Torbay triathlete conquers Barcelona IRONMAN

A man on a triathlon mission and a race of redemption, Torbay tri Club’s Ryan Rudge completed IRONMAN Barcelona in an outstanding time of 10.12.55

Starting the day with a strong 1h 08m time for the 2.4 mile open water swim, Ryan continued to put the hammer down with a five-hour bike leg over 112 miles before, putting him in a strong position heading into the final marathon run.

Executing great pacing and endurance strength, Ryan delivered a superb run of 3h 50m to see out the race and finish the race with his fastest ever full distance IRONMAN, testament to a strong training programme over the past year.

Ben Flower and Wendy Urban hit top speed at Thruxton Circuit at the British Triathlon Sprint Duathlon World Qualifications. Lining up against a strong field of duathletes aiming to represent Team GB for their age group, the club duo blazed their way around the super fast 3.8k run, 19k bike and 3.8k run course. Ben produced a strong time of 1.01.01, while Wendy took second place in her AG with 1.09.58.

Racing on home turf, Simon Graham took part in Sportiva Events Autumn Torbay Triathlon and claimed a podium spot. Completing the 400m swim, 20k bike and 5k run in 1.07.59, Simon secured second place in his age group from over 130 triathletes finishing the race. Also taking advantage of racing local were Dave Hewet in 1.22.01 and Jo Coish in 1.44.33.

Katie Giles and Matt Giles joined over thirty thousand runners on the streets of Wales for the Cardiff Half Marathon, running their way to double delight with personal best times. Starting at the Cardiff Castle and taking in the capital's most iconic landmarks, with beautiful scenery and historic buildings, Matt crossed the city centre finish line in 1.39.29 and was followed home by Katie in 2.08.14.

A multi-terrain 10-mile course starting and finishing in the wonderful grounds of Stover School, the Templer Ten race attracted six runners from Torbay Tri Club. Leading the team home, and winning his age group, was Richard Smith in 1.08.43 and was joined by Ian Dabbs 1.17.16 Mark Maslin 1.27.11 Linda Parsons 1.39.09 Andrea Wall 1.43.56 and Brenda Finney 1.55.12.

The first South West X-Country race of the season saw runners head to Newnham Park, Plymouth for some muddy action. Jon Parkinson, Dave Brown and Jonathan Hiscoke represented the club against a strong field of runners, finishing in 73rd, 91st and 122nd place respectively.