Well things have really started to ramp up over the last month or two! The club is now in full swing, we are cautiously moving out of the Pandemic and ‘normali'tri’ is looking optimistic for the future! The training sessions that the coaches are delivering every week have been a fantastic opportunity for members to learn new skills or brush up on their old ones, more importantly I think it has been fantastic to get the social aspect back as well! The weekly coffee catch ups and quiz nights are still going strong online with a large number of members taking part. 

Eventing is by far the most exciting bit of being part of a Triathlon Club, the emotions you go through leading up to an event and on the day are just incredible! It really is the best feeling, which is why so many of our members have thrown themselves back onto the start line after an uncertain year ! 

Warm Seal Triathlon took place at Druridge Bay with an excellent turn-out of ATC members, Graham Atkins, Chris Burtenshaw, Charlotte Howell, Kerry Barnett and Megan Walsh all attended and enjoyed every second of being back at a ‘proper’ event. For Kerry this was her very first Triathlon and I think she definitely has the bug now and has already signed herself up for more in the future!

The next big event was the Aj Bell Leeds World Championships, a full weekend of Triathlon Events, The Sprint took place on the Saturday with Dave Askew, Chris Kerr, Anthony Brydon and Jayne Rudd turning out for their very first event, Jayne was absolutely over the moon to be able to finally drink from her “Triathlete” Mug she had received several month previous, well done Jayne “You are a Triathlete”!! Our other seasoned Triathletes also turned out to the event; Tony Williams, Michelle Scott , Megan Walsh, Kerry Barnett and Charlotte Howell all triumphantly completed the event with brilliant times. 

The Standard event took place on Sunday, Ian Readman set himself a challenge of completing in under 2 and a half hours and was successful with a time of 2:29:18; an outstanding time. Zoe Savage, Graham Atkins and Craig Johnson also completed the Standard, although Graham did have a hasty start, missing his start time due to traffic on the day! Leeds is one of the best events to go to as you are able to watch the Pro Triathletes compete in the World Championships later in the afternoon! 

Some of our members often complete events that are not Triathlon related but still are huge achievements and we completely support all of our members trying new things. Kerry Barnett showed real grit and determination in completing “The Wall '' which was a 100km Ultra Marathon from Carlisle to Newcastle along Hadrian's Wall, definitely something to be proud of! Well done Kerry! 

Trevor Dixon attended The Lakesman which is a middle distance triathlon, a very hard course in the Lake District, he came 12th in his Age Group with a time of 5 hours and 32 minutes. Awesome achievement! 

A special mention should also go to Charlotte Howell who has been signing herself up to Triathlons all over the country and absolutely smashing them ! She is getting more and more confident and faster every time she turns out for an event! Charlotte is certainly making 2021 her year!

Most of you may also know that a few members of the club had signed up to IMUK in 2020, but the Pandemic put a stop to that event and we were all left in limbo between training for a huge event and eating food, watching Netflix and chilling like the rest of the Nation! Very weird times! Anyway, by January 2021 we were all pretty committed and started to train hard for an event we were not even sure was going to happen, as the months went we became more and more positive that the event would go ahead, even when Bolton was hit by the infamous “Indian strain” we had to keep the motivation going and think positive! good weeks and bad weeks but we were as consistent as could be with life challenges and a lack of swimming training due to the pools being closed. The 4th July 2021 arrived and Chris Burtenshaw, Zoe Savage, Craig Johnson and Trevor Dixon stepped onto the start line at Pennington Flash for probably one of their biggest challenges to date. Ironman UK in Bolton consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run with over 10,000ft of climbing on the bike section alone, a cut off time of 17 hours, it is one of the tougher Ironman courses. An extremely tough day and the torrential rain didn't help but we all made it to the finish line, thankfully in one piece !! Craig crossed the finish line with an impressive time of 16:08:01, Zoe finished with a time of 15:44:54, Chris finished with a fantastic time of 13:15:47 and Trevor who was first from the club to cross the line with an amazing time of 11:59:43 qualifying for KONA the Ironman World Championships! 

A fantastic season so far for all Triathletes, we are slowly but surely getting back to normal and long may it continue. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the coaches and the committee members for their time and effort that they put into the club.  We certainly wouldn't be the successful club we are today if it wasn't for you guys !