Flower blossoms to debut triathlon victory

Weymouth was the triathlon place to be this weekend as Ben Flower raced his way to a first ever win, and first place overall at the Weymouth Sprint Triathlon, in a superb time of 1.10.58. He was joined on the podium by Valerie McClean, who took second place in her age group with a time of 1.50.37.

Gary Burman made a successful start to his "long distance" Olympic triathlon racing career to claim an impressive fifth spot overall and third in his age group, with a strong time of 2.16.03. Next home for the club was Paul Whitehead 2.34.13 and closely followed by Simon Graham 2.34.52 (3rd AG), Frank Reay 2.37.24 (2nd AG) and Devon Macs 2.43.19.

Heading inland and Julian Smith continued his preparations for Challenge Roth next month with an outing at the Cotswold 113 Middle Distance Triathlon. Racing against a strong field over a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 run, Julian recorded a fantastic PB time of 4.49.43, which included a superb 1.33 half marathon finish.

Fast, flat and offering scenic views of the reservoir, the Burrator 10k attracted a strong field of runners as Jon and Cassandra Pressling enjoyed a Saturday night, race date night running on Dartmoor. The pace matched the summer evening temperature right from the start and helped Jon to secure a speedy time of 37.51 and third place age group, while Cassandra finished in 51 minutes.

Taking time out from racing and training, Torbay Tri Club members supported their local Parkrun with a team of volunteers turning the weekly event into a sea of orange around the course. Members got involved with pre and post run activities along with marshalling the course and providing pace runners.