Nine competitors represented the club at our annual club sprint championships  event at Bournemouth International Triathlon on Sunday, September 10. The event, which in itself was a sellout with over 700 entries, was also a sprint world championships qualifying event.

The athletes had a very early start with the first wave being in the water by 7am. But despite the early start, they were welcomed with near-perfect racing conditions, not as hot as of late with very little wind and calm seas.

The race consisted of a 750m sea swim. The competitors then had to zig-zag their way back up to the top into transition before heading out on a 20km fast bike route on open roads heading out of Bournemouth towards the market town of Ringwood on the edge of The New Forest.

They then finished the event by running 5km along the promenade back onto the sand to the finish line.

Vance Worsley claimed the male title in a time of 1.25.23 while Deborah Wilson was crowned female champion in a time of 1.35.40.

Everyone finished the race with no issues apart from one incident where Virginia Graham, an experienced triathlete who has previously competed for Great Britain, had a panicked moment when she came into transition after the bike leg, as she couldn’t remember where she racked her bike. It meant that she couldn’t find her running shoes.  This error cost her valuable time but she saw the funny side of it after the race and had a good laugh with her teammates.

Other times are as follows:

Jeremy Burgess: 1.27.48

Steve Carey: 1.31.12

Toby Ledger: 1.35.46

Virginia Graham: 1.38.32

Christopher Edwards: 1.39.41

Naomi Ledger: 1.56.36

Karen Carey: competed in the aquathlon which consisted of a 750m swim and a 5k run. She finished in 1.15.16 putting her fifth in her category.

Well done to all the athletes!