ARCHIVE SECTION

WHAT WE DID IN 2011-2010

Kielder Marathon
Congratulations to Jane Mooney for coming FIRST lady at Kielder marathon and to Joe Horne who came 11th in a sub-3 hour time.

Henley Challenge
13 might be an unlucky number for some, but for Gareth Huxley, this was his position in last weekend's Henley Challenge (Ironman distance) coming in an eye-watering time of 9:47. Also doing this Challenge was Ian Maddison who did it in 11:22. Well done to both of you! Talking about Ian, I forgot to post that he did the Chevy Chase recently - so I'm making amends now !! Gareth has just provided me with his blog - read it here.

Newbiggin Triathlon
Congratulations to Jane Mooney for winning the Newbiggin triathlon and to Denise Parkin who was 1st vet and to Kyah Hall who was 2nd junior and Jennifer Batey who was 3rd senior. Also competing was Daniel Johnson who came 10th overall and 4th junior, Ian Hesler, Diane Chaney, Mark Wouldhave, Andy Stevens and Marie Helen-Joyce.

IRC Weekend Open Triathlon Race
Tristar 1 results
Tristar 2 results
Tristar 3 results

Helvellyn Triathlon 2011
race run in warm, windless, sunny conditions (after torrentail rain all day saturday). The winner, Martin Cain, apparently broke Brownlee's course record, doing something like 3hrs 27mins. Gareth was third overall!!!!!!!!!! and Jaci was 2nd V40 [I thought she was injured?], one place up on last year. everyone else did pretty well with Madders, Laura and Dean getting good time improvements on previous. Joe Horne did well getting into top 30 overall (subject to conf) NB no photo of Joe or Tim P - it's tricky enough trying to catch people in Ryton kit! Photos here and provisional results here.
Philip Addyman

****Stop Press****

Big-E makes it to Hawaii !!

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Congratulations go to

Mr & Mrs BFG

aka Mr & Mrs Gary Forster

who got married recently in Cyprus

Stockton Triathlon
Congratulations to Calum Johnson and Kyah Hall who were both 1st Juniors and 3rd overall. Calum would probably have come 1st overall had some badly-acquainted marshall not sent both Calum and Daniel the wrong way on a bike section!!! Why doesn't the marshall come forward and admit their mistake?? Calum was first out the water, followed by his brother, with Kyah 5th out the water. Calum posted the fastest run split. Also competing were Joe Horne who posted the fastest bike split (watch out Mr Addyman......!) and Colin Gardener (8th fastest bike split - not bad for a man his age!! hee hee ). Oh, and apparently our Les was greeted by the Mayor when he crossed the finishing line! Full results can be found here.

Lands End to John O'Groat/John O'Groat to Lands End
Ashley Gouch and David Holmes have completed the LEJOG in July - an amazing achievement by any standards - even more so for the pair of them as Ashley has had a total hip replacement and David is a new dad and suffering from sleep deprivation!
Also doing this incredible journey, but this time JOGLE, was Kirsty Anderson. Now, I'm sure Kirsty holds the record for the greatest number of times one can fall off a bike and I'm sure she hadn't done many long distance rides before this one - so well done! Kirsty tells me that the JOGLE is her base-training for her next challenge - RAAM! Read all about her JOGLE journey here.

Congratulations Sasha Ban

you are now an

Iron(wo)man!!

Ryton Tri now has another new Ironman
Sasha Ban
Sasha finished in an impressive time of 15:08:41 (1:23:31, 8:14:11, 5:08:45) and says "if she can do it - anyone can! [em..... not me!!] The most scared I have ever been in my life!! Everybody seemed so much taller, fitter and stronger than me as I entered the lake, I was the only one coughing too!! A fantastic experience for the whole family. I would like to thank everybody for their support at the club, especially the coaches and significant gratitude goes to Coach Col who got me there!!"

Hilly 21 TT
Well, apparently it was a very wet day for the Hilly 21 - I wouldn't know - I was sunning myself on a very hot beach in Kefalonia!! Congratulations go to Shaun Tyson and Hilary Ross who won this race in times of 48:05 and 59:18 respectively. Well done to our Philip Addyman who was first from Ryton over the line in 50:29, finishing 5th overall. The Pocket Rocket (aka Jaci) came 3rd in 1:00:17. Other Ryton times were:
Ray Bell - 57:03
Laura Addyman - 1:00:52
Bob Phillipson - 1:03:27
Kirsty Jones - 1:05:26
Diane Chaney - 1:05:33
Joe Horne - 1:19:53 (Joe received an 24 minute penalty for missing his start time - silly boy!)
Full results can be found here.

Teasdale Triathlon
Congratulations to Ian Walton who came 1st Vet and 4th overall

Chevy Chase
Ruth Fletcher - as a testament to her bottle, strength and courage - came 1st in her age category in the recent Chevy Chase race and Joe Horne came an impressive 10th.

RUTH FLETCHER

It is with great sadness that we have to post news such as this. We have just heard tragic news that Ruth drowned on Sunday in a diving accident off the Farne Islands.

This is a massive shock knowing that only the day before, Ruth was at Blaydon for our swim session.

Ruth was one of the founder members of Northumberland Fell Runners and for the last few years has been a member of Ryton Triathlon Club.

Ruth recently became a Vet 60 and, even though she had some serious health issues a few years ago, continued to take on any challenge, shirking none. Despite not being able to perform at levels that she had before, she just went out and did it. And enjoyed everything she did with a laugh and a smile.

What many of you may not know is that in years gone by, Ruth's pedigree as an athlete was of the very highest standard. She held World and European titles in Triathlon and Quadrathlon events and has enjoyed great success in fell races at every level.

Ruth was truly one of life's great personalities and characters, and with great talent too. She will be very much missed. Races will be quieter places without her; of that there is no doubt!

At this stage we have no information regarding funeral arrangements but we will post this as soon as we know anything.

Congratulations go to
Alan Copland and Claire Jackson
for coming 1st overall at today's
Ryton Tri Standard Distance Triathlon

(more photos can be found here) and results here.

Ryton Tri has another new Ironman
Tim Pigott has completed Ironman Austria
in an incredible time of 10:07:51
Tim said he would have done a sub 10, but his tummy had other ideas! :-)

The BFG is now an Ironman! Well done Gary.
His time was 15:49:48
and had his coach a tad worried, but he did it!
What next for Gary??

Northumberland Tri Sprint 26th June
There's no stopping Rachel this year - she won the Northumberland Tri sprint on sunday in a time of 1:16:42 - well done Rachel. Kyah Hall also came 1st female youth (and 3rd overall) in a time of 1:17:44. And Jen Batey got 2nd senior and Ian Walton came 3rd Vet. Another excellent result for Team Ryton-tri!

A Day in the Lakes
Meanwhile across in the Lakes, Team Ryton-tri were also doing well. Mrs Andrew Hodgson(aka Jane Mooney) got 1st Senior. Gareth Huxley came 3rd Vet, Jaci Swinbank 3rd Vet, Eric Blakie 1st Supervet. This was Jane's first attempt at this distance (having only ever done sprints in the past) and decided to give herself this challenge on reaching the very old age of 30 on the day of the race. Race report and photos here.

Newcastle PLD Children's Triathlon 2011
Well done to Beth Maddison, Richard and Nina Lane for taking part in today's children's triathlon at Benfield School. Photos can be seen here.

Team (female) Ryton-Tri sweep the board at the Cleveland Short Triathlon!
What a fantastic result for our girls:
1st Vet - Jaci Swinbank
2nd Vet - Rachel Walmsley
3rd Vet - Denise Parkin
Full results can be found here and photos (courtesy of Andy Beatty) here.

Stirling Triathlon
Congratulations to Alan Blakie who came 12th overall at Stirling Triathlon on Sunday.

QE11 Triathlon
Another big turn out for Ryton Tri on this very cold day at the QEII lake, but despite the cold, Team Ryton-Tri did very well indeed:
1st vet went to Rachel Walmsley (1:18:09) which would have won her a place in the World Championships if she'd wanted it!
Philip Addyman came 7th vet (1:09:12), however, recorded the fastest bike split in his category.
Daniel Johnson came 5th junior (1:12:04). (Something must have happened to his brother Calum, as his results were unusually low down in his category - I'm sure someone will tell me)
Laura Addyman came 3rd vet (1:22:18)
Stacey Armstrong came 7th senior (1:20:26)
Jennifer Batey came 9th senior (1:24:18)
Sasha Ban did very well too - this was her first open water triathlon and after some initial anxiety about what clothes to wear on the bike/run enjoyed the the whole experience!
Full results can be found here and photos here. Thanks for the loan of your iPhone Sasha and your camera Laura G - hope I've managed to get some good shots!

Wetherby Triathlon

Three hardy souls from Ryton went down to do the Wetherby Triathlon: Tim Piggot, Fred Smith and Ian Walton. This is Ian's account:

The conditions were pretty tough, the river swim was nice and baltic and then it poured down on the bike, the cold was eating into me on the bike, but I was in 11th position after T2. Had a nightmare trying to take my bike helmet off as I couldn't feel my hands, the same for my running shoes. I started getting cramps in my hamstrings and calves in T2 which wasn't a good omen for the run. Managed to fight back the cramps in my legs to hobble and stumble over the line in 15th position and 3rd Vet out of nearly 200 athletes, so not too shabby.

Keswick Mountain Festival
Congratulations to Joe Horne for coming 2nd in the Borrowdale 20K Trail Run in challenging conditions. The challenging conditions at the Keswick triathlon also took its toll on the Ryton Tri team that went through. Gutsy Diane survived all 3 disciplines and came 2nd vet, and Eric Blakie came 3rd supervet. Graham Jackson and Andrew Alpin also successfully completed the course.

Kirsty Jones and I know very well what the conditions must have been like as we were doing the Crossing Borders 100 mile challenge in aid of Action Medical Research on the same day. This ride was a very well organised and signposted route through beautiful, quiet Northumberland roads. If anyone is looking for a good Ironman training ride, then look no further. Action Medical Research have a number of rides organised throughout the country. Click here for more details.

Darlington Tri
Firstly, welcome back to Ian Walton. Ian used to be in the club, and has now returned. Ian competed in the Darlington Tri at the weekend and came 2nd Vet and 7th overall for his first tri of the season.

Success for Rachel - again!
Rachel podiums again. 2nd overall and 1st V40 by a country mile at the "3 Spires Triathlon" in Lichfield, finishing in 1 hr 11 mins. Another excellent result Rachel - well done.

Another success for Swinny's Hinnies - The Fred Whitton

Despite it raining all night long, despite Jaci falling off her bike the previous week and leaving a considerable amount of skin on the tarmac, suffering concussion and receiving 9 stitches to boot, and despite John and Laura getting a puncture, Swinny's Hinnies completed the Fred Whitton in an impressive 9:08. Excellent result! Oh, and Fred Smith completed it in 8.45 - well done him! And just in - Les did it in 12 hours! Fantastic!

Ashington Tri

Another fantastic day for Ryton-tri! Jane Mooney 1st Senior Female, Calum Johnson 2nd overall, Daniel Johnson 2nd Junior, Mike Hall 3rd Junior. Full report and results will follow shortly.

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Peterlee Triathlon
What a fantastic result for Ryton-tri! 1st, 2nd, 3rd female and 1st for female junior! Read Diane's report on the race here.

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Allendale Challenge 2011
Congratulations to Ian Maddison who completed the challenge in 4 hours 58 and to Ruth Dance who completed it in 5.32 (third female).

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Durham Duathlon
Well, it's been a very busy and successful weekend for Ryton-Tri! Phil Addyman was 1st overall and Rachel Walmsley was first female. So that's a first for Mr & Mrs A this weekend and an excellent result for Rachel's first race of the season - I'm sure there'll be more successes to write about for her. Full results can be found here and a report here.

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Ryton-tri 2-Up
Another pleasant day for this annual event. This year it was won by Jon Sturman and John Tuckett of Activ Cycles in a time of 37:35! Ryton did well too with Jaci and Laura winning the fastest female team with a time of 48:37 - quicker than last year and on a windier day! Another Ryton winner was Haydn (can't remember which category!). And there might have been others, but exhaustion, after having cycled faster than I've ever cycled before, has crept in and I can't remember! Someone will prompt me I'm sure :-). Full results can be found here and photos here.

Sue storming along!

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Stokesley Duathlon
First big race of the season kicked off with the Stokesley Duathlon. Provisional results show Philip Addyman 3rd overall and 2nd vet, David Garner 7th overall and 4th senior. Kyah Hall was 1st junior. A full report can be read here. Well done everyone who entered. Provisional results can be found here.
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Ryton's Pin-up

Has anyone bought/read the recent 220 magazine? Well, one of our gang is the June pin-up! See if you can recognise who it is......

Regional Grand Prix

Triathlon results: Well, the Ryton ladies (and girls) have done extremely well this year. Congratulations go to Natalie Batey (1st) and Kirsty Jones (2nd) in the senior category and Denise Parkin (3rd) in the vet category. And congratulations to Kyah Hall (1st) and Abby Jack (2nd) in the junior category. Don't know what the blokes have been doing this year! :-)

Duathlon results: Ryton ladies have done well too - Diane Chaney 1st vet and Rachel Walmsley 3rd senior.

Big E wins his age group at the Laguna Phuket Triathlon

10th Anniversary Club Party/Awards Do

Awards - click here to see who won what!

Fun awards will be up soon.......

Other photos of the night can be seen in the Gallery.

Hamsterley Duathlon

Congratulations to Joe Horne on coming 9th (1:55:06) at the recent Hamsterly Duathlon. Joe is coached by Colin so I hope he's as happy as Joe is with the result. Also competing was our very own Ruth Fletcher who completed it in 2:43:34.

Nice Race, Shame About the Car Park

On 17th October, Madders was, almost, Ryton Tri's only competitor in the Kielder Marathon. Click here to find out how he got on.

Gibside Trail Race

Congratulations to Philip Addyman for coming 18th in total at the Gibside Trail Race last Saturday. Congratulations too go to Diane Chaney (8th V40 and 28th fastest woman), Ian Maddison and Sasha Ban.

National Relays Write up

A little bit late, but hey! Click here to read Colin's report of the weekend

Congratulations to Dawn Gardener our newest Ironman!

Dawn successfully completed the Barcelona Challenge ironman distance triathlon on Sunday 3rd October. I can't find her times, but I'm sure she'll do a report when she gets back, so watch this space. A fantastic result for Dawn and made all the more amazing as she went to Barcelona by herself, survived the openwater swim section, which she was fearing, survived falling off her bike, I hear due to a stray child walking in front of her, and survived the 26 mile run. WELL DONE DAWN!

New section to Ryton Tri Website

I've decided to add a new section to the Club's website - Member Profiles. This will be the place where we can showcase particular members for something that they have done/will do or just something about them that makes them stand out from the crowd. So if you know of anyone that needs a particular mention then please send their details to Jenny Stewart (contact details on the Club's Committee page).

For this month, I've decided to mention someone whose surname probably gives her a head start before she's even got to the start line: Dawn Gardener - if you're new to triathlons or new to Ironman - check out her story in the new Member Profiles page.

Newbiggin Tri

Newbiggin Tri report to follow shortly.

Helvellyn 2010

Denise does it with her usual distinction! Second kiss she'd blown at me as I'd missed the first one! Clearly, The Struggle is far too easy for this woman! Read Mark Wouldhave's report here. Photographic evidence can be seen in the Gallery.

Provisional results show that Philip Addyman came 8th overall (out of a total entry of 605 entrants) - incredible result - and came 2nd Vet. Other achievements: Jaci 3rd V40, Denise 6th V40 (she would have been quicker had it not been for her spectacular fall on the run section), Laura 8th V40, Eric 4th V50. Finally, congratulations to Gary Forster for completing Helvellyn Tri - all that excellent and determined training throughout the year paid off! :-)

2 new Ironmen for Ryton Tri

Sam Grant became an Ironman on the 8th of August doing the Outlaw Triathlon. He has promised me a race report, so watch this space.

Brian Skean also became an Ironman on the 29th August doing Ironman Canada.

Well done both of you!

Alpe D'Huez race report

Click here to read Tim Pigott's report

Five go mad in Nottingham

Ryton Tri sent 5 crack teams down to Nottingham for the National Relays. No medals unfortunately as we were only able to enter the open teams but there were some outstanding individual results. Race report to follow shortly (hopefully!).

Hilly 21 TT results

Congratulations to John Tuckett of ActiveCycles/FentimensRT who did the course in 46:28. Results for Ryton tri were: Jaci - 2nd FV (1:01:03), Haydn Maughan - 3rd overall (51:04), Eric Blakie - 1st M50 (52:41) Nat Batey - 3rd F (1:03:51). Click here for the full results. And photos can be found here and in the Gallery.

Marshalling is a very demanding job and is taken very seriously. Click here to see how serious this marshall takes her job!!

2 Gold medals for Ryton Tri!

Read Philip's report of the Durty Tri

7 Virgins and a Gnome!

This is the unorthodox title of Madders' account of his exploits in Lanzarote. Click here to read it.

Couples Challenge Middle Distance Triathlon

Congratulations to Diane Chaney for 1st V40 position (5:10:06). Other entrants were Sam Grant (4:46:00), Bob Hogg (4:51:45), Andy Stevens (5:01:55)

Ryton Standard Distance Triathlon

Results are here and photos can be found here.

If at first you don't succeed, then tri again!

This could be the motto of the Ryton Tri that took place today, with every possible demon conspiring to thwart the organisers' best efforts to put on a decent event. First there was the precedent of the event having to be cancelled last year (despite a strong field in 2008), then there were problems with a dangerously pot-holed section of road that Northumbria County Council neglected to attend to (despite promises to the contrary) and, as if all this wasn't enough, competitors approaching the Sailing Club race HQ this morning were treated to the site of the Derwent Reservoir being blasted by a very strong wind with reported gusts of up to 60mph!

This ultimately meant that, despite the intentions of the organising team, the triathlon looked very much like it was heading towards a duathlon. This was finally confirmed to all around 30 mins before original scheduled start, when it emerged that the swell on the water was too much even for the safety kayaks to get out there: no safety kayaks, no swim.

So it was announced that it would be a 5k run / 40k bike / 10k run duathlon, with the original 5 k run replacing the swim. Cue a queue of people all telling me how well it would now suit me, the noted under-achieving swimmer. To be honest I was there for a triathlon and was already all wet-suited up and was probably as sad as anyone else not to be doing a triathlon, but I was happy that the organisers had pushed ahead and quickly and effectively made the effort to ensure we all had some sort of (safe) multisport event to compete in.

So at 10.15 around 70 or so competitors assembled for the run start. It went off pretty fast and about 6 guys made it back to T1 ahead of me, where I was quite surprised to be on equal footing with Dave Garner and just a bit ahead of Alan Blakie from Ryton. The bike was very windy on the outward lakeside section and final return from Kiln Pit Hill, but on the whole, I estimated that the wind was about 60% favourable and 40% adverse on the 2 lap circuit. I did a strong bike for the 25 miles, averaging 21.0mph and was quite happy to be on a non aero bike with narrow section rims as I seemed to fare better than most in the nasty cross wind section on the A68. Despite doing a fairly good bike I was told that I was third into T2 with the leader over 4mins ahead. Dave Garner had done a strong bike and was able to pass me within the first half mile of the run as I settled down to the fact that I couldn't get the gap to the leaders back, nor could I beat him so I concentrated on consolidating first V40.

The final twist in the trials and tribulations of the 2010 Ryton Triathlon occurred when, just 10 mins into the run, I suddenly saw the two leader powering back on the run towards the finish, having both of them turned at the turn for the previous 5k run, rather than the further point that they should have taken for the second 10k run. This suddenly left Dave in front and me in second, with him going on to finally finish around 3 minutes ahead of me. I was relieved to see that all the competitors behind us were indeed following us out to the 10k turn point so the majority of competitors did indeed complete the revised duathlon event as specified. It was very bad luck for a severe wind to be blowing on the day, so scuppering the swim, but I think the good will of the organisers and the spirit of the competitors overcame adversity on the day and the majority of us who got up for a 630 am breakfast on a Sunday were glad that some kind of a race was still run. It was good to see that very few competitors turned home when the duathlon was announced and most stayed to take part in a slightly different event than they had perhaps envisaged. Congratulations again to Richard and his organising team and LONG LIVE THE RYTON TRI EVENT.

PS apologies for slightly one-sided report but that's what you get when written on same day as race when full results not up yet.

Brief Ryton Tri results from memory in key categories:

Senior male: 1st Dave Garner; 3rd Alan Blakie

V40 Male: 1st Philip Addyman

V50 Male: Eric Blakie

V40 Lady: 1st Denise Parkin; 2nd Jaci Swinbank; 3rd Diane Chaney; 4th Laura Addyman

Cleveland Steelman

I'm sure Lance Armstrong doesn't have to write up Tour reports when he's finished a stage....

Ryton Tri fielded a team of 9 for the Steelman. Included in this 9 were 4 new to this distance (Sam, Natalie, Kirsty and Jenny). The weather was kind if a little breezy. First out the water was Natalie followed shortly by Sam. Jaci went on to record the fastest female bike split for the race and if that wasn't enough, then recorded 1:30 for her run to take the winning slot. Apparently she won because she actually ran the whole run rather than walking sections in order to admire the view! Diane really enjoyed seeing Jaci, Natalie and Denise come 1, 2, 3 into T2.

Despite leaving parts of his flesh on the tarmac after negotiating a gravelly corner in an effort to try and catch Denise, Bob managed to continue on to the end of the race. Natalie only dropped her 1st cat position in the run section (apparently she got bored) and therefore went on to win 1st place for her first attempt at a middle distance triathlon - result!! This was also Kirsty's first attempt at this distance and it was also her most enjoyable (she certainly looked very happy when I saw her on the run). She reckons her careful administration of her drugs - sorry nutrients (she is a GP) made everything all the more pleasant. Clearly Ironman material but she says she's not interested. Jenny had made careful plans back home of ensuring her Will was up-to-date and all her papers in order before embarking on the challenge she had set herself for being 50 this year. And when both her calves cramped up on the last stretch of the swim, there was a moment when she thought that her Will would have to be read! Being in agony made not a hoot of difference to her coach (Sue) who told her to quit moaning and get on with the race. Jenny made one very small eensie-weenie error in T1 which her loyal team of supporters thought was hysterical. It was nearly too much, however, the image of Sue's laughing face kept Jenny going on the long bike ride. The run was made bearable by the tremendous support of Ryton team mates and she even managed a sprint finish as a consequence of the cheers of her team to take 3rd place (ok there were only 3 in her category!) and most importantly - there were 3 (younger) blokes behind her!!

Jenny and Kirsty would like to thank all their supporters and in particular John Swinbank who was absolutely fantastic - from checking our bikes, to encouragement on the sidelines.

Jaci - 1st overall

Denise - 2nd Vet

Natalie - 1st Senior

Jenny - 3rd Super-vet

All in all a grand day out!

(Apologies that this report is female-orientated - if one of the blokes competing would like to write their report - please send it to me - my email address is on the Committee page.)

National TTT story

Boys will be boys ... Ryton Tri Club sent two 3 man teams down to the National Team Time Trial Championship today on a fairly flat 33 mile course run along much of the same roads as the Cleveland Olympic Tri. The organisers automatically designate teams from the same club as A, B, C etc. so this set up a bit of inter-club rivalry as Haydn Maughan, Gareth Huxley and Philip Addyman were designated "Ryton A", whilst Colin Gardener, Dave Garner and John Swinbank were titled "Ryton B". In the end both teams were separated by just a minute with the A team prevailing in 1:19:48 against the B team's 1:20:28 to give averages of 24.8 and 24.5 mph respectively for 19th and 20th places. The winning team was a pro roady team, Marshalls Pasta full of Olympic squad medallists who did 1:06:13 at just a whiskers less than 30mph! It should be noted they probably don't swim and run quite as fast as assorted Ryton Triers. The course was quite tough with a headwind out to Northallerton, which made the little drags even harder and a tailwind on the back straight, followed by a turn into the headwind again for the last 5 miles - not very nice. All in all not a bad day out and what this tester malarky loses with its covert early morning starts, it gains with the nice sandwich spread and communal presentation afterwards. Photos can be seen here.

(Editor's note: a piece of piss in comparison with the Cleveland Steelman! :-))

As many people have asked what happened with Diane - here's her story:

A Day in the Lakes

A Day in The Lakes is becoming a favourite for the Ryton Tri Team and this second running of the event enjoyed perfect summer weather, just like last year. There were 11 from Ryton competing in this Half Ironman event than many finishers said was tougher than a full Ironman. This is probably due to the 56 mile bike ride that includes the tough climb of Kirkstone pass (from Patterdale) and then a steady climb on the A6 up to Shap to give 1250m of height in total. Conditions on the bike were tougher this year with a headwind out to Kirkstone, and also for the last 5 miles, that favoured strong bikers. The 13 mile run was over dry, hilly fell, with a tough 300m climb up Fusedale after 6 miles and the last 3.5 miles on road. Ryton sent a crack team for the men's event and ended up with 3 athletes in the top ten! Lanzarote sensation Dave Garner held his form to finish 3rd (05:03:06, 2nd Senior), Gareth Huxley (still nursing a broken foot!) 7th (05:10:30 3rd V40) and Philip Addyman 9th (05:12:46, 4th V40).

The team was happy to welcome Alan Blakie back into our colours and he finished 41st overall and 23rd Senior (05:40:38). His dad Eric pulled off a nice result in the V50 category coming 3rd (05:56:50). Bob Hogg was 12th V50 (06:34:58) and now has just the Steelman over the same distance to do next weekend!

Laura Addyman (06:50:54) and Sue Chester (06:53:25) both had excellent results in V40 Ladies category, with Laura finishing 5th and Sue finishing an excellent 6th on her debut. After being separated by just 3 minutes on swim times they then proceeded to do virtually identical bike and run splits.

Dave Thompson did a similar time to last year (06:43:30) and finished in 79th in his category, whilst Dean Swanston (07:53:23) and David Nicholson (07:12:17) both performed heroically on their debut. Dean jumped straight to doing the toughest half Ironman in the country directly from Sprint distance!

Finally, Philip and Gareth seem to have hit upon the magic numbers for pre-race hydration and are prepared to reveal to you all that it is ..... 3:1. (Three pints of real ale on the Friday night, one on the Saturday!)

Report by Philip Addyman

Cleveland Short Course

Another strong contingent of Ryton Tri athletes braved the attrocious weather and made their way down to Ellerton Lake for the Cleveland Short Course. Included in this bunch were some Olympic distance newbies (Rachel and Kirsty). The rain kindly stopped during the race for the (one) loyal supporter who stood shouting words of encouragement from the sidelines. First out the water was Natalie with a time of 22:40 followed by Andy Beattie (23:15) and then Dave Garner (24:08). Dave then went on to record the fastest bike split of all entrants with an incredible time of 1:01:24, quickly followed up by a run time of 34:19 making a total time of 2:01:59 earning him 2nd Senior place. On the female front, Natalie completed the race in 2:20:21 on "tired legs" for 2nd Senior and Rachel recorded a time of 2:25:37 giving her a podium slot (3rd Senior) for her first Olympic distance triathlon - excellent result! Kirsty surprised herself by not drowning in the lake and after asking Clive to keep an eye on her in the water, promptly left him in her wake as she stormed ahead! However, Clive was able to reel her in with his strong bike and managed to keep her at bay on the run. Full results can be found here and photos can be seen in the Rogues Gallery.

Castles Challenge Triathlon

Well, Jane Mooney has done it again with another amazing result: 2:22:42 10th place overall (ie there were only 9 blokes faster than her!) and her nearest female rival was a good 6 minutes behind her. She was 5th out of the water and 6th fastest runner with an incredible time of 37:06. Other Ryton Tri results were: Vanessa Butler 2:46:15 and David Nicholson 2:52:28. Full results can be found here.

QE2 Triathlon

Natalie Batey came 2nd in her age group with a time of 1:19:09. Andy Beatty was the fastest of the Ryton Tri lot with a time of 1:15:21. For Sarah Bradford it was the first time in a wet suit (borrowed) and the first time in an open water event - however that didn't phase her one bit and she completed her swim in a very acceptable time of 14:51 - 7th in category. Other times were: David Thompson 1:21:18, Bob Hogg 1:24:45, Mark Wouldhave 1:27:39, Jennifer Batey 1:28:42, Jenny Stewart 1:42:34. Full results can be found here.