WTC Publicity

Worcester Tri Club Annual Dinner – Saturday 11th February 2012

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Jan 152012

The date has now been set for the Club’s Annual Dinner to be held at the Vale Golf Club near Bishampton as Saturday 11th February 2012.

I am pleased to announce that the committee have agreed to subsidise the cost of the three course dinner to £15 for adult members (+1st guest) and £10 for junior members. Non-members are very welcome @ £17 per head.

Our guest speaker is to be confirmed hopefully in the next week or so due to the late withdrawal of our planned speaker but we very much hope our speaker will be able to shares their experiences of international competition. As soon as confirmed I will update everyone accordingly. The event starts at 7pm and directions to the club are available here http://www.thevalegolf.co.uk/thevale_contact.htm

During the evening we will be presenting the Club awards for the 2011 season and the ever popular Raffle (please let me know if you want to donate a prize). This year we will also be making special awards to all our junior members. They will however have to be present to collect their awards in person.

Tickets are now available by either emailing Les Bailey les.bailey1@btinternet.com or alternatively give him a ring (07976 894 997) or catch up with him at one of the club’s training sessions.

Your earliest responses would be greatly appreciated together with any special dietary requirements so that we can inform the club well in advance.

Cheers

Phil Parsons (Les Bailey’s assistant)

Upton Triathlon Report Saturday 9 July

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Jul 182011

Michelle Parsons racing for Team Tri UK won the 5^th annual Upton Standard Distanced Triathlon on Saturday finishing an impressive 21^st overall out the Mens and Womens fields combined and building a winning margin of almost three minutes over second placed Christina jenkins from Ful-On Tri in a time of 2 hours 20 minutes and 46 seconds.

The event which takes place around the picturesque town of Upton on Severn starts with a 1500m swim in the River Severn before a two lap 40 km bike course taking in a circuit through Earls Croome, Kinnersley, Clifton and Severn Stoke and then finishes with a two lap 10km run around the fields and meadow next to the River. Many athletes are attracted to the race from the South East because of the location and the fact it is one of the few races to be held on a Saturday rather than a Sunday making travelling longer distances much more convenient. Once again the race was sold out well in advance this year.

Michelle posted her best swim time for the 1500m swim for many seasons at 25 minutes and 42 seconds but this still left her trailing most of the other females swimmers. As usual though the Tri UK athlete soon set about overtaking those in front of her (both female and male) as she recorded a phenomenal bike course time of 1 hour and 9 minutes and 20 seconds. This was the fastest female bike split time of the day and over five minutes quicker than the next fastest.

The long transition area on the meadow at Upton meant that the bike times were actually slightly longer than real ride time but also Michelle’s speedy transition skills put her out onto the run course quicker than most and she covered the undulating multi terrain run in 42 minutes and 58 seconds to take the victory.

Thankfully for the competitors the heavy downpours of rain didn’t arrive in Upton until after the race had finished and in fact conditions were good for fast times. Michelle’s time was 5 minutes quicker than last year’s winner and the best time recorded on this extended course.

Michelle’s husband Phil, made it a family double by winning the male race in a time of 2 hours and 4 minutes and 55 seconds. The Worcester Tri Club athlete set up his win by producing one of the quicker swim times of the day covering the downstream course in 17 minutes and 56 seconds. He maintained his advantage of the bike completing the 40km in 1 hour 5 minutes and 58 seconds before running a respectable 38.40 for the 10km run.

Evesham athlete Iain Jennings, and a first year member of Worcester Tri Club, came home 3^rd in his age category and 5^th overall in a time of 2.13.07 making up a lot of time on the quicker swimmers on the bike and run where he has undoubted strength.

Next home was Evesham Running Club’s Danny Harris in a time of 2.22.34 making him 27^th overall. Harris suffered a double whammy of a mechanical issue during the bike section and then upset stomach during the run. The latter caused by drinking too much of the River Severn during his least favourite 1500m swim. Chasing close behind was another Evesham athlete completing his first standard distanced triathlon, Dan Gregory. Dan produced an excellent performance to finish in 2.23.34 including a 1.12.08 bike split time (31^st overall). Not to be outdone Evesham’s Lee Oliver knocked a great chunk of time off his result from 2010 to finish 2.45.07 (170^th overall).

Worcester Tri Club veterans Mark Elliott and Les Bailey also completed the standard distance race both finishing in very good times within their respective age categories. Elliott came home in 2.26.07, for once without any major mishap to finish 47^th overall and super veteran once again showed his incredible endurance to finish in 3.04.12 making him 232^nd overall out of the 265 finishers in the standard distanced race.

The sprint distance event saw a few more local athletes competing. Worcester Tri Club’s Richard Gill finished 4^th overall in 1 hour 13 minutes and 17 seconds just behind his good friend Robert Biddlecombe who recorded an excellent time of 1.09.04 to take 2^nd place. A week before tying the knot Marianne Day of teach Echelon won a very close female Sprint race in a time of 1.19.12 just 24 seconds ahead of second place.

Michelle Parsons now heads off to Europe for her next two races. The first being a half ironman distanced triathlon in Italy in two weeks and then the full Ironman distance Triathlon in Regensburg in early August.

Beijing-Bound

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Jun 162011

A third place result in the 50-55 year age group at the Ellesmere Triathlon has resulted in Worcester Triathlon Club’s Rachel Ward qualifying for the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series Grand Final in Beijing in September.

Ward completed the 1500 metre swim in the Mere in 29 minutes 15 seconds followed by a 40 kilometre bike-ride through the scenic Shropshire countryside in 1:15:43. The final run section which followed a hilly course of 10km through the Cremorne Gardens took 48:20 giving a total time, including transitions, of two hours, 35 minutes 14 seconds which also made Ward the third fastest West Midlands female overall.

Speaking after the event Stourport GP Ward said ‘I’m absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to compete with athletes from all over the world at the 2008 Olympic venue in Beijing in September’

Diga Triathlon report – Sunday 12th June 2011

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Jun 162011

Michelle Parsons racing for Team Tri UK on Sunday clinched her first overall victory of the season in a half iron distance triathlon at the Diga in Nibbiano, Italy.

The event was being held for the first at the picturesque setting at the Nibbiano Dam and started with 1.9km swim in the lake created by the dam and then a two lap bike course totalling 82km including some significant climbs around the surrounding area before finishing with a two lap run totalling 20km.

Michelle was competing against a field of only Italian triathletes and was soon out of the swim in 12th position in an impressive time of 34 minutes and 21 seconds. Her deficit to the leader at this point was almost ten minutes but she soon started to work her way through the field and by the end of the first lap she had reduced that deficit to just 1 minute 30 seconds and almost into the overall lead. By the end of the second lap she had not only taken the overall lead but she had built a lead of almost 7 minutes. She recorded the fastest bike split of 2 hours 41 minutes and 53 seconds. Some 10 minutes quicker than the next fastest female biker of the day.

Onto the run and the warm weather turned to drizzle. This didn’t stop the Tri UK athlete from keeping her significant lead even though the chasing Italian athletes closed the gap slightly Michelle came home in an overall time of 4 hours 36 minutes and 52 seconds. Her run split was an impressive 1 hour 20 minutes 38 seconds for the 20km undulating run.

The winner of the male event was Daniel Weil from Switzerland in a total time of 4.11.53. second place was Phil Parsons from Worcester Triathlon club in 4.12.41.

Kevin May had a quite a unfortunate first puncturing at the start of the bike course and then losing a contact lens and costing him a significant amount of time. He continued on to finish strongly in a time of 4.49.10 in 44th place overall.

The day before the half iron distanced race was a shorter distanced event attracting an impressive field of over 200 hundred athletes and some of the country’s elite triathletes.

Two of Michelle’s Worcester Triathlon Club fellow members were local athletes veteran Les Bailey and Iain Jennings. Both were recovering from recent illnesses and both produced impressive performances. Jennings came home with a strong run to finish in a time of 1 hour 19 minutes and 32 seconds to finish 32nd overall and Bailey once again won his age category in a time of 1.49.05.

Next weekend Michelle is competing the National 50 mile time trial championships.

2011 Worcester Children’s Duathlon Report

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Jun 072011

Jack Raine of Worcester Tri Club in Action in TS2

Worcester Triathlon Club held it’s annual Children’s Duathlon (run-cycle-run) at Worcester University on Sunday, part of the West Midlands Children’s triathlon series.

The youngest competitors in the Tri-Start category battled it out over a 3km course and Erin Staite of Lichfield City Cycling Club won the female event in seven minutes 29 seconds with Worcester Triathlon Club’s Tom Charles leading the boys home in 7:39.

Tri-Star 1 competitors completed 1.2km run followed by a 4km cycle and a final 400m run. Molly Shermer of Cannock Phoenix won the girls’ event in 14:22 with William Staite emulating his sister’s earlier success in the boys’ event in 13:32.

In Tri-Star 2 Ellie Russell of Oswestry Olympians completed the 1.6km run / 6km cycle / 600m run in 18:46 Worcester’s Ella Crowley finishing seventh. Lichfield CCC’s Harry Yates led the boys home in 17:20 with Worcester’s Jack Raine, Ethan Hunter, Jacob Withington and James Sheldon finishing 10^th, 11^th, 14^th and 15^th respectively.

Tri-Star 3 competitors faced a 2km run / 8km cycle / 800m course and in a strong girls’ field West Midlands Triathlon Academy members Sian Rainsley and Megan McDonald dominated finishing in 20:45 and 21:19 respectively. In a close tussle for third place Worcester girls Helen Jubb and Nixie Turner finished in 21:48 and 21:50 with Jubb passing Turner in the final 100 metres. Worcester’s Jordan Prust and Rachel Powell both competed well but sadly both were disqualified for not completing the correct number of cycle laps. Finn Barnes of Cambridge Triathlon Club led the boys home in 21:32.

A final success for Worcester came in the Youth section with a win for Henry Ward.

Junior Aquathlon Series Update

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Apr 162011

Nixie Turner in Action at the Oswestry Aquathlon Sunday 10 April 2011

Promising Start for Young Triathletes

The 2011 West Midlands aquathlon (swim / run) series is now under way with the first two of the six-race series completed. Worcester Triathlon Club members Helen Jubb and Nixie Turner are both competing in the girls’ under-13 Tristar 3 competition. In the first race at Wombourne on 26 March Jubb notched up an impressive third place in a strong field with a time of 16 minutes 43 seconds for the 300 metre swim and three kilometre run, less than a minute behind winner Megan MacDonald of Coventry. Turner was close behind in fourth place in a time of 17 minutes 11 seconds.

Turner then came home in fist place in the second race of the series on Sunday at Oswestry in a time of 13 minutes 42 seconds in this 300 metre swim / 2.4 kilometre run race, well ahead of second place Alice Collier of Solihull and Small Heath AC (14:14), with Jubb unable to compete on this occasion. With 10,000 points awarded for a win, Turner now leads the series overall with a total of 19,214 points. There are four more races to go with each athlete’s best three scores counting towards the final result.

The series resumes on Saturday 23 April at Warwick. Both girls will also be competing in the triathlon series which includes an event at Worcester University on Sunday 29 May.

Peopleton Duathlon Press Article

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Apr 162011

Worcester Triathlon Club staged its first event of the season on Sunday at Peopleton with the annual Peopleton Duathlon organised by super veteran duathlete and villager Les Bailey.

The vent attracted a strong field who were a little unfortunate to be greeted with light drizzle for the start of the race at 9am.

The race comprises a reasonably tough 7km run starting at the village hall and winding its way through the village and back again to the hall where the competitors then start the two lap bike course making up the total distance of 29km with each lap returning through the village itself. Finally the competitors face a second slightly shorter 3.5km run finishing on the field aside the hall.

The Mens race was a tight fought affair with the lead changing hands on several occasions throughout the three segments. The eventual winner was Shaw Pye from Amazing Feet Running Club in an overall time of 1 hour 18 minutes and 35 seconds. Second was Luke Moseley 1.19.06 and third Joshua Varney 1.21.38.

Worcester Triathlon Club’s newest member Iain Jennings, fresh from racing the road relays event the day before, produced a great performance to finish fourth in 1.21.49 holding off close friend from Evesham, Danny Harris, who came in 5^th in 1.22.08.

Michelle Parsons once again dominated the female field racing as part of her preparations for the Powerman USA event at the end of the month. Michelle confidently left second placed Paula Moseley in her wake at the start of the second run to come home in a time of 1.27.35 with Moseley following in second and Stratford’s Alison Bagnall in third.

Other Worcester Triathlon Club members’ results were as follows:

David Jubb – 1^st Junior Male 1.24.51 (9^th overall)

Neil Wicks – 10^th 1.25.10

Henry Walker – 13^th 1.27.08

Richard Gourlay – 16^th 1.28.37

Mark Elliott – 1^st Male V50 1.28.41 (17^th overall)

Neill Crump – 24^th 1.30.33

Jim Chalmers – 9^th Male Vet 1.33.44 (35^th overall)

Kirk Denton – 38^th 1.34.52

Duncan Jubb – 12^th Male Vet 1.35.26 (42^nd overall)

Charlie Carroll – 3^rd Male Junior 1.37.16 (50^th overall)

Les Bailey – 1^st Ultra Vet 1.52.11 (70^th overall)

Clearly staging the event requires a great deal of cooperation with the villagers and again this year the local farmers group entered a relay team which swept aside the competition to win the relay category.

Club Dinner 2011 Press Release

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Feb 142011

Triathletes Celebrate a Record Year

Worcester Triathlon Club held its annual dinner-dance and awards ceremony at the Vale Golf Club on Saturday night. Club membership now stands at an all-time high of over 100, reflected in the eighty-plus members and guests who attended the evening.

The guest speaker was Bromsgrove-born Tom Lowe who in his first Ironman event in Arizona last year broke the British record with a time of 8 hours 11 minutes 44 seconds to take third place. Tom spoke about his early years in Worcestershire, his career in the army and of taking time out to train full-time which allowed him to compete to the high level he achieved in Arizona. Now working full-time again Tom was able to impart invaluable advice to club members on how best to combine work and training.

Chairman Duncan Jenkins then invited Tom to present the 2010 club awards. The Howard Peters award for the Fun Race at Top Barn Farm went to Lisa Powell and Ethan Hunter. The Arran Stephens award for the Most Improved Triathlete went to Neil Crump who completed 20 endurance races to raise money for MS research. The International Award went to Kevin May who completed three Ironman events including a sub-10 hour finish in Switzerland. Club champions were Richard Gourlay and Michelle Parsons. The Triathletes of the Year were Tom Watts and Ceris Styler. Finally the junior awards went to Rachel Powell for Most Improved Junior (sponsored by St John’s based technical sportswear manufacturer Scimitar Sports); Nixie Turner, who won the West Midlands TriStar 2 series, was voted best female junior performance, while David Jubb who won the West Midlands youth series, picked up the junior male performance award.

Finally, willing volunteers Lisa and Chris Powell, Andy Turner, Chas Taylor, Phil Parson and Les Bailey were rewarded with the Chairman’s ‘Good Egg’ awards for their contributions to the running of the Club.

To round off the evening a T-shirt signed by Tom Lowe was auctioned and raided £33 for club funds.

Commenting on the evening, Club Chairman Duncan Jenkins said ‘Our members represent Worcestershire across the UK and internationally and it was great to see such a good turnout to celebrate a fantastic year for us in 2010 and in particular to see so many of our junior members taking part in the evening. We are looking forward to another successful season this year’

For more information on Worcester Triathlon Club visit www.worcestertriclub.co.uk

Powerman Malgrate (Italy)

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Oct 242010

Michelle Parsons of Worcester Triathlon Club and TriUK continued her successful run of results in the 2010 World Powerman Long Distance Duathlon Series with yet another superb performance in Malgrate in Italy.

The race was held in possibly one of most picturesque parts of Northern Italy next to the lake of Lecco and running alongside the water’s edge in the direction of the other great lake at Como. This was the first time there has been a World Series event in Italy and the challenging course for which Powerman events are known was seen primarily in the 13 kilometre climb from Nesso to Asso which averaged a 13% gradient. The run courses were both fairly flat running alongside the lake and were approximately 10 kilometres in length. The second run it however transpired was extended to almost 11km just to add to the overall demands of the race.

The female field was drawn entirely from Europe with previous World Series winner Ulrike Schwalbe from Germany making her return to long distance duathlon events after competing very successfully in Ironman Triathlon events. Also there were the other tope European duathletes and some new faces from Italy.

It was a chilly start to the race at 10.30am but the fast pace on the first 10km run soon brought up the competitors temperatures. The first lap of the two lap run saw Ulrike Schwalbe and Danish competitor Suzanne Svendsen sprint away from the other female competitors. They did little more than maintain their lead during the second lap and it was actually Svendsen who was first into transition in just over 37 minutes with Schwalbe right on her heels. Michelle was running in third, just less than two minutes adrift of the leaders, with Liechtenstein cyclist specialist Jacqueline Uebelhart just a minute behind her. Maja Jacober from Switzerland, another strong cyclist was in fifth a further minute behind and then the Italian duathletes were filling out the remaining top ten positions.

Onto the 80 kilometre bike section and it was Schwalbe and Svendsen who were riding hard towards the foot of the major climb at Nesso midway through the course. Schwalbe tried without success to drop Svendsen during that first 35 kilometres of the ride but reaching the start of the 13km accent Svendsen was still in touching distance. Meanwhile Michelle had slightly closed the gap to the leaders but hot on her heels were Uebelhart and Jacober. Jacober particularly was making a concerted effort to catch up with the top 4. On the climb the moves started to happen. Schwalbe had attacked and left Svendsen in her wake. Uebelhart had caught and passed Michelle just before the summit Jacober also caught Parsons but clearly her effort had cost her in terms of energy reserves because no sooner had she gone past Michelle picked her back off on the descent and started to chase down Uebelhart and Svendsen.

Schwalbe had definitely broken Svendsen’s grip on the lead and by the time she completed the 80km cycle section she had built up an impressive 5 minute lead. Svendsen was still in 2nd but Uebelhart was just 30 seconds behind in third with Michelle a further two minutes back in 4th. Jacober returned in 5th and was a further 90 seconds adrift.

So as is usual it all boiled down to the final 11km run. Schwalbe was looking strong and maintained a 4 minute lead over Svendsen after the first lap. Svendsen was definitely running quicker than the others but not sufficiently fast enough to take first place but fast enough to ensure that the Liechtenstein athlete would not catch her.

Michelle tried to cut the deficit to third but it was clear the gap was too big and after the efforts of the bike the run was really more about survival than speed. The Swiss Jacober was clearly in the mindset.

So at the finish it was Schwalbe 1st in 4.01.33, Svendsen 2nd in 4.05.05, Uebelhart 3rd in 4.07.53 and Parsons 4th in 4.10.54.

The Mens race was won by current world leader Joerie Vansteelant from Belgium in a phenomenal time of 3.18.30 winning by almost 8 minutes.

The final race of the 2010 World Series is in Malaysia in November where Michelle hopes to improve on her previous podium finishes and to climb further up the world rankings.

National and Inter-Regional Triathlon Championships

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Sep 192010

Three Worcester Tri members competed at the national and inter-regional championships held at Parc Bryn Bach in mid September.

Having qualified through their performances earlier in the season, David and Helen Jubb raced for the West Midlands team in the Youth and Tristar 2 categories respectively. Cold and wet conditions meant that the younger competitors had their race changed to a duathlon but Youths and above were made to brave the open water!

Helen Jubb set the pace in the first race, leading out of T1 before being caught and passed by stronger cyclists on the climbs and fast descents of the bike course. Despite this, she came out of T2 well placed and re-passed several rivals to finish only four seconds outside the medals in fourth place. Brother David – whose prayers for more rain and wind to change his race into a duathlon went unfulfilled – spoilt a good swim by missing the turn into T1: he was more pre-occupied with getting his wetsuit off than removing his misted up goggles! As a result, he was unable to latch onto a pack for the bike and, despite a strong run, was forced to settle for 22nd place.

The last event of a full day was the Elite National Championships and final race of the British Triathlon Super Series over a 750m, 20k and 5k course. The field included such notables as the Brownlees, Stuart Hayes and Tim Don. For Worcester, Tom Watts finished 5th in the Junior category and 26th overall in a time of 1.04.05. This result ranks Tom as 4th Elite Junior in the country at the end of the British Triathlon Super Series and 24th overall amongst the senior elites for the season.

WTC Publicity

Worcester Tri Club Annual Dinner – Saturday 11th February 2012

Upton Triathlon Report Saturday 9 July

Beijing-Bound

Diga Triathlon report – Sunday 12th June 2011

2011 Worcester Children’s Duathlon Report

Junior Aquathlon Series Update

Peopleton Duathlon Press Article

Club Dinner 2011 Press Release

Powerman Malgrate (Italy)

National and Inter-Regional Triathlon Championships

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