30-08-17
On Bank Holiday Monday PACTRAC had 2 Juniors representing the Eastern Region at the British TriStar Inter-Regional Championships, held at Mallory Park. The event returned to Mallory Park after being previously hosted there in 2015.
Olivia Corner (TS2 /Under-13) & Katie Tasker (TS3/Under-15) both had to qualify at regional events, with only the top 3 from each region going through. With 13 Regions, only the top 39 in the country get an invite to this event, with the racing fast and furious on the motor racing circuit. The challenging bike circuit was fast but very technical, with many dead turns and hill climbs. The water was a bit shallow for the swim and got a bit churned up as swimmers waded through it.
This was Olivia's 1st time at the Championships and she has been practicing hard over the summer on transitions and road biking, where she has made the change to cleats. Her confidence has grown and with a win at Hoddesdon last week she had prepared well. This was Katie's 3rd and last appearance at this level.
Adrian Tasker said:
"The training has been really really good often despite the weather. The eastern region can feel proud that the children are really well prepared. They have had a number of open water swims and half a dozen closed road cycling training events, with over a dozen training sessions in all, including a reconnaissance session at Mallory Park, where the Eastern Team were able to practice on the actual course. The whole squad were far more confident about the event and ready to race."
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Adrian Tasker:
"A day that promised so much rather unraveled. Katie came out of the water 19th about 30 seconds down on the leaders. She then completed a great T1 with the fastest split. This meant she was able to catch the 2nd group of 8. There were 5 in the lead pack. She was able to get to the front and was stretching them on the front and was up to 3rd after lap 1. Half way round lap 2 she started to get stomach cramps (She has never had them before) and was at the back of the chase group. Coming out on the run it was obvious something was wrong and it was painful watching her run as she slipped back through the field being overtaken by girls she has beaten this season; as she eventually finished in 26th place, but it could have been so much more. Fair play to 1st & 2nd as they rode the bike solo and were worthy winners."
These things happen in racing and it’s all part of the learning experience. The encouraging thing is that she was in contention until the stomach cramps kicked-in – and it shows character to finish, when many would have given up. Even so, Katie was so much improved on her time of 31:04 last year.
TS3
26. Katie Tasker
swim 4:21 (23 secs down on leader)
T1 0:47 (fastest T1 by a good 3 seconds)
bike 12:17 (just 24 seconds slower than the fastest cyclist)
T2 0:26 (fastest T2)
run 11:38 (stomach cramp. Fastest runner was 8:53 so Katie was 2:45 down) = 29:29
"Olivia had a better race. She was a little slow away out of the water but a really fast transition meant she was able to catch some of the riders in front of her. She was consistently catching & passing riders all the way around the bike course. Another slick transition and she soon got into her running and was able to pass 4 more on the run and do the 14th fastest run over all."
Congratulations to Katie and Olivia on reaching and competing at this level. Their will be many more achievements for them both in future and PACTRAC will continue to play a part in their development.
23rd. Olivia Corner 3:33 (0:56) 12:10 (0:28) 5:11 = 22:18
Only 1:45 minutes down on the winner, so a very tight race.
No photo's still.
Distances were:
TS3 (Katie Tasker) swim 315 metres, bike 4.25 miles, run 1.5 miles.
TS2 (Olivia Corner) swim 200 metres, bike 3.75 miles, run 0.75 miles.
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Back for its 8th Year, the Ely Sprint Triathlon took place on Sunday from Kings School in Ely.
swim 300 metres in the outdoor lido pool.
bike 12.5 miles - 1 lap mainly around country lanes.
run 3 miles - 2 laps around the school fields with a couple of steep, short, sharp inclines per lap.
PACTRAC's Steve Hope and Ros Goatly both won their Age Group's, whilst Darren Kelly and Chris Shaw (neither are PACTRAC but are Fenland Clarion Cycling Club) came 1st and 2nd in their's respectively.
PACTRAC results:
15. Steve Hope 5:51 39:05 22:53 = 67:49 AG 1.
33. Ros Goatly 5:47 42:37 25:33 = 73:57 AG 1.
59. Davina Wilbraham 5:49 50:28 31:42 = 87:59 AG 5.
Fenland Clarion results:
4. Darren Kelly 5:31 35:18 21:11 = 62:00 AG 1.
16. Chris Shaw 6:43 36:49 24:23 = 67:55 AG 2.