Torbay Tri Club bring home national medals from Nottingham championships

Torbay Tri Club underlined their growing reputation as one of the region’s leading multisport clubs with a series of impressive performances across the country.

Torbay Tri Club made the long journey north to Nottingham to compete in the National Triathlon Relay Championships, returning home with a haul of medals and plenty of reasons to celebrate.

The event did not go entirely according to plan, with the swim leg having to be replaced by an additional running leg because of algae in the water. Rather than dampen spirits, however, the change created what club members described as even more “organised chaos” — and plenty of fun.

More importantly, the Torbay athletes demonstrated that they can compete with some of the strongest clubs in the country.

The club’s V40 Ladies team of Debbie Burman, Louise Gentry, Jo Atkins and Kate Baldock claimed English National Championship medals, while the V40 Mixed team of Gary Burman, Paul Whitehead, Debbie Burman and Louise Gentry also secured national honours.

In a highly competitive V50 Open category, Andrew Longthorpe, Jon Parkinson, Nigel Fenn and Tony Hodge produced an excellent performance to take bronze.

There was also a silver medal for another V40 Mixed team, while several other Torbay combinations narrowly missed out with fourth-place finishes. More than 20 club members represented Torbay overall, making it an outstanding team performance.

Closer to home, Jerry Hocking tackled the demanding 5.1-mile Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta Road Race, organised by Dartmouth Amateur Athletic Club. The V50 runner completed the challenging course in 39 minutes 12 seconds, finishing an impressive 23rd out of 110 competitors.

Meanwhile, at the Wimbleball Sports Festival on Exmoor, Caitlin Moss took on the formidable 70.3 challenge.

The race featured a 1.2-mile open-water swim, a hilly 56-mile bike course and an undulating half-marathon around Wimbleball Lake and its grounds.

Moss, who has enjoyed an excellent year particularly on the bike and running, completed the demanding course in 7hrs 37mins 45secs, finishing 79th of 120.

Her split times were 59:30 for the swim, 4:06:19 for the bike and 2:19:41 for the run.

Torbay Tri Club SM Matt Giles kicked off last weekend by travelling to the Isles of Scilly to take on the Scilly60.

The race is a marathon circumnavigating four of the islands: St Martin's (10km), Tresco (11km), Bryher (8km), St Agnes and Gugh (9km), followed by 5km on St Mary's. It is a competitive race with a surprising 661m of elevation, with competitors travelling between each island by boat. The race started at 8:00am.

Continuing his outstanding season, Matt finished in an impressive overall time of 3:30:55, taking 2nd place overall.

This excellent event is very well organised by Winding Paths. It is a multi-event race, including 50km and marathon distances starting at Exeter Quayside and following the Exe Estuary to Dawlish Warren, where the half marathon starts.

The routes then follow the sea wall to Dawlish before joining the South West Coast Path to Teignmouth. From there, runners cross Shaldon Bridge to Shaldon. This first section is mainly flat tarmac with some gravel paths.

From Shaldon, the route becomes extremely hilly, with trails all the way to Babbacombe, where the 50km route splits off for an extra loop. All races finish on Babbacombe Downs at the finish line.

Two Tri Club members took on the marathon. First back, and not long after returning from injury, was V55 Steve Hill in an excellent time of 6:01:54, finishing 65th.

He was followed by the ever-impressive V75 Andrew Kilner in 6:39:18, finishing 88th and taking 1st V70.

SM Jon Hiscoke had an amazing run in the half marathon, finishing 4th overall and 2nd male in a quick time of 2:19:24, from 88 runners.

This popular, well-established moorland race, organised by Teignbridge Trotters, is now in its 40th year.

It starts below Haytor Rock and follows a hilly, single-lap route before returning once again to Haytor Rock, with a fast downhill scamper to the finish opposite the middle car park at Haytor.

The course is approximately six miles and is challenging, with several steep ascents and descents. It is generally run across rugged, open moorland, apart from two sections through woodland — firstly below Hound Tor and secondly below Haytor — and includes a stream crossing.

Three members took on this very challenging race, with new member V45 Juliet Elliott first back in 1:06:55, finishing 121st and taking 2nd in her age category.

She was followed by V55 Jo Loten in 1:11:37, finishing 151st, and V50 Howie Brugge in 1:15:02, finishing 186th, from almost 300 runners.

The New Forest Standard Triathlon is an established multisport event organised by Challenging Events and based at Moyles Court School in Ringwood, Hampshire, featuring a scenic course through the New Forest National Park.

The event offers different distances, from middle-distance through to standard-distance events.

V60 Amanda Radley continued her good form in the middle-distance event, consisting of a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and half marathon. She finished strongly in 6:29:52, taking 2nd in her age category and finishing 67th out of 110.

V55 Chris Tye competed in his first event since spinal surgery and had a very successful day in the standard-distance event, consisting of a 1,500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run.

Chris finished in 2:29:07, taking 3rd in his age category and finishing 18th out of 125.

The British Standard Distance Triathlon Championships took place at Triathlon y Bala in North Wales, Gwynedd, with the event starting at Byw'n Iach Penllyn Leisure Centre.

The course consisted of a 1,500m swim in Llyn Tegid, a 37km bike ride and a 10km run.

It was another long journey for V45 Gary Burman, but also another successful one, with a strong performance over a distance that is not his favourite.

Gary finished in an impressive time of 2:18:00, taking 5th in his age category and finishing 59th out of 493 competitors.