Sunday 17th June 2018 - First Timers

Some PTC members completing their first ever races from middle distance triathlons to ultra running races.

As mentioned earlier in the week, we also had the following club members racing last weekend – some doing their ‘firsts’; Sylwester Nowocien who completed the sprint triathlon in Eyemouth (not his first!), Stuart Campbell who completed his first middle distance triathlon in Loch Lomond and Carole Mallett who completed her first ultra-running race in the Lake District…keep reading to find out how they got on!

Sly (another of our Triclub coaches) had this to say: “the Eyemouth Sprint Triathlon was great but very challenging. My swim was not the best this time round but acceptable and the first part of the 20km cycle was a constant incline and brutal wind but the way back was a joy. The run course was fairly tough too with a steady climb around the golf course. Regardless of the weather conditions, I managed to place 4th in my category and 11th to finish overall in a time of 1:18:57. A great start to Father's Day” 

Stuart reported the following on his Loch Lomond Middle Distance Triathlon - “1st Middle-distance triathlon complete. Seriously hilly cycle! Struggled with shin-splints for 15km yet managed good finish. Was aiming for 6h 30min, so well happy with result!!!”

Carole chose the Lakes 5 Passes as her first ultra running race – here is what she had to say. “The ultra consisted of a 33 mile run with 10,000ft of ascent. Lakeland Five Passes was a very tough and technical race.. the five passes were..Garburn Pass..Gatesgarth Pass..Nan Bield Pass..Kirkstone Pass.. and Scondale Pass. The weather conditions were horrendous and I was drookit to say the least by the first half of the race! Regardless…I decided to just get on with it and with the help of some fellow ultra running friends along the way from Falkland Trail Runners; Laura Fleming and Angela Taylor, we stomped, jogged, ran and joked as it was the only way to get to the finish line…which…was a wee bit difficult for me to find (as my running buddies and I parted company near the end) and even after managing to navigate my way around that difficult course…I then got lost in Grasmere! I was panicking so much about the cut off time that I forgot the finish was at the village hall and I ran past it! I shall put it down to the dizzy heights of the 5 passes! I finished in 12 hours and 7 minutes out of 152 participants (18 of whom were DNF’s) and was delighted that I wasn’t last for a change as there were 3 more runners and 2 more walkers who finished after me.”

Awesome racing folks, well done Sly, Stuart and Carole. Also a thank you to the organisers for putting on these events, the support from the marshals, safety boats and mountain rescue teams involved. 

P.S Missed from the previous weeks race reports can we have a wee shout out and well done to Jennifer Kettle, Kathleen Connor and Ben Hammond who all took part in the Muthill Sportive on 9th June – all three chose to cycle the gruelling 70 miles! On the same day, Carole Mallett and Jo Connell chose to brave the midges to run the Skye Half Marathon.