Racing catch up May and June

Either side of the Alpe D’Huez camp we had a whole load of racing going on in the team – it has been a bit hectic so plenty to catch up on!

Way back on May 13th/14th there was big turn out at the Eton sprints ETU qualifier event with Sean, Will, Dhruti, Chandni, Heenal, Julie, Linda, David and Rose all racing. This is fast and furious stuff – for instance Sean had a speedy race finishing less than a minute off the podium but that meant 9th in his AG! Not helped by missing the pack out of the swim and riding solo for the whole of the draft legal bike. Rose and Julie came 3rd and 4th on their age group and both secured automatic qualification for the ETU champs in 2024 and David almost certainly did enough to get a slot as well. In the afternoon event Will finished 5th overall and won his age group and Heenal, Chandni and Dhruti nailed their first ever tri. Meanwhile James and Rob were storming the Huntsman standard tri – James 10th overall and 3rd in AG and Rob and excellent 2nd in age group in his first ever triathlon as well!

In another big weekend of racing the following week, George, Will and James were aiming for GB age group slots at the Box End standard qualifier and fingers cross both James and Will nailed down their slots with excellent races. George was also supper speedy in a very competitive age group and racing in his titanium tourer Gav, Ian and Richard all executed their race brilliantly at the Outlaw Nottingham half with both Richard and Gav smashing their previous ‘best times’ for the distance. Rose won her age group (we think) at the Arundel tri, Dhruti, Heenal and Chandni went straight from Dorney to the Hatch End tri and nailed it. At Im 70.3 Aix en Provence Fran was 5mins quicker than the winning time in her age group from 2022 and recorded her fastest ever bike split in the race (5th time she’s done it!) finishing 6th in a super competitive field! Perhaps performance of the weekend though was Lindsay at Aix who absolutely smashed her first ever 70.3 with sub 6 hour finish and never stopped smiling the whole way

On to June and the first weekend included the European Sprint Championships in Madrid with Julie, Rose and Linda and David racing. The race was switched to a duathlon at short notice due to water quality (not for the first Tim win Madrid!) which did not suit Linda and Julie who are both strong swimmers. Both pulled out good performances though with Julie 5th and Linda 7th in their respective age groups. David had a decent race in a hyper competitive field finishing in 31st. Rose stormed the race and collected her first major AG medal with a brilliant bronze in her AG

Meanwhile, Sean was securing a podium spot in the National Middle Champs at the Grafman, James finished 8th overall in the Weymouth Middle, Richard was an excellent 2nd in his AG at the same event in the sprint, Gav finished 11th out of 168  in his AG at Blenheim and Izzy took the overall win in the Sutton Road race and got in the papers

On to the 12th June and fab racing again.this weekend everyone! ⁨Becky in a team with Nick won (of course!) the Eastbourne team super sprint. Sean⁩ was literally miles ahead in his AG at Dorney standard but sensibly pulled in run to protect his calf for Holkham in a few weeks which was very sensible – hopefully it’s ok! Maurik⁩ had quite an experience for his first tri on a hire bike ( as they wouldn’t accept TT bikes??) whilst the saddle slowly slipped down throughout the 40k! Those quads will be sore! ⁨Will Oldham⁩ came 4th in Eastbourne qualification race despite getting stung in face by jellyfish and stacking it on the run! Dhruti⁩, Heenal⁩ and Chandni⁩ raced brilliantly at Windsor. Rob Best absolutely nailed his first 703 at Staffs and Richard also had a fab race at Swashbuckler. ⁨Izzy⁩ is just getting faster and won overall in the Welsh relays and then of course Annie⁩ and Fran clearly felt 2 weeks of climbing mountains was not enough and found a race to do before heading back to the UK. Annie came 4th in the medium and Fran came 1st in AG in the middle at Challenge Cagnes Sur Mer.

A couple of slightly quieter weekends followed but still with some great results – Jen won her AG in her 5k swim event and qualified for the World Championships. Samuel won his AG at the Sandbanks sprint and Richard came 2nd overall in the aquathlon at the same event. Liam took on 703 Nice in very hot conditions – tough race but came through unscathed and Julie – despite a gruelling race schedule produced a great result and performance to secure and automatic qualification for the World Sprint Championships in the Cardiff qualifier