TUNBRIDGE WELLS Triathlon Club were out in force at the Marshman weekend in Lydd, securing the overall team prize with impressive performances across all distances.Â
Conditions were perfect at this low-key festival, with the notorious coastal headwind as calm as can be expected for a course in the shadow of the Camber Sands wind farm.
In the Marshman ‘Half Iron’ race (1.9km swim 90km bike ride, 21km run) Katherine De Rome was first out of the water with a scintillating swim of just 26 minutes.
The Great Britain Age Group athlete at F25 continued with fast bike and run splits to finish first female and an impressive sixth place overall, recording a time of 4hr 44min.Â
Fellow GB athlete Judith Hagger also topped her F40 Age Group and finished second female (5:14, 27th overall), while 7Oaks Tri Club’s Valerie Place (F55) was not far behind in third (5:18).
Peter Gibson dominated the Sprint (700m swim, 24km bike ride, 6km run), claiming the title five minutes clear of the field in a time of 1:06.Â
Jodie Cocker was first female on her return to racing after injury, finished 10th in 1:25.Â
Success was shared throughout the team with Jamie White (1:21, eighth) and Nathalie Bere (1:27, 15th) both topping their Age Groups.Â
Dave Mahon was first home for the club in the Standard race (1500m swim, 40km bike ride, 10km run), improving on last year’s performance with a 10th place finish in a very strong field, finishing in 2:18. Carlo Nebuloni won in 2:09.
Solid performances from Kieran Fitzpatrick (4:49, 8th) and Edward Moffatt (4:53, 12th) capped a successful weekend for the club.
Elsewhere, Clare Roche made a bid to qualify for the ITU World Championships in the Eton Dorney Sprint Race (1:31, 11th F60) and Grant Aitken was first M50 at the Grafman Middle Distance in Cambridgeshire (4:31, 51st).
