Bedford Parkrun - 28.09.13

A pleasant morning greeted 8 FlitwickTri members at the Bedford Parkrun today. We had 6 runners, with Les taking part as tail runner, and 2 other volunteers in Pete and Liam.

It was an eventful race with Lois twisting her knee as she moved out of the way of a runner going past and having to retire. Then I went flying as I caught my foot on the path where it was raised by a tree root.

Times were:

Chris Wright                             21.28
Fiona Jones                              27.25
Ellen Wright                             32.57
Sian Jones                                37.20
Les Potts                                  40.54

Well done everyone.

Chris

Eton Man half ironman triathlon 22.09.13

On Sunday morning at the crack of dawn Jason was in action at Eton Dorney Lake to take part in the Votwo Day of Endurance and he chose the Half Iron distance event for his first open water triathlon. Clealy his thinking was "there's nothing like throwing yourself in at the deep end."

The distances facing Jason were a 1.9K swim in the rowing lake followed by 56 miles on the bike and then a run of 13.1 miles.

Things started well with a swim time of 43.27, transition 1 went by in 6.38 and then there was an issue as the cyclist in front of Jason crashed and caused Jason to crash into the barrier at the transition exit in an effort to avoid a major pile up. No damage was caused to his bike but the same could not be said for his hand, wrist and arm. His right hand was therefore effectively out of use for the ride and he was limited to one gear and only one brake for the duration.

Despite the injury and the consequential gearing and braking issues Jason managed a very creditable 3 hour 30 minute 45 second bike split which equates to an impressive 16mph average speed. Les and I arrived to cheer Jason on a few laps from the end of the bike leg and were not aware of the issue until transition 2.

The duration of T2 was slightly longer than usual as he received first aid treatment and had his wrist strapped. His arm was by this time developing some interesting coloured bruises and was obviously very painfull.

Given the injury Jason did well to set off on the run at a reasonable pace but later slowed to a walk for much of the run to make himself more comfortable. He finished the run in 3 hours 3 minutes and 10 seconds for a very creditable overall time of 7.32.40.

It turns out that Jason had actually broken his thumb in the crash as confirmed today by x-ray. He also now has a multicoloured upper arm and shoulder.

An impressive performance and display of determination (stubbornness) in the face of adversity.

Brilliant effort Jason.

Chris

Bedford Parkrun - 21.09.13

Saturday morning dawned with little or no wind and almost perfect conditions for 5K running. The group was well represented with 7 runners taking part and another volunteering. It turned out to be a PBtastic day with four of the seven runners achieving PBs.

Times were:

Liam Ko                      21.02 PB
Chris Wright                21.24
Pete Jones                  23.30 PB
Les Potts                     23.58 PB
Fiona Jones                 27.13 PB
Sian Jones                   37.13
Lois Wright                  41.20

Well done to everyone.

Chris

Milton Keynes Parkrun - 14.09.13

While some people were away and another FlitwickTri members were running at Bedford Parkrun Steve Clough represented the group in the MK Parkrun. Despite the poor coinditions he managed a very good time of 23.24 for a new PB.

Well done Steve.

Bedford Parkrun - 14.09.13

Four Flitwick Tri members took part in the above event on a wet and chilly Saturday morning.

 

According to my Garmin I broke the 24 minute mark for the first time unfortunately though the official results were not so kind:

 

28^th       Liam Ko            21:42

58^th       Les Potts          24:01 - PB

67^th       Pete Jones       24:29

161^st     Sian Jones       38:17

 

 Les

Wise words

Grunty Fen half-marathon - 08.09.13

Liam & I took part in the above event on a sunny and cool September morning that was pretty good for running.

 

The course was virtually flat with ample marshals who were always vocal in their support, there was plenty of drinks station and wet sponges. Likewise the local community were very supportive. All in all a well organised event.

 

Liam ran very consistently averaging 4.78minutes/k and achieved a time of 1:41:20 a massive 6 minutes 28 seconds of his previous PB!! He came 165^th.

 

I wasn’t quite that fast coming in at 1:57:19 but this was just 43 seconds outside my PB. I came in at number 364.

 

 

 

We received decent medals and a £5 Sweatshop voucher.

 

Oddly the race was sold out with 800 competitors but there are only results for 575? This may have had something to do with the 2.5 hour limit although there were several results published in excess of this.

 

Les

Bedford Parkrun - 07.09.13

It was a very busy morning at Bedford Parkrun for FlitwickTri members today with 8 running and Les volunteering ahead of his half marathon (with Liam) tomorrow. The weather was also being kind with sunshine but cooler conditions.

Steve achieved a very good new PB and Lois showed her new training regime is working by knocking nearly 4 minutes off her last run time from 4 weeks ago.

The times were:

Chris Wright                   21.39
Liam Ko                         22.02
Steve Clough                  23.43
Pete Jones                     24.26
Fiona Jones                    28.30
Ellen Wright                   32.15
Sian Jones                      37.43
Lois Wright                     39.13

Great turnout and excellent running everyone.

Chris

Silverstone Duathlon - 05.09.13

Steve Clough and I were amongst 138 competitors at the last Silverstone Duathlon of 2013. Weather-wise it was a fantastic evening and as usual there were a lot of very serious riders with equally impressive racing bikes.

 

The event consisted of two 2 mile runs around the Porsche circuit either side of a 10 mile cycle ride. This time the cycle ride consisted of 5 laps of the international circuit rather than the normal 3 laps of the GP circuit. Apparently this represents a slightly shorter race distance and hence it was not easy to draw comparisons with previous race times.

 

Sector times were as follows:

 

Steve    14m59s – 53s – 30m37s – 43s – 15m49s = total time of 1:03:01

Les       15m04s – 43s – 36m14s – 37s – 17m38s = total time of 1:10:13

 

Unfortunately severe cramp at the dismount line saw me &  mybike crash to the ground – the only thing that hurt was my pride and the cramp in my legs.

 

Of the 136 finishers Steve came 96^th and I came 126^th.   

  

Les

The Ox Bucks Sportive - 01.09.13

On a bright but breezy and much cooler Sunday morning I made my way over Bicester way with my friend Andy for the Ox Bucks Cyclo Sportive. As Andy had had some issues towards the end of our longer training ride the week before we decided to opt for the 40 mile route rather than the 70 mile route we did last year.

The 40 mile route was undulating rather than hilly with 1600ft of climbing. One thing that was really noticeable however was the appaling state of the roads on the circular route. If you think Bedforshire's roads are bad think again. I am sure a couple of the potholes were over 6 inches deep and at one point a lane we were on was more holes than road. Thankfully the roads did improve on the second half.

Our final average speed was 16.8mph which was OK with a finishing time around 2 hours 25 minutes including a short fueling stop, This got me a Strava top 10 at the time of writing which was a bonus.

Chris.

Bedford Parkrun - 31.08.13

A bright but cooler morning greeted 200 runners to the Bedford Parkrun on Saturday morning. It was obviously a good thing for younger runners as both Fiona and Ellen achived new PBs.

4 FlitwickTri runners took part with me there supporting and acting as barcode scanner.

The times were:

Pete Jones                           25.10
Fiona Jones                          27.59
Ellen Wright                         32.01
Sian Jones                            38.23

Well done everyone.

Chris