Neil Yates

I eagerly watched the BBC weather report for the past week, and was relieved to wake up and find it was a cold Morning with a stiff breeze, not the blustery rain filled morning I'd been dreading.

      Arrived nice and early to registration and was immediately met by gaggle of team mates, it was great to see so many competing and supporting, and all in their Hartlepool hoodies.

      My plan for this race was simple, it's just a training session. No more no less. Unfortunately the plan never survives first contact and as I lined up on the start line next to Chris I knew I'd be swept along with the crowd and wouldn't necessarily run my own race. So off we went, had a great first run mainly trying to catch James who was about 10m ahead of me, once caught settled into a nice rhythm along side him, always helps running with someone, and we came into transition with a 20min (ish) first run. 

      Transition was a bit of a nightmare, I went to the wrong bike, couldn't find mine at all then got cramp in my thigh. Eventually pulled myself together and went out onto the bike, had to pause again to turn my number round as I mounted and then set off.

The bike was windy on the way out, but that makes it great on the way back. I managed to stick with Chris Hill for the first lap, but dropped back 100m on the second. We passed James and Tony on the first lap, although Tony was a thorn in my side as every hill we came to he'd come back past me!! Eventually managed to put a bit of distance between us and finished the bike in a pleasing 1hr 1min. ( over 7mins quicker than last year)

      A quick transition and back onto the run. I quickly caught up with Chris hill and stuck with him. Despite the aching thighs we both crossed the line together for a total time of 1hr 47min.

      Overall a great day personally, massive improvement from last year, overall 11 minutes quicker this year, so very pleasing. A big thanks to our supporters who came out in the cold and wind to shout and cheer us on.

Lesley Watson

 .... So after a fitful sleep, and porridge for breaky..we set off for Stokesley. Got parked surprisingly easy considering the amount of cars already there at 8am. Registration was quick and fuss free. I was a bit worried about my achilies problem, but I needn't have been..It held out just fine, although I was running flat footed. Run 1 went smoothly, I was just steady away..not puffing too heavily. Time...23.52

      I loved my bike, which I never thought I'd hear myself say. And I amazed myself at how many riders I was overtaking! ..On both laps. I made up a lot of ground. Jon had very kindly fashioned me a drinking straw from my bottle, so i wasn't messing on with that. And it would have been lovely, if he hadn't got the pipe from the cupboard in the kitchen which has garlic in. That's all I could taste, so i only had a couple of sips the whole race!!

      Im so glad that we'd been over to do the course a couple of times before race day, or I almost certainly would have got it wrong...as a number of people seemed to have done. The one place where there should have been a marshall (The slip road to end of lap one) There wasn't. I know Trihard have messed up big time with the results, and I bet they feel shocking for it. I would love to see all the times in full. I stretched my back up just as i came into the village, and although the dismount was agony, I got over it pretty quickly. One last sip of 'garlic' and I was off!

      I was so chuffed with me bike but it made me think all those I did overtake.. beat me on the run, so i'll go a bit faster on that next time! Time...1.12.16

      Run 2 was always gonna hurt.. But the pain didn't last as long as it has done in the past. It was great to see Matt was all done 'n dusted (as i knew he would be) And stood shouting words of encouragement to me with all our other supporters, my gorgeous teammates. That sea of blue was a lovely sight. I past most of the boys on their way home, so I felt pleased that I wasn't too far behind! Jon met me at the bridge and jogged along side me for a couple of feet, telling me 'Blast it' to the finish line (I was!) I have a massive smile on my face in the pictures as I crossed the line, to lots of cheers. (Thanks guys) And recovered in a couple of minutes. Time....24.28

      Overall time of 2hours 2minutes. I'll go for 1.55 next year.

      Would recommend it ...But defo do a reccie. Toilets were fine..no queues for the girls, for a change. I didnt have to use my bucket! Marshalls were nice. Hartlepool Triathletes were awesome! Hope the results get sorted, and print outs would have been nice.

      Can honestly say I LOVED IT xxx