Mark Weathersby has had a busy 3 weeks. He was disappointed to miss out on a good-for-age entry by just 3-seconds at the Virgin London Marathon, recording an impressive 3:05:02 for 1,474th place in the heat.
Then, last weekend, he came 3rd overall in the Stratford Sprint Triathlon, from a field of 551 finishers, whilst winning his Age Group in a time of 56:09. The distances were: swim 400m in the 33-metre pool, bike 11.25 miles, run 3-miles.
3. Mark Weathersby 6:30 29:31 20:08 = 56:09 AG 1st.
This weekend, he ran in the Milton Keynes Marathon and recorded a time of 2:58:58.
Mark said: "Like London, it was very hot, but I managed to improve my time to finish in 15th place with a time of 2:58:58, which is OK given the heat. Maybe good enough for London 2019. The medal is pretty cool as well."
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New member Tim Fletcher came 3rd overall in the Horwich Triathlon near Bolton. Tim was 4th after the swim, dropped to 8th on the bike in spite of a fast ride, and then picked up to 3rd place overall on the run, with the 2nd fastest run of the day. Tim won his Age Group and was 3rd overall out of 479 competitor's.
The distances were:
Swim 500m in the pool at Horwich Leisure Centre.
Bike 25 miles - undulating.
Run 5.5 miles - A brutal but iconic run, climbing all the way to the summit of Rivington Pike and then back down again.
3rd. Tim Fletcher 8:04 65:06 34:34 = 1:47:44. AG 1st.
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The British Universities Championships were once again held at St.Marys Sports Centre in Colne, Wiltshire. The distances were: swim 750m in the pool. Bike 16 miles. Run 3 miles.
Nathan Tweedie was 2nd out of the water, in a very strong field, comprising of the best University triathletes from across the Country. He ended up in a large group on the bike and finished in 13th place overall.
13. NATHAN TWEEDIE 8:34 39:29 17:00 = 65:03.
60. MARCUS WIDDESS 10:36 42:21 18:09 = 71:06.
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The PACTRAC Juniors are getting their season underway. This weekend Josh and Chloe Moore were competing in the Nuneaton Aquathlon
Chloe Moore competed in Tri 3 - 250m swim 1600m run
Josh Moore competed in Tri 1 - 100m swim 800m run
4. Chloe Moore 4:53 8:39 = 13:32
19. Josh Moore 2:20 6:11 = 8:31
It was a hot sunny day, with an excellent pool venue and the run on a proper athletics track and a stadium finish.
Chloe Moore did her best ever position, narrowly missing out on a podium 3rd by 20 seconds, coming 4th, "after launching herself out of the pool end, over the higher end wall, instead of taking the easy option of the steps on the side, which must have gained her an extra 2 seconds".
Josh Moore did his best ever swim time, before an awkward shoe in transition left him chasing down the field.
The juniors have one more Aquathlon next week at Grantham, a longer one which will test them, before starting the Triathlon season the following week down at East Grinstead.
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PACTRAC held their mid-distance club triathlon from Oundle on Bank Holiday Monday.
The distances were:
swim 900 yards in the 50-yard pool - 18 lengths.
bike 20 miles - 2 undulating laps around Glapthorn and the Benefield's with 2 sharp hills and 2 fast descents on each lap.
run 5-miles around Glapthorn and Cotterstock.
This was the first of our Club Championship races, with Simon Hoppe trying to rest the Trophy back from last year's winner Rob Hammond. Junior athlete, Jonathan Arnold, led the field out in convincing fashion, in a superfast time of 10:31 followed by Simon Hoppe in 12:43 and Rob Hammond the first of 6 athletes between 13:16 and 13:50. Simon soon took the lead on the bike and came into T2 after just over an hour, with a 2-minute lead over Rob, with Giles Cooper and Steve Skelhon a further 2-minutes down.
Rob has an injury and was unable to complete the race, leaving Giles to consolidate 2nd place, nearly 4-minutes behind Simon, with Steve Hope moving ahead of Steve Skelhon on the run to take 3rd. Simon, therefore, takes an early lead in his quest to regain the Club Championship Trophy; with the next event being the first Mini-Series race of the year at Oundle pool on Wednesday 23rd May.
Results are on http://www.http://pactrac.co.uk/events/4206/
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Saturday saw Paul Lunn competing in the 70.3 Half-Ironman in Alcudia,
Majorca, for the 8th consecutive year.
Swim 1900m in the sea.
Bike 56 miles, up into the mountains and back down again for a fast
flat final few miles.
Run 13.1 miles, laps around the beech and coastal roads.
Paul came 6th out of 2,893 competitors and won his Age Group in
convincing style. He was 169th out of the water, but had the 6th
fastest bike of the day and the 12th fastest run to pull himself up to
6th overall.
6. Paul Lunn 28:21 2:27:57 1:22:56 = 4:19:14. AG 1st.
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7 PACTRACers competed in the NiceTri Triathlon at Grafham Water. This
was a World Championship qualifier which attracted 485 athletes willing
to swim in the cool 14 degree water in mid-May. Competition was fierce,
with the best athletes from across the country competing for places,
which will be allocated shortly.
67. Mark Weathersby 26:59 60:15 40:43 = 2:07:57 AG 18th.
243. Bill Haslam 28:28 69:20 46:58 = 2:24:46 AG 7.
303. Steve Hope 28:46 72:20 49:28 = 2:30:34 AG 23.
316. Andrea Robinett 25:12 76:07 50:34 = 2:31:53 AG 14.
377. Sarah Haslam 28:09 81:17 50:36 = 2:40:02 AG 8.
412. Angela Wallis 35:05 82:33 53:24 = 2:51:02 AG 14.
419. Pedro Polson 26:01 84:36 62:40 = 2:53:17 AG 30.
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5 PACTRACers finished the Monster Mojito Triathlon from Peterborough
Rowing Lake, with Darren Kelly winning his Age Group and Paul Jephcott
coming second in his.
The distances were: swim 1500m, bike 24 miles, run 6.25 miles.
7. Darren Kelly 26:37 67:42 42:30 = 2:16:49 AG 1st.
13. Iain Cushion 26:29 70:14 44:30 = 2:21:13 AG 6.
24. Rhys Wilkinson 27:26 75:40 46:08 = 2:29:14 AG 7.
43. Paul Jephcott 32:27 76:25 51:40 = 2:40:32 AG 2nd.
64. Tom Moorhouse 29:58 87:48 50:56 = 2:48:42 AG 27.
The Monster Mojo was over: swim 1900m, bike 51 miles, run 13.1 miles.
15. Mike Shadwell 33:11 2:29:30 1:31:11 = 4:33:52 AG 8.
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We had 7 runners in the Titchmarsh 10k, and another 2 in the Eye 10k
whilst Kamila Czynska recorded 1:42 hours in the Stratford half-
marathon and Matt Hall completed the Montane HowGills Trail Marathon in
Sedbergh.
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Katie Tasker and Jonathon Oakey raced in the Junior National Super-
series Triathlon at Llanelli.
"The standard was absolutely brutal. To give you an indication one of
the Lads in Jonathan's race ran a 15:22 5k and was only 5th. The swim
was in the closed dock and was only just raceable @ 12degrees after
being cleared the previous evening. This was a beach start with the
juniors having to swim 2-laps. The bike was on closed roads, with a
number of dead turns and sharp bends. The final run was along the sea
wall. The prize for the Juniors was a trip to Rio as part of the Youth
Olympics".
Jonathan Oakey – Junior Men : Distances – Swim 750m. Bike 12.5 miles.
Run 3-miles.
"Jonathon was a little way behind the leader on exiting the water and
struggled to find a good group to work with on the bike. As a result he
was not able to make the jump to the groups ahead, but was able to
climb a couple of places on the run. He did finish the same course a
whole minute faster than the previous year where he finished 21st."
Katie Tasker – Youth Girls: Distances – Swim 375m. Bike 7.5 miles. Run
1.5 miles.
"Katie had a good swim and exited in her highest position in this
format in 15th. On the bike she became isolated and was not able to
catch the lead group. Looking to conserve energy she sat in the next
pack; but a tactical mistake meant that she was on the back of the
group entering T2. She found the run tough but finished fluently."
The next round of races for these two, will be in Leeds as part of the
World series on 9th June.
Katie is racing before this, at Blenheim on the 3rd June, where she is
hoping to qualify for the UK School games.
Jonathan Oakey 10:34 33:12 18:16 = 62:02 37th / 48
Katie Tasker 5:40 22:35 10:47 = 39:02 20th / 44