3 PACTRACers competed in the Basildon Aquathlon, with Ophelia Goodale winning her Tristar2 Category. Othelia led from the gun and had a lead of 6 and 10 seconds respectively over her chasers after the swim. She also had the fastest run of the day to take the tape by a margin of 12-seconds.
Phoebe Goodale came 12th overall and 3rd female in the Senior category; whilst Orla Caskey was also 12th in her Tristar1 category.
Senior:
12. Phoebe Goodale .... 6:23 .... 21:59 ..= 28:22 3rd female overall.
Tristar2:
1. Ophelia Goodale .... 3:47 .... 7:15 ..= 11:02
Tristar1:
12. Orla Caskey ......... 3:41 .... 7:45 ..= 11:26
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The season opener, the Ely 115 Squadron Duathlon, took place on a flat but windy course with 2x 2.5 mile runs either side of a 16-mile bike segment.
Marcus Widdess lead from the gun and took an 18-second lead into the bike section. He was caught on the bike and held onto second place with the 2nd fastest bike of the day. He then made inroads on the final run, but had to settle for a great 2nd place overall to get the season rolling.
2. Marcus Widdess ........ 14:42 .... 45:45 .... 13:55 ..= 1:14:22
36. Daniel O'Sullivan ..... 21:16 .... 52:39 .... 21:44 ..= 1:35:39
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Meanwhile 2 PACTRACers headed over to the Movistar Madrid Media Half-Marathon on a gloriously sunny day.
Chris Northern ran within himself after returning from a recent calf injury and ran a relaxed, comfortable race.
2001. Chris Northern .... 1:32:54.
5714. Nathan Keir ......... 1:43:31.
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Laura Hardy competed in the International Ice Swimming Association European Championships in Molveno, Italy and came away with a SILVER MEDAL in the 500m freestyle and a BRONZE MEDAL in the 250m freestyle events in her Age Group.
Swimmers from 35 different countries took part in various disciplines in the 50-metre pool at a temperature of just 2.8 degrees.
In the 500m Freestyle, Laura was 5-seconds down after the first 100metres, but then held on to finish just 9-seconds adrift and take the SILVER MEDAL.
Laura was within 2-seconds of taking a 2nd Silver, but had to settle for Bronze in the 250 metre event in a closely fought contest. With 150 metres swam, Laura was 0.2 seconds behind the Silver medalist, but saw this extend to 1.8 seconds by the finish.
Laura won two Silver Medals in the same events in the GB Championships back in December.
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Amy Mellor went to The International Winter Swimming Association World Championships in Oulu, Finland. Amy swam in 4 events plus a Relay over 4-days in water around -0.2 degrees - her coldest ever swims by a long way.
The organisers had to break the ice to create a special 25 metre swimming pool for the nearly 1,800 swimmers from 50-countries.
Amy was the first British Swimmer in her Age Group in all 4 of her events, which she described as being "a shock to the system".
25 meters butterfly. 19.5 seconds. Age Group 8th.
200m front crawl. 2:59. AG 6th. "I felt the cold more."
25m front crawl. 17.9 seconds. "The cold is exhilarating when you know you just have a short distance to do as quickly as possible".
100m front crawl. 1 minute 22. AG 7th.
The post-race celebrations were interupted with a display from the Northern Lights.
Photo of Amy in the middle (black swimsuit).