Nineteen members of the Isle of Wight Triathlon Club competed in seven different events at Hever Castle Triathlon weekend in Kent.
The swim was halved for all events due to the lake temperature being only 13 degrees.
Lottie, Millie, Thomas and Ali (our club welfare officer) took on the sprint distance 400m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run.
Lottie, at just 15-years-old, came seventh female out of 106 and Millie was close behind placing 11th female. 16-year-old Thomas came 20th male in a huge field of 248.
Jasper placed 15th boy out of 101 in Tristar 1 (9-10 year olds) and his second transition (bike to run) was the joint quickest time.
In the TriStart race (eight-year-olds), Elsie placed eighth girl out of 21 and Emily showed her potential by coming first. Getting into the freezing cold murky water at just eight-years-old is quite some achievement.
Club coach Mark placed 66th out of 117 and Laura came 20th out of 39 in their age categories in the Olympic distance triathlon (750m swim, 40km bike, 10.5km run).
The warm sea swimming they had done in the summer didn’t really prepare them for the cold lake.
Club Chairman Phil had the most sensible idea of the weekend by skipping the swim and taking part in the Olympic distance duathlon (10.5km run/40km bike/5km run) and came sixth out of 13 in his age category.
Gethin, Henry and Billy took part in the Youth race (15 and 16-year-olds). Henry, in his first triathlon and not yet 15-years-old, placed 12th boy out of 20.
Billy came a brilliant tenth with a great bike time. Gethin made the podium taking a well deserved third place.
Ben and James were next in the Tristar Three race (13 and 14-year-olds), competing in a large field of 65 boys. James, in his first year in this category, finished 40th (with a great swim to bike transition time).
Ben finished 19th (with the seventh quickest swim!) which was a great achievement after picking up a painful leg injury on the run and showing great determination to cross the finish line.
Finally, it was the turn of Martin, Katie and Phoebe in the Tristar Two race (11 and 12-year-olds).
This was Martin’s first triathlon and in a competitive field of 100 boys he came a fantastic 14th place.
Phoebe came 63rd out of 86 girls and her transition and run times were well in the top half of the field. Katie placed 16th with her second transition and run times within the top ten.
The coaching team couldn’t have wanted better results and paid testament to the triathletes dedication to their coaching over a hard year.
Report by Julie Van der Helstraete on behalf of Isle of Wight Triathlon Club. Ed
