. Sue had a faster bike by
44 seconds, and caught Hannah on the downhill sections on the return to
Oundle. Sue had a 17 second lead going into the run, but just couldn't
hold off the up-and-coming Hannah, who had a faster run by just 22
seconds, catching Sue in the last 1/4 mile and sprinting ahead to take
the accolades by just 5-seconds.
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The 5th Mini-Series Triathlon incorporated the 2nd Novice Triathlon
and had 34 competitors. 15 beat the hour with 16 PBs on the night but
only 4 PBs amongst the top 15.
Nathan Tweedie held the lead in the Series (best 5 to count) by virtue
of having completed 4 races so far (winning 2), to Paul Vernon's 3, but
Paul has won all 3 of his outings so far this year.
Paul Vernon won this 5th encounter by over 2 minutes from Nathan, with
Sean Beard taking his 3rd top 3 position of the series.
Nathan led the swimmers out in 4:06 with Jonathan Arnold 2nd in 4:23
and Jonathan Oakey 3rd in 4:57. All 3 are Juniors. Abi Schofield was
just 11 seconds further back. Paul Vernon was in 15th place just over 2-
minutes behind Nathan.
Paul had the fastest bike split of the night by a long way, and came
in, off of the bike in 1st position, just 9 seconds ahead of Nathan. It
was over a minute before Peter Harris came in, with 5 competitors all
within 7 seconds of each other.
Paul had the fastest run of the night too, and completed his 2nd sub 49-
minute race of this year's Series, just 11 seconds behind his PB from 3-
weeks ago. Paul had the 6th fastest bike split ever on this course, as
well as the 6th fastest run split and finished with the 7th fastest
time ever on this course. His bike split was only 14 seconds shy of the
record.
Nathan came home 2nd, whilst Sean Beard had the fastest run of the 5
who came in off the bike almost together, and he recorded a fine 3rd
place. Junior, Jonathan Oakey knocked a further 22-seconds off his PB
to finish 6th. Abi Schofield was overtaken by Christina Cork on the
bike, but regained the lead on the run to finish 1st lady in 10th place
overall. Dan Bassett beat daughter Hannah, another Junior, for the
first time in 3 attempts.
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PACTRAC MINI-SERIES 6 AT Oundle.
Just 20 competitor's lined up on a very hot night. Most of the regulars
were put off by the extreme heat, but 4 of PACTRAC's 5 competitor's who
will be competing for GB in Geneva this weekend were relishing the
opportunity to get some early acclimatisation for the expected heat
wave in Europe.
We had a water station out on the course, for the first time this year,
and it was needed, even for such a short distance race.
Henry Morton led the swimmers out, 15 seconds ahead of Abi Schofield.
Simon Hoppe and Tony Daniels were right on her heals. Henry managed to
hold the gap on the bike, with Simon gaining another 30 seconds on
Tony, now in 3rd. There was a further gap of 95 seconds to Craig Mills
in 4th.
Henry had the fastest run of the night to win by nearly a minute from
Simon. Dave Allsop moved up into 3rd place, and Abi who had dropped to
10th after the bike, moved back up to 4th overall on the run. Both
Henry and Abi did PBs and look good for Geneva this weekend.
Both Dan Bassett and daughter Hannah did PBs with Dan just holding on
to make it 2-2 in the family rivalry.
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Last Wednesday saw the 7th Mini-Series Triathlon of this year's
series, held at Oundle, over the usual course and distances (400 yards,
10 miles, 3.5 miles).
Nathan Tweedie led the swimmers out, 28 seconds ahead of newcomer
Thomas Lane. The swimmers were quite spread out, with 11 beating 6-
minutes, and Paul Vernon 14th in 6:10.
Paul was 2 minutes behind Nathan, but had the fastest bike split on the
night by 1:19 minutes from Jaap Flikweert, who moved up to 4th. Tony
Daniels was 3rd off the bike, but now nearly a minute behind Paul. Paul
had moved to just 32 seconds behind Nathan for the start of the run, as
11 athletes came into T2 in under 32 minutes.
However, Paul and Nathan kept a similar distance apart throughout the
3.5 mile run, with Paul gaining just 6 seconds to come home 26 seconds
behind a triumphant Nathan. This is Paul's 3rd sub 49 minute Mini-
Series, all done this year. Nathan recorded his fastest ever run on the
course to keep Paul behind.
The Mini-Series Trophy is up for grabs between these two. Both have now
won 3 races, but with Henry Morton winning last week, they cannot win 5
each. With your best 5 to count, both also have 1 second place. Nathan
currently leads by virtue of his 3rd place in Mini nr.2 but Paul has a
race in hand:
1. Nathan Tweedie 47 points.
2. Paul Vernon 39 points.
There are still 3 races to go including tonight (Wednesday).
3rd home was Richard Moys who was 4th out of the water and had a solid
race all-round; whilst 4th was junior, Jonathan Oakey, in another new
PB, his 4th in 4 races. Jonathan was catching Richard, but ran out of
road to come home just 9 seconds adrift.
14 athletes beat the hour, with junior, Josh Mould, just outside but
recording his 7th PB from 8 races.
Further back Paul Jephcott came from 1:24 behind at the end of the bike
to catch Oliver Herbage, with the pair crossing the line together in a
sprint finish. Laura Johnson was the only female racing tonight.
–--------------------
PACTRAC Mini-Series 8.
In the 8th of 10 Mini-Series Triathlons from Oundle, Nathan Tweedie
recorded his 4th win so far. Nathan now has 49 points with Paul Vernon,
who didn't compete tonight, on 39 with 1 race in hand. With 2 Mini-
Series left, it's still all to play for.
Abi Schofield won the ladies Mini-Series Trophy without even competing
in Mini-Series 8. 3 of her rivals also didn't compete, whilst Sue
Burnett needed a win but came 2nd. With 2 races to go, Abi wins this
year's Trophy.
Nathan was first out of the water, 72 seconds ahead of Robin Laukaitis,
with Susie Freeman just 12 seconds further back, 14 seconds ahead of
Jon Crowley, who had a gap of 16 seconds over 6 chasing athletes.
Nathan had the fastest bike of the night, to extend his lead, whilst
Sean Beard had the 2nd fastest, to move up to 5th overall. Mark
Weathersby came in off of the bike in 2nd place, nearly 3-minutes down
on Nathan. 5 further athletes were within a minute of Mark. Sean then
made some in-roads into Nathan's lead on the run, with Nathan easing up
because of some big Junior races coming up. Nathan won by 2:07 minutes,
whilst the quickest run of the night saw Adam Madge, in his first year
in triathlon, moving up to 9th. Susie Freeman was first lady, whilst
Junior, Josh Mould, beat the hour for the first time, to record his 8th
PB in 9 races. He's come a long way since his debut 1:11:20 last year,
and tonight took nearly 90 seconds off his best bike time.
–-----------------
Mini-Series 9.
Richard Moys won the penultimate Mini-
Series Triathlon for the year. Richard
won his first Mini-Series race
last year, and in 3 races so far in 2015
has come 6th, 3rd and now 1st
again.
Richard led out of the water,
followed 38-seconds later by
Antony Brown, who was using this race as a
sharpener for Sunday's
National Championships in Liverpool (last
Sunday). Antony took over the
lead on the bike with his usual superfast
23:47 split to come into T2 a
minute ahead. However, Richard had the
faster run, and he gradually
really Antony in just before Oundle on the
return leg. Scott Lloyd had
the fastest run of the night, to haul
himself up into 3rd place, whilst
Susie Freeman was again the first
lady home.
Dan Bassett just held off
his daughter Hannah (aged 13), to
take the family honours 3-2 in their
head-to-head's to date.
Neither
Nathan Tweedie nor Paul Vernon
competed, so with 1 race to go
(tonight), Nathan still leads with 49
points whilst Paul has 39 with 1
race in hand (it's the best 5 to
count). Paul needs a win tonight to
take a share of the honours and the
Trophy.
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The PACTRAC Mini-Series came to a fitting end on Wednesday, with the
two leading contenders fighting it out head-to-head. Nathan Tweedie
went into this final race on 49 points with 4 wins and a 2nd so far for
his best 5. Paul Vernon had a race in hand with 3 wins and a 2nd for 39
points. All of Paul's points tonight would, therefore, count, whilst
Nathan could only improve with a win. Paul needed to win to gain a
share of the Trophy with Nathan, otherwise Nathan would win the Trophy
outright.
The ladies Trophy had already been settled, with Abi Schofield having
an unassailable lead, and Abi was fittingly the first lady home
tonight. She now has the maximum of 50-points.
Nathan was first out of the water, 35 seconds ahead of Thomas Lane who
was making his debut. Junior, Liam Stokes, was the only other
competitor to beat 5-minutes. Abi Schofield was in 4th place, 1:09 down
on Nathan, as she led 10 swimmers out within the next 30 seconds. Paul
Vernon had a slow swim, 20-seconds down on his best this year, as he
tried a different tactic of leading a lane, rather than sitting in for
a tow.
Paul had the fastest bike ride of the night, and from 17th out of the
water, reduced his deficit on Nathan from 2:24 to just 28 seconds. Paul
gained 15 places in doing so, with Antony Brown just a further 12-
seconds down in 3rd. Wayne Stainsby moved up to 4th whilst Sean Beard
came into T2 in 31:00 minutes and 9th place.
Nathan and Paul were left to slug it out on the run, with both
recording sub 20-minute splits. Paul was in some borrowed shoes, but
still completed the run section in 19:33, his best for the series, (and
the 3rd best run ever after Matt Gunby and Josh Daniels). He could only
reduce the deficit on Nathan from 28 seconds down to 16 seconds, as
Nathan also had his best run split by 5-seconds to record the 7th
fastest run ever on the course (only the above 3 names have ever gone
better). Paul was gradually reeling him in, but only gradually and the
Series Trophy was settled by 16 seconds - after Paul was 20-seconds
down on his best in the swim. All very close.
Sean Beard moved up to 3rd overall with his best run for 5-years,
whilst Wayne gained 1 place and lost 1 to retain 4th overall.
Overall 13 athletes recorded top 3 finishes in the 10-race series with
Nathan taking 5 wins, early leader Paul taking 3 and Henry Morton and
Richard Moys 1 apiece.
Simon Hoppe took a couple of 2nd places - his first season without a
win since 2007 when he was injured and didn't compete in any. Sean
Beard took 3 seconds and 2 third places for 43 points and 3rd
overall.
Altogether 87 different athletes took part in the series. Including the
Novice-only race, we had 11 Wednesday night Mini-Series Triathlons with
an average of over 25 athletes per competition. Another great summer
series comes to an end as the nights now start to draw in.
Results are on http://www.pactrac.co.uk