City of Lancaster Triathlon
"The only limits we have are those we set ourselves"
Races / Results
Details of upcoming races can be found here : Race Calendar
September 2011 Results
Fleetwood Sprint
7 COLTS ended their season at Fleetwood Triathlon on Sunday 25 September. The weather was kind, for once, and although you couldn’t say it was hot, it wasn’t too windy and the sun did put in appearance.
First back for COLT was new member Neil Wearden who put in a cracking performance to finish in 1:01:14 – an excellent result which gained him 22nd place overall. Another new COLT Daniel Pollard also finished in great time of 1:10:25.
Two of our Ironmen proved they can compete over the short distances too, Chris Lawson finished in a very credible 1:08: 49 for a personal best and it was a pb too for Andy Holgate in 1:13:24.
The COLT ladies were not to be out done, first back was Sarah Patterson in a pb of 1:22:20 followed closely by Mandy Ley competing in her first triathlon in 1:23:15. A great performance also by Sarah Smith in 1:41:29 also doing her first event having had a baby earlier in the year.
Thanks also to IronHippy who was busy marshalling, IronHobbit who got up early and cycled down to Fleetwood to support his fellow COLTS and Andy Ley for flying the COLT flag for us.
Well done to all who raced.
August 2011 Results
Embrunman
Alistair Shawcross and Tom Phillips returned to Embrunman this August to battle with the ironman distance Alpine event in sweltering temperatures.
Alistair improved his postion from two years ago despite suffering from a bad chest infection and Tom zoomed up the rankings to gain 19th out of 300 in the 45/50 category and 190th overall. It's fiercely contested event in France with 20,000 Euro first prize and amazing support.
You can read the amazing full report at http://blog.w-o-w.com/2011/08/return-to-embrunman.html and admire the stunning scenary in the photos.
Well done both.
May 2011 Results
Cheshire Sprint
Competing in just her second triathlon, Annette Ryan did very well to finish 24th lady out of 221 at the largest pool based triathlon in the North West.
Testing conditions didn't put Annette off as she completed the 500m swim in the brine pool, before battling against some awful road surfaces and strong winds on the 20k bike course. Finally she managed to stay upright on the sodden grass for the cross country 5k run.
Annette finished in a time of 1.19.17, proving that she has a great future in triathlon. Well done Annette.
Keswick Mountain Triathlon
On a perfectly sunny day this would be a tough race given the terrain, and the mostly fell race run portion. Given the gale force winds, driving rain, and the waves that you could surf on on Derwent Water, this turned out to be a very tough day at the office for four members of Team COLT.
Chris Clarke got off to a brilliant start and had a very strong swim, emerging from the lake in 11th place, he then suffered on the bike before "having a quiet word " and literally flew around the run to finish in a great time of 2.32.45.
Next home, showing once again how he thrives on tough events, Alistair Shawcross finished in 2.48.45.
Philippe Jumeau had a great race and did very well to dip under the 3hr mark, recording a time of 2.59.20.
Completing a great day out for Team COLT was Danny Rogerson, who will be very pleased with his performance of 3.12.18.
Full results can be found here
Very well done everyone on great performances in very testing conditions.
St Annes Sprint
The course at St Annes has PB written all over it, on a good day. Sunday was about as opposite a good day as you can get. Gale force winds, hail storms and sand storms didn't put of a select few members of Team COLT from completing the race.
First home for COLT continuing his impressive start to the season was Ian Catlow who finished in a time of 1.19.16.
Not too far behind and completing his first triathlon of the year was Andy Holgate. Andy finished in 1.20.25
You can read Andy's race report on his blog
And Louise Kelly, now racing for Bolton following her move returned to form after an awful injury to win the ladies race in 1.07.03. Great to see you back Louise, and everyone at COLT wishes you well.
Well done guys.
IronMan Lanzarote
Racing in his "spiritual home" fixture our very own Iron Hippy Chris Wild once again conquered the lava fields and infamous winds of Lanzarote to record the Ironman performance of his life.
I couldn't possibly do Chris justice with a report, so go here to read his inspiring account. Needless to say though that Chris once again proved what a phenomenal athlete he is by improving his PB by 63 seconds to finish in a time of 10.39.
Well done Chris from everyone at COLT.
The Swashbuckler
This tough half ironman race had an extremely early start of 5.15am because of the early tide in the River. A bleary eyed Kevin Lindeque rose to the challenge ahead and stormed around the course.
The swim was tough, especially against the current. However Kevs strength on the bike saw him move up strongly through the field on the bike, as others struggled in the strong winds. He ran strongly and finished his first half in a very impressive time of 5.15 and came 159th out of 402 finishers.
Full results can be found here
With that sort of performance, things are looking great for Kev heading towards Ironman UK. Well done from everyone at COLT.
TriGrandPrix
4 COLTS headed off to sunnier climes (but not quite as sunny as Lanzarote) on Sunday 22 May to compete in the TriGrandPrix middle distance event set in lovely countryside just outside Northampton. The water temperature in the lake at Emberton Country Park was bath like at least 5 degrees warmer than our own Carnforth lake. It was fine and dry all day with a cheeky wind that mad the 3 lap bike course challenging in places.
First back for COLT was Paul Gardner in 5:36:46, followed by Peter Sariwee in 6:15:47 – great times for both COLTs and a good marker for their next big race which will be Ironman UK. Last but not least came Christine Gardner and Sarah Patterson both making their “half” debut in 7:01:57, crossing the finish line together and extremely pleased that they managed to run the half marathon in just under 2 hours.
Very well done from all at COLT on a great day of racing.
Horwich Triathlon
Andy Ley competed in his first 'standard' distance race at the very tough Horwich Triathlon. The wind hampered performances all round which makes Andys time of 2.37.52 that much more remarkable.
Louise Kelly returned to racing with a ladies victory in 2.10.41.
Full results and a race report can be found here
IronMan St George
COLT veteran Steve Stretch made an amazing return to Ironman racing in the US race, Ironman St George. He certainly didn't pick an easy one for his comeback, the bike course looked pretty brutal.
Steve reminded us all what a phenomenal athlete he is by finishing 145th in a time of 10:53:09. Throwing down the gauntlet to his clubmates by setting an early contender for performance of the season over the long distance.
Full results can be found here
Etape Du Dales
The Fred Whitton Foursome battled even more testing conditions with temperatures around 6C, fierce wind and lashing rain. Captain Richard Mason and John Knapp just about survived, Captain posting 6.58 for a top 50 postion, but almost seizing up with cold on the last climb. John posting 7.12 . Tornado Tom and Crazy Ian didn't have an entry but road around "for fun" in around 6.45
Fred Whitton
"testing" conditions saw 4 COLTs complete this monster sportive that takes in ever hill and more in the Lakes. Tornado Tom Phillips revelling in the grim cold and wind to come in 15th out of the 1,400 entrants in 6.29. A hard earned 2 minute improvement on last year.
Not far behind where the Captain, Richard Mason in 6.40 for 28th , Crazy Ian Richardson in 6.52 for 52nd and John Knapp with 7.17 (what do you expect if you do a 20 mile training run the day before!)
Well done fellas on some very impressive and gutsy riding.
April 20011 Results
Kendal Sprint Triathlon
Kendal Sprint Triathlon is a fairly low key, local event that is gaining a growing reputation amongst the triathlon community. Over 140 people entered this year and it will continue to grow in the future as word of mouth spreads about this great event. Eleven COLTs ventured across the border into Cumbria to race the 500m swim, 17k bike and 5k run.
The mighty COLT had an amazing day out getting three finishers in the top ten. Going one better than he did at Skipton, speed machine Beau Smith claimed the overall victory in a breathtaking time of 56.19. Coming home in 4th place and proving that Beau doesn’t have the monopoly on speed was Kieran Rowlands who recorded a very impressive time of 58.25. The third COLT ro make it into the top 10 was Pete Denness, who continues to improve at an alarming rate. Pete finished in a very quick 1:02:23
Not too far behind the tri of Young Guns came two of our ‘more experienced’ athletes. Fresh from some death defying cycling in Spain “Crazy” Ian Richardson finished 15th in 1:04:27, a result that shows Crazy is in for another good season. One place and 5 seconds behind him was Captain Fantastic, Richard Mason in a time of 1:04:32. A great result considering Richards legs were still trashed after an impressive performance at the Wrynose or Bust sportive the week before.
Paul Rickerby showed some very impressive early season form to finish strongly in 1:11:46. He was then followed by a trio of COLTs all finishing within 70 seconds of each other. Clive McMullen finished quickly to hold off the challenge of his clubmates, crossing the line in 1:13:34. Ian Catlow, buoyed by his recent impressive performance at Ribby Hall again raced well to finish in 1:13:58. Dave Worthington was next home for COLT in 1:14:44, proving once again that he can just grind out impressive performance after impressive performance.
Not to be outdone by their male clubmates, two lady COLTs had great races. Heather Dixon showed great determination to finish in 1:19:23 and Sophie Lawson had a solid race to finish in 1:26:47.
Full race results can be found HERE
Well done to everyone that raced on flying the COLT flag and performing brilliantly.
Skipton Sprint Triathlon
Over 600 hundred athletes turned out in force at the Skipton Sprint Triathlon ( they must have heard it was the COLT sprint championship ! ). Fourteen intrepid COLTs took up the challenge and raced their way through a 400m swim, 20k bike and a 5k run.
Unsurprisingly given his rich vein of form of late, young Beau Smith was the first COLT home taking 2nd place overall in a blisteringly fast time of 59.10. Matt Barnes was next home in a time of 1:06:37, proving that he’s racing well at this stage of the season following his recent performances over 10k.
Next came a trio of COLTs all finishing within 35 seconds of each other. Pete Denness finished strongly in 1:08:25, closely followed by a fast finishing Paul Tynan in 1:08:58. Then came John Knapp in 1:08:58 proving that he can perform excellently at the shorter distances as well.
Graeme Atkinson showed that he is transitioning smoothly from track runner to triathlete by finishing in 1:11:36. David Jordan built on his recent performance at Ribby Hall to record an impressive time of 1:14:56. Just four seconds behind was Kevin Lindeque who just continues to get better with each race, finishing in 1:15:01.
Next home was COLTs first lady Kel Hirst in 1:18:07. This will no doubt give the intrepid Kel a massive confidence boost as gets once step closer to her Ironman debut this summer. Danny Rogerson will be delighted at taking over 2 minutes off his time from last year, all that hard work running on a Wednesday night is starting to show. Danny finished in 1:19:41
Annette Ryan was the second COLT lady on the day, Annette put in a strong performance that hopefully she will build on as the season continues. Annette finished in 1:27:20. Andy Holme will be relieved to have completed this race as he’s recently had a bad back and hasn’t done any running. Thankfully he held together and finished in 1:28:46. Not far behind Andy was Andy Ley, making his triathlon debut. Despite being sent the wrong way by a marshal on the bike course, Andy showed great resolve to just “get on with it” and should be very pleased with his performance of 1:30:10. Proving that age is no barrier to a great performance, COLTs oldest (and wisest?) athlete John Oldroyd put in the type of performance that you’d expect from a Bob Graham veteran finishing in 1:39:38.
Full results can be found HERE
A great early season turn out for the Mighty COLT, well done to ALL the racers for doing your club proud!
The Lakeland Loop
Sunday saw two members of the mighty COLT take on the Lakeland Loop. A sportive that is approximately 69 miles and can be described as 'very challenging'.
The 4th running of the event started with a tough climb over Loughrigg Terrace and descends to Grasmere, from where it heads North through Keswick and climbs Whinlatter pass. From here the route heads East and South through Gosforth to Eskdale Green and the infamous Hardknott and Wrynose passes. With those challenges completed riders then faced one final ascent from Little Langdale to reach Blea Tarn and start the descent into Great Langdale to finish at the New Dungeon Ghyll.
600 intrepid riders completed the course in hot weather, many instances of comedy tan lines were spotted afterwards as riders relaxed with a well earned brew and a slice or two of cake.
Continuing with their great form of late, Kevin Lindeque came 117 in a time of 4:44 and Peter Denness came in at 207th at 5:07.
Well done to everyone.Full results can be found here: Results
Great Welsh Marathon
Sunday saw COLT’s own “Iron Hobbit” Chris Clarke smash his marathon pb. This will come as no surprise to anyone that has ran with Chris over the last few months, he’s in the form of his life.
Chris raced at the Great Welsh Marathon in Llanelli and finished in a time of 2.59.10 which earned him 15th place over all. A result that will surely give Chris the confidence to have an amazing season, and hopefully smash his Ironman pb in Bolton.
Well done Chris from all at COLT.
Oulton Park Duathlon
Rick Gould took part in his first duathlon on Sunday at Oulton Park race track. The race had a very high quality field as it was an ITU qualifier for GB selection – so some of the best duathletes in the country were racing there. Yet novices were welcomed wholeheartedly, even super-vets.
There were two events – a sprint and a roughly standard distance duathlon, which is equivalent to an Olympic distance triathlon. Rick raced in the longer event. The course was 2x laps running, 9x laps cycling, and 1x running again. Each lap was 2.7 miles. “It was like racing at Salt Ayre, except with a much longer track, a near perfect surface, a banked hairpin at the bottom of a long, straight downhill section, a couple of steep ramps to spice up the race, and a chicane to test everyone’s bike-handling skills.”
Rick toughed it out to finish in in 2-36, in 207th place out of 302 entrants.
Rick also said “I have never seen or heard do many disc wheels in a race and so close together. It was also illuminating and inspiring to see how the pros and internationals race. I’ll definitely do the race again”.
Sounds like a cracking day out. Well done Rick on a great performance in your first duathlon.
Rome Marathon
Peter Sariwee put in a great performance at the Rome Marathon.
The amazing city hosts a great race that takes in most of the sights, but it has a sting in the tail, almost half of the distance is run on cobbled streets. Anyone who has ran on cobbles will tell you that they are real leg strength sappers, coupled with the potential for ankle injuries. Luckily Peter had no such problems and he completed the marathon in 3:50:51. A time he is very pleased with as he builds up for Ironman UK.
Well done Peter on a great marathon performance.
Ribby Hall Sprint Triathlon
Sunday saw several COLTS head to Ribby Hall to take part in the first of the Fylde Tri-ology series. The series consists of Ribby Hall, St Annes and Fleetwood, 3 very popular triathlons. COLT was well represented with 5 athletes competing. The conditions were not at their best which makes the winning performance that much more impressive.
Beau Smith was second coming out of the water but soon took control of the race and never looked back as he went on to win in a very speedy time of 48.36.
Mark Hammond yet again proved that he can mix it up with the fast boys over the shorter distances as he claimed 7th place in a fantastic time of 52.47.
David Jordan and Ian Catlow had a close battle as less than 2 minutes separated them at the finish. On this occasion David took the honours in a time of 1:04:30 with Ian coming home in a very respectable 1:06:21.
Jane Patel put in her usual gutsy performance, and will be very pleased to have finished in 1.35:56.
Beau, Mark and David took 3rd place in the overall team event, another trophy for the COLT cabinet
Well done to everyone that raced. Full results can be found here
Lancaster 3 Bridges 10k
Sunday saw the annual running of the well established and popular Lancaster 3 Bridges 10k. The flat and fast course attracted 338 runners despite having a bit of a sting in the tail when you reach about half way, the very steep steps up to the Lune aqueduct. A quad killer if ever there was one!
The Mighty COLT were well represented, as you would expect for a home town race. Leading the charge was Matthew Barnes, with a cracking performance, coming home in 20th place in a time of 37.13. Breathing down his neck was Captain Fantastic, Richard Mason in a time of 37.45, which earned him 22nd place.
Next came one of the ‘youngsters’ Pete Denness, who gave it his all and came home in 39.26 for 35th place. It will be interesting to see how much quicker Pete gets as his season progresses?
All that Ironman training must be paying off as Kevin Lindeque had a storming run to finish 125th in a time of 46.52. If he can carry this sort of form forward to Bolton, he’ll have a fantastic day.
Peter Warmsley must be pleased with his performance, coming home comfortably inside the hour mark in a time of 56.58. And not to be outdone by any of the blokes Kirsten McAteer ran really strongly to finish in 1:01:32.
Well done to everyone that raced.
March 2011 Results
Parbold Duathlon
Parbold Duathlon also doubled as the North West Regional Championships this year and as such attracted a large field of quality entrants.The race starts with a 2 lap 5k run followed by a 27k cycle course (3 laps 9k each) which includes the challenging ascent of Parbold hill on each lap and the fast descent of Hunter's hill to follow. The final run course is a repeat of the first to finish
Team COLT won the team prize, with Beau Smith (4th overall & 1st Junior), Alasdair Grubb (11th) and Paul Hodgson (18th - despite a navigational booboo on the bike!).
Also racing for COLT were Paul Tynan (25th) and Ian Bailey (67th); Kieran Rowlands unfortunately had to drop out through illness during the bike section. As the event doubled up as the North West Championships COLT are the 2011 regional champions. It was also the first event in the North West series, so we need to get teams out at the rest of the series events if we want the overall win!!!
Full results can be found here : Results
Trimpell 20
The very popular pre-London Marathon took place this past Sunday 6th March. The field this year swelled to over 400 runners,388 of which finished. Amongst those were 3 members of Team COLT.
Following up on his lightning fast pb the week before Chris Clarke glided around the course like he was just out for a stroll along the Lune. Chris finished 43rd in another pb time of 2:11:22. Chris is in cracking form which bodes well for his marathon next month.
Breathing down Chris's neck was the suprise performance of the day from none other than COLT Captain, Richard Mason. In his first race since Ironman Lanzarotte Richard powered to a very impressive early season time of 2.13.44 for 52nd place. Sending a clear message of intent to those planning on pushing him later in the season ( better get training lads ).
And in her longest ever race Amelia Hunt finished in 3.08:45 looking as fresh as a daisy. She now has to be seriously thinking about her marathon debut, all that hard work on a Wednesday night has obviously paid off.
Well done to Chris, Richard and Amelia.
The Great North West Half MarathonFebruary 2011 Results
Concluding a busy week for Team COLT were 4 runners who visiting Blackpool, ignoring the lure of the Pleasure Beach, the donkeys and Funny Girls, the intrepid foursome were in town to run a half marathon. The long established Great North West Half Marathon was bathed bright sunshine making the southbound sections a pleasure. However a stiff northerly breeze appeared which made running towards Cleveleys a challenge, and the turn at 10.5 miles almost crippling.
COLT times were: Rick Gould: 1:50:46, Kevin Lindeque (I think it was his first half marathon?): 1:46:04, Andy Webster: 1:45:21, Chris Clarke (In his sparkly new go faster shoes ): 1:25:29.
Well done to everyone who raced.
The Coal Road Challenge
Eight members of the Mighty COLT took on Lune Road Cycling Clubs "Coal Road" Reliability ride this past Sunday.
The Challenge starts at Bull Beck Picnic Site, Caton (near Lancaster). The riders, in 3 graded groups, set off through Wray to High Bentham. Here they turn to cross the A65 at Ingleton and started the climb towards White Scar Cave and Ribble Head. Here the groups will split and continue to climb up to Newby Head before swooping down to Hawes. The next section is to Garsdale Head, the halfway control, sign in, have a quick break, a chance to refill depleted drinks bottles.
The climb of the Coal Road reaches nearly 500 metres and is the high point of the challenge. This road, re- surfaced two years ago, gives a testing but smoother ride before the swoop down to Dentdale. Once beyond Dent village the route leads over the short but steep climb to Barbondale and on to Casterton and Kirkby Lonsdale.
The final miles are via Whittington, Arkholme and a crossing of the River Lune at Gressingham. The last few miles are through Hornby to finish at the Bull Beck car park where earlier the adventure had started.
First home for COLT was Mark Hammond in 3.37. Next was Rob Smith showing good early season form in a time of 3.45. Next came three team mates all within 10 minutes of each other, Loz Loxam in 3.50, Graham Hodgson in 3.55 and Paul Tynan in 3.59.
Peter Sariwee showed good early season form to complete the ride in 4.15. Danny Rogerson had a good steady ride to finish in 4.24. Matt Hirst and Kel Hirst had a bad day with punctures but did brilliantly to finish in 4.50, which equates to 2.28 actual riding time.
I don't know the finishing time of "Crazy" Ian Richardson, but I would imagine it was pretty good?
Well done to everyone who took on this 62 mile challenge.
The Christmas Cracker Sportive
5 COLTS and the Vice-Captain’s good lady wife took on the challenge of the Cumbrian Christmas Cracker Cyclo Sportif yesterday for what proved to be an eventful day for some. The race was rescheduled from December 2010 due to bad weather. This time the weather was relatively kind, bit drizzly at 8.00 am for the early starters but the sun did eventually appear and we were treated some fantastic view of the Lakeland hills at the top of the climbs. The head wind on the way back for the last 20 miles was rather testing.
First back from COLT was our very own Vice Captain, Andrew McCracken with a very well deserved 15th place in an excellent time of 3:31:24. The COLT ladies followed with Sarah Patterson 5:54:39, Dawn McCracken 5:54:40 and Christine Gardner 5:54:41. Paul Gardner 5:59:09 and Tony Jeffery 5:59:09 completed the course for team COLT. It was a frustrating race for Paul who suffered from bike problem after bike problem and a good effort from Tony who kept him company throughout the puncture changing.
The refreshments were amazing, the Scout Hut at Cartmel was first stop after 50km for sandwiches and the best sticky gingercake ever tasted. On finishing we were treated to tea/coffee and a bowl of Christmas pudding and custard – it certainly hit the spot!
Star of the day was Christine Gardner who had a major “off” about 3 miles into the race on a hairpin descending the back of Red Bank. She did a double somersault and landed on a grassy bank (luckily) with her bike on top her. After a kind man with an allen key straightened out her handle bars, Sarah put her chain back on and Dawn tested her brakes, she got back on her bike and rode the rest of the 54 miles! Well done Christine.
Bob Graham Round
Not content with besting the grueling Bob Graham Round last Summer, 'Tornado' Tom Phillips has been back for a second go at the race that covers approximately 74 miles, a daunting 42 peaks and a leg crippling 28,500ft of climbing.
And this time to make it that much tougher he did it in Winter. Tom finished this awsome event in 23hrs 17mins and became only the 25th person to finish the 'Bob' within the cut off time of 24hrs during the winter months.
An awesome achievement from a remarkable endurance athlete and thoroughly nice bloke.
Well done Tom from all at COLT.
October 2010 Results
Ironman World Championships
I'm sure that there were a few bleary eyed but very proud COLTs yesterday as a result of following the online coverage of the Ironman World Championships from Kona Hawaii. The reason for the late night was the thrill of following two members of Team COLT on the worlds biggest triathlon stage.
John Knapp, the Grandmaster, qualified for the third time after his performance at IM Lanza back in May. He would however this year by joined by the new kid on the block, John Carr, the "Fastest Farmer in the World" who qualified after a very impressive perfomance in Bolton.
John Carr would emerge from the sea first in a blisteringly quick time of 1:06:03 closely followed by John Knapp in a time of 1:14:07. These times are even more impressive when you consider that it was a sea swim and wetsuits were banned.
Onto the bike and the online race commentary team were saying that the legendary lava field winds were making like difficult for the cyclists. Throughout the bike both of our athletes were averaging over 20mph, a remarkable feet in the harsh conditions under the glare of an unforgiving sun. John Knapp began to make inroads into John Carrs lead but as they started the marathon, the new kid on the hawaiian block was still in front. John Knapp finished the bike in 5:42 and John Carr finished it in 5:47.
Both men ran strongly through the streets of Kona before hitting the lonely Queens Highway and the unforgiving tamac surrounded by lava fields as far as the eye can see. It is often likened to the surface of the moon. The catch came and soon John Knapp was using his experience and phenomenal running ability to edge away from John Carr, who it must be said was having the race of his young life.
John Knapp would run a 3:34:55 marathon, that's a mind boggling performance under the circumstances to finish in an overall time of 10:37:51. John Carr would be not too far behind with a marathon split of 4:00:28, giving him an overall finishing time of 11:01:33, and a new Ironman PB.
Remarkably John Carr would finish in 29th position in his age group, something to brag about to his cows when he's back home milking them. John Knapp would finish 81st in his age group, which just shows that Ironman is a sport in which you only get better with age.
Very well done to both Johns, and thank you for flying the COLT flag on the biggest stage in Triathlon.
The Loch Ness Marathon
Peter Sariwee travelled across the border to the home of Nessie to run in his first marathon. Now I'm not sure if he saw any monsters but what I am sure of is his very impressive debut at the distance. Peter finished in a very quick time of 3:41:01. This made him 493rd out of 4600 finishers. A tremendous performance and achievement.
Well done Peter.
September 2010 Results
Fleetwood Triathlon
The Mighty COLT invaded Fleetwood and came away with impressive victories in both the womens and the mens races.
Nic Rowley was the first lady to cross the finish line in a very impressive 1:04:45, to claim the second victory of the day. The first went to defending male champion, Beau Smith, who once again ran away with the victory in a very quick time of 52:18.
Our two victors were backed up by some further impressive performances from Team COLT. Paul Hodgson came 11th, just dipping under the hour mark with a time of 59:44. Next came a three way battle between 3 team members who finished within 90 seconds of each other. Ian Catlow came home in 1:14:24, he was closely followed by Kevin McGuinness in 1:15:44, and just nine seconds later Ian Bailey crossed the line in 1:15:53. Team COLTs afternoon was rounded off when the ever improving Louise Stevens came home in 1:21:49
Full results can be found here
Comngratulations to you all, on a great day out at the seaside.
Cockermouth Triathlon
COLT was represented at the second edition of the 2010 Cockermouth Triathlon by Sarah Patterson and Amanda Morgan.
Sarah put in a great performance to finish in a time of 1:29:47, knocking over 4 minutes off her previous time from the event in June. Amanda in only her second ever triathlon had a great day recording a very respectable 1:42:41.
Well done to both Sarah and Amanda
Ulverston Triathlon
Four members of the Mighty COLT faced wet roads and a brutal headwind as the battled their way around the undulating Ulverston triathlon. This popular triathlon in only it's second year tests competitors with a 400m swim, an exposed, lumpy and scenic ( some of the best views of the bay on a clear day ) 28km bike and finally a flat 7km run.
First home for team COLT was thw world's quickest farmer. Hawaii bound John Carr finished 2nd in a fast time of 1:23:12. John will hope to build on his form at this coming weekends Garstang Half Marathon.
Peter Denness had a very strong race to finish in 21st place in a time of 1:32:30. Peter seems to be making great progress every time he enters a race. Not far behind was Paul Rickerby who crossed the line in 32nd place in a time of 1:37:02. And less than 5 minutes later team COLT completed a great day out when Neil Robinson finished in 58th place in a time of 1:41:20.
Well done to John, Peter, Paul and Neil.
London Duathlon
Continuing his build up for a return to the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii next month, the "Grand Master" John Knapp travelled down to London this weekend to take part in the London Duathlon. John raced in the "Ultra" event that saw competitors running 20km before then jumping on their bikes to ride 80km in windy conditions, before finally finishing with another 10km run. Sounds like the sort of race you need legs of steel for. Thousands took part in the various races and John finished 12th in his race in a very good time of 4:33:23.
Looking good for Hawaii John well done.
Helvellyn Triathlon
Sunday saw 7 members of the mighty COLT head up to the Lake District to take on the monster that is the Helvellyn Triathlon. After some initila concern following the cancellation of the Great North Swim because of Blue/Green Algae in Lake Windermere, the organisers assured everyone that Ullswater was Algae free, and the race would be on. Helvellyn is reagrded as one of the toughest races on the circuit. After a 1 mile swim in Ullswater athletes then jump on their bikes for 38 miles of hilly riding including Kirkstone pass. Just when the legs are about knackered they then get off their bikes and head for a fell run up Hevellyn itself covering 9 miles but more significantly 3118 feet of climbing, aparently it's the coming back down that's worse.
First home for COLT was Rick Stuart in a cracking time of 4:12:51, Rick was 33rd out of 580 finishers. Next home was "CRAZY" Ian Richardson in 4:18:20 in 51st place, aparently he would have been quicker but he stopped to sign a few autographs after a few people recognised him after his appearance on Channel 4's Ironman UK Program.
Tom Phillips and Chris Clarke had a close battle and finished just 90 seconds apart. Tom shwoing no effects from his LEJOG adventure took the honours coming home in 4:38:31 and Chris finished in 4:39:54
Team COLT completed the day with three spirited finishes from three athletes who always seem to pick the "tough" races to do. Philippe Jumeau crossed the line in 5:11:11 and Alistair Shawcross finished in 5:26:41. Alistair was closely followed by Kevin Lindeque in 5:28:54. Kevin will be drawing on the memory of this tough race as he trains like a demon over the winter to get ready for his Ironman debut next summer in Regensburg.
Well done to all of Team COLT who finished this very tough race.
August 2010 Results
Challenge Copenhagen
Rounding off an amazingly strong season, COLT Duncan Vavangas travelled to the home of bacon, lego and little mermaids, however Duncan wasn't there to see the sights, he was there to blitz his way around Europe's newest Ironman event. Challenge, if you aren't aware are the company behind such great iron-distance races as Roth and Wannaka.
Duncan joined 1600 other athletes and was cheered on by over a 1/4 of a million supporters as he raced through the Danish capital. Heavy flooding over night had threatened the race and actually made the bike course a puncture fest, as debris was strewn all over the roads. Duncan had a great swim to reach dry land in 1:16:03, he followed this up with a blisteringly quick bike leg of 5:26:55, That is some going ! To top his great day off his banged out a 4:20:35 marathon to finish in 11:12:07.
Very well done Duncan.
The Lakeland Triathlon
10 COLTS travelled up to the Lake District on Saturday 14 August to take part in the Lakeland Triathlon. The setting for this event is absolutely stunning, the swim is in Bassenthwaite Lake (which was rather choppy on the day) and the cycle is two anti-clockwise loops, one round the lake itself and one on country lanes to Cockermouth and back. The run is undulating following part of the bike route and has a big hill about 2km. The briefing notes warn you that the hill “goes on a bit” – which is the understatement of the year, that hill goes on and on and on and on!
First back for the club was our own Lanza Ironman Dan MacParland in an fantastic time of 2:08:29. He was followed by Philippe Jumeau (2:37:19) and Dave Worthington who matched his 2009 time finishing in (2:44:01). Paul Gardner appeared next (2:45:18) followed closely by Chris Lawson (2:52:41) putting in a great time in only his second triathlon. Completing the field were Tony Jeffery (2:57:07) and Tony Calverley (2:58:43)
First lady back was Sarah Davies in a very impressive 2:50:07, followed by Christine Gardner (3:20:39) and Sarah Patterson completing the line up (3:34:28).
They even had the bar open in the Bassenthwaite Sailing Club if you fancied a pint when you had finished – very civilised! Well done to all who raced.
The Outlaw
This new Iron-distance event took place in Nottingham and COLT was represented by cousins Andy Holgate and Mike Cubin. Andy was testing himself for the third time over the 140.6 miles whilst Mike was aiming to complete an Ironman for the first time.
The 2.4 mile swim took place in the rowing basin at the National Water Sports Centre, and 1.2 miles in a straight line is a long way, if Mike and Andy squinted they could just about see the turn around bouys in the early morning mist. After surviving the swim they jumped on their bikes for 3 laps of the Nottinghamshire countryside. Mike had very a strong bike ride but unfortunately for Andy struck at the 92 mile mark when his chain snapped. Luckily he managed to fix it and complete the race. The soaring temperatures took their toll during the marathon and both Mike and Andy had slower runs than they were hoping for but they completed the race. Mike finished in 12:43 and Andy came home in 14:17.
You can read Andy's race report on his blog here : IronHolgs The musings of a COLT Ironman
Well done to both Mike and Andy.
Ironman UK
There can't be many triathlon clubs in this country that can claim that all of their racers completed an Ironman in under 12 hours, yet we can. The Mighty COLT proved just how mighty they are by ripping up the lanes of Lancashire and burning brightly in Bolton town centre as they excelled at Ironman UK.
The 6am start didn't faze our Ironmen and first out of the water came the fishlike Mark Hammond in 48 minutes in a remarkable 10th place overall. Mark was keen to surpass his 11hr debut last year and he followed his swim up with a strong bike and a 3.25 marathon to finish in 10:17.
Next to finish was the IronHippy Chris Wild. Chris had the fastest bike split of the day and completed a solid marathon despite his dodgy knees. He had the incentive of wanting to get straight back down to Knebworth to watch Iron Maiden. Chris followed up his impressive Lanzarotte performance with a time here of 10:54.
Perhaps the gutsiest performance of the day came from the next COLT home. On the first lap of the bike, Dave Wilson, was only a couple of minutes behind Mark before his luck deserted him. On the first lap he punctured and then on the second lap disaster struck. He was hit by a car and knocked off his bike, he was battered, bloodied and bruised, and had to straighten his wheel. He got back on the bike when many would have packed it in and went on to run a 3.35 marathon to finish in 11.09.
Ian Richardson making his debut at Ironman, only 10 weeks after entering the event had a blinder. Crazy just went from strength to strength as the day went on. An accomplished bike rider with many years experience, he proved that he's no slouch at running and swimming as well. Ian crossed the line and became an Ironman in 11:22.
Loz Loxam built on his experience of last year and used it to his advantage as he stormed round the course to achieve a new PB of 11:34. Loz looked effortless as he glided past "Colt alley" in Addlington on each lap of the bike. If any of you ever want to see what the perfect aero rider looks like you couldn't do much better than having a gander at Loz.
Not far behind Loz was the Final COLT Ironman and another debutant at the distance. Rob "Fat Bob" Smith made the jump to the big distance look easy as he recorded a sub 4 hour marathon to bring the team home in 11:45.
It would be unfair to say that I've saved the best for last becuase all of the performances were superb...but.
John Carr smashed his pb to finish in 11:20 ( he must have the fastest camelback on earth ! ). What made Johns performance that much more special was that he came 5th in his age group and has qualified for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. A remarkable achievement.
So I'm sure that everyone associated with COLT will take great pride in congratulating our Ironman. Well done lads.
July 2010 Results
Capenwray Triathlon - Race 2
The second race in the Wednesday night series saw a repeat of the first races result, with the added bonus for COLT of victory in the ladies race as well.
Alisdair Grubb led Beau Smith coming out of the swim but Beau went on to win the race in 00:55:29 and Alisdair finished third in 1:02:33.
Danny Rogerson improved significantly on his first race, over 3 minutes faster he finished 15th in 1:15:44
Kelli Hurst was the first lady, winning in a very quick time of 1:12:31
Full results can be found here. Well done to Kelli,Beau, Alisdair and Danny.
Deva Divas Triathlon
The Deva Divas Triathlon is a short distance ( 750m swim, 16k bike, 5k run ) ladies only race. It's now a well-know, popular event which, in 2009, won the coverted British Triathlon, "Event of the Year" award.
The first lady home for Team COLT was Amanda Gilyead in a time of 1:22:38, a really strong performance that earned her 10th place in her age group.
Next to finish, taking 15th place out of over a hundred in her age category was Louise Stevens. Louise finished in a very good time of 1:27:30.
Completing a great day out for the club was Jane Patel, who's gritty performance ( after a tough swim ) earned her 12th place in her age group out of over 200. Jane finished in 1:49:13
Full results can be found here. Well done ladies.
Ullswater Epic Swim
The final race in the Epic Swim series took place in Ulswater.
In the 500m race Robin Goodfellow won in a time of 8:23, closely followed in second place by her brother Wilf Goodfellow in atime of 8:31. Lizzie Goodfellow made it a good day out for the family by finishing in 13:35. Both Robin and Wilf took the overall race series victories in their gender categories with these results.
Full results can be found here
In the 1500m race Beau Smith came second in a time of 22:04, just missing out on winning the face by the margin of 3 seconds! Alison Oliver swam very strongly to finish in a time of 37:27. Beau's performance was good enough to secure him the overall series win.
Full results can be found here
In the 3.8k race Alasdair Grubb finished in 7th overall in the lighning quick time of 46:27. Louise Stevens swam a blinder, knocking 10 minutes off her previous epic swim time to finish in 1:03:01.
Full results can be found here
Details of the series winners can be found here.
Well done to all the COLT swimmers.
Trentham Triathlon
Several members of COLT took part in both the Olympic and the Half ironman events.
Christine Gardner raced at the Olympic distance for only the second time and finished in 3 hours and 41 minutes in spite of the strong winds and 3 enforced stops on the bike for red traffic lights.
In the Half Ironman event there were 3 debutants at the distance. Paul Gardner finished in 6:21, Tony Jeffery wasn't far behind in 6:23 and Tony Calverley ( suffering with a bad stomach on the bike and run ) finished in 6:57. All three of the blokes agreed that it was the hardest thing that they'd done but that they'd all do it again.
Well done everyone.
Ripon Black Sheep Triathlon
This ever popular race ( this year 750 people did it ) was COLTs olympic championship race, and as such it attracted a few of those interested in taking the Captains crown away from him this year.
Mark Hammond came 8th in 2.13.27 and his his excellent performance was closely matched by Dave Wilson who came 29th in a time of 2.19.21. Ideal preparation for IMUK.
"Crazy" Ian Richardson came 64th in a time of 2.25.41, he would have been quicker if not for falling foul of an official. Needless to say that bloke won't be getting a christmas card from Ian this year.
Andrew McCracken finished 122nd in a time of 2.32.15 closely followed by Tornado Tom Phillips in 151st in a time of 2.35.09. Lees than a minute later came Bob Smith who finished 169th ina time of 2.36.01.
Full results can be found here. Well done fellas.
Windermere Triathlon
John Carr led home Team COLT at the Olympic distance event that took place at Windermere. Competitors completed 1500m open water swim across the lake and back, a 43k full lap of the lake on the bike, and a 10 run around the water front at Bowness.
John finished 6th overall in a time of 2:40:05. Not too far behind him, and continuing his rich vein of form was Duncan Vavangas who finished 13th in a time of 2:43:58. Danny Rogerson will also be pleased with a good solid performance, Danny finished in 56th place ina time of 3:15:01.
Full results can be found here. Well done fellas on a top day out in the lakes.
June 2010 Results
South Lakes Half Marathon
This race took place over a very tough and hilly course starting and finishing in Allithwaite. Valerie O'Donnell had a very solid run to finish 56th in a time of 1:56:50.
"Crazy" Ian Richardson ran very strongly to finish 23rd in a time of 1:43:04. Earning his nickname he'd cycled 60 miles to get to the race, and then cycled home again. Top effort Ian !!
Well done to both Val, Ian and Chrissie ( who's surname I don't know ). Full results here
A Day In The Lakes
The second annual running of this very tough half Ironman attracted a huge COLT turnout with seven athletes competing and doing extremely well. Full results can be found here but below is a list of those that raced with their times:
John Knapp 5:20:27
Andrew McCracken 5:53:31
Tom Phillips 6:01:56
Mark Procter 6:13:46
Jeremy Marriott 6:25:08
Alistair Shawcross 6:40:01
Philippe Jumeau 7:06:08
Well done to everyone that completed this gruelling event !
Ironman France
The COLT world tour continued when two members travelled to the south of France and NIce to take part in Ironman France. Both Chris Clarke and Mike Woodbridge were making their debuts at the big distance, and both of them performed superbly.
Chris finished in 11:48:50 and you can read his inspiring race report here. Mike wasn't too far behind finishing in 12:26:43.
Well done to both Chris and Mike.
Liverpool Triathlon
There was a strong turnout at the Liverpool triathlon with races ranging from the Super Sprint to the Olympic Distance.
Team COLT were represented in the Olympic distance by Duncan Vavangas who performed strongly as usual to finish in 2hrs 21 mins and 52 seconds. Peter Clarkson was next home in 2:43:06, another solid result. Next home for COLT were to newcomers to the Olympic distance. Sarah Davies raced strongly to finish in 2:47:20 and Chris Lawson overcame his Open Water demons to finish in 2:52:21.
All of them agreed that the water tasted crap !
Full results can be found here - apologies to those I've missed from the report, but there were no club names in the results.
Epic Swim - Derwent Water
Last weekend again saw members of COLT taking to the open water. Members of the club from as young as 11 took part in the second event of the Epic open water swim series in Derwent Water.
The youth section of COLT displayed an outstanding performance in the 500m and 1 mile swims. Wilf Goodfellow (14) battled his sister Robin Goodfellow(16) for second place, managing to overtake her at the last buoy, and knocking fellow competitor Liam Russell (16) into third place. Robin finished 1st female in the race and fourth overall, whilst younger sister Elizabeth Goodfellow(11) finished 4th female, and 13th in the swim. Alison Oliver came 7th lady, and Marie Jones 21st lady in this race.
The most exciting race of the day, as far as COLT was concerned was the 1 mile race. Beau Smith (16) once again raced towards the finish line in a battle for first place, but was “pipped” at the post to finish second. Both 1st and 2nd finishing in a time of 21.01….
Alison Russell warmed up from the 500m swim finished 35th female in this race. Other COLT competitors in the mile swim were Martin Armer,Anthony Calverly, and Tony Jeffrey.
Alison Russell, Wilf and Robin Goodfellow all improved their times and placing from the previous Coniston swim, Beau his time. All other COLTS swimmers were new to the race; the next event is the 11th July at Ullswater, lets see if more COLTS will rise to the challenge.
Full results can be found in the links below:
500m
1 mile
Cockermouth Sprint Triathlon
It was drier in the pool than it was out on the bike course! However the awful weather didn't deter three members of the Mighty COLT from making the journey north up the M6 to Cockermouth. The sprint that takes place in June and September is well known for being beginner friendly and it showed, with all ages and abilities taking part.
Alasdair Grubb recorded the quickest swim of the day with a very impressive 500m in 6:06. He followed this up with strong bike ride and a powerful run to win the event in 58:24.
Andy Holgate in his first triathlon for 11 months had a steady race to finish in 1:16:52. Andy was pleased with his performance and placing, 52nd out of 119.
Sarah Patterson returned to her favourite race venue, and despite a comical moment in T1 where she thought her head had shrunk ( she'd picked up someone elses helmet ! )had a good solid race to finish in 1:33:57. Sarah was especially pleased with her performance on the run.
Well done to all that raced.
Chester Deva Olympic Triathlon
Six members of Team COLT took part in the Chester Deva Olympic Triathlon on Sunday, and they performed brilliantly. Good event, although it was rather foggy when the team left Lancaster at 5.30 am for the 8.00 am start in the River Dee. The fast flowing river is not for the faint hearted but water temperature was a balmy 17 degrees so according to Sarah Patterson it felt "bath like after our Carnforth lake."
Great race for all concerned – Christine Gardner was doing her first triathlon, husband Paul Gardner didn’t beat her by much.
Louise Stevens built on her recent epic swim performance to race strongly. Tony Calverley was the quickest COLT on the day and he was chased hard by Tony Jeffery. Paul Gardner managed to seperate the two.
Sarah Patterson showed how consistent she is, recording exactly same time as last year….
Results were as follows:
Tony Calverley 2:43:50
Paul Gardner 2:46:08
Tony Jeffery 2:50:29
Louise Stevens 3:12:43
Christine Gardner 3:13:34
Sarah Patterson 3:22:45
Well done to everyone that raced and especially to Christine for doing an Oly as her first ever triathlon.
Le Terrier Sportive
Nine members of Team COLT took on the Le Terrier local sportive ride. A ride that takes in most of the big climbs of the Trough of Bowland and Lancashire, and described by Cycling Weekly as "The Little Fred !". Conditions were good, quite cool, no wind and a bit of drizzle towards the end which kept the riders cool. Fastest time of the day 4:32.57, a very impressive 17.6mph AVS on this extremely hilly terrain. The results from team COLT are below:
80miles:
Paul Tynan 5:35.22
Graham Hodgson 5:42.56
Ben Rogerson 5:46.48
Danny Rogerson 5.52.48
Andy Webster 6:30.19
45 Miles:
Rick Gould 3:39.26
Jess McCracken(13) 4:26.23
James McCracken(8] 4:27.04
Good times from the two juniors, James aged 8 was the 'stoker' powering up the Vice's tandem! ( see photo )
Well done everyone!
Coniston Old Man 1/2 Ironman
Two colts were brave enough to take on the Old Man Tri on Sunday. Perhaps the UK's toughest mountain triathlon? (approx half iron man distance)
Tom Phillips described the race as follows : Swim conditions were perfect, 2 laps of a 1km circuit. Humid conditions on the bike ride made it tough going. The run kept dry on the approach (still VERY humid) then the heavens opened, big time! (All thoughts of cooling of in the lake after the event were soon gone). Paths turned to rivers, and navigation became a tad tricky.
Proving what a remarkable athlete he his, only a week after his Bob Graham success, Tornado Tom Phillips came in 2nd - just a few minutes behind the winner.
Alistair Shawcross on relatively little training also completed the 2km swim - 70 km bike ride (including Wrynose, Hardnott amongst other hills) - 17km run up Wetherlam and Coniston Old Man.
Well done to both Tom and Alistair.
Blenheim Palace Triathlon
Fresh from his mid week win at Capernwary, Beau Smith was in action again on Sunday for another race with Tim Don, this time at Blenheim Palace Triathlon.
Once again Tim won, but Beau had a strong race (his first triathlon with Senior Elites, as a first-year Junior Elite), finishing 1st Under 17, 9th Junior, and 27th overall. I'm sure Tim is looking over his shoulder . . . . if not he should be! The event was filmed for Channel 4, and is due to go out on Sunday 27th June at 8:30 am. Apparently COLT got a mention over the PA as Beau crossed the line, it will be interesting to see if that features on Channel 4's coverage.
Well done Beau.
Crossbay Challenge
Team COLT were represented by Duncan Vavangas and Chris Lawson at this very tough local event that is run across the sands from Flookburgh to Hest Bank. The approximate 1/2 marathon course varies each year depending on the shifting sands of the bay, but the difficulty of running on wet sand and several water hazards remains constant. Duncan had a very strong race to finish 9th in a time of 1:34:15. Chris must be very pleased with his 106th place and a time of 1:51:29, obviously all the Wednesday night COLT running has done hime good.
Well done to Duncan and Chris.
Capernwray Triathlon Race one
The first race in the Capernwray summer triathlon series took place on the 2nd June, and the competitors were blessed with ideal racing conditions. The race was dominated by team COLT with Beau Smith winning overall in a time of 57:10:95. Beau and fellow COLT Alasdair Grubb were neck and neck in the swim, with Alisdair just getting to dry land first. Alisdair had a great race to finish third in 1:00:24:25
Danny Rogerson had a strong swim and then worked his way through the field on the bike to finish an impressive 9th overall in a time of 1:18:45:85.
Mark Hammond had also been in the mix, in third place after the bike, but unfortunately had to drop out through injury. Hopefully he'll recover soon.
So well done to Beau, Alisdair and Danny ! Full results are HERE
May 2010 Results
Epic Swim Coniston
The first race of the Epic Swim Series took place in Coniston Water this past weekend and COLT were represented in all 3 races.
In the 500m race COLT took 4th and 5th places with strong performances from Ben Wilf and Robin Goodfellow. Ben was third male in a time of 08:13:15 and Robin was second female in 08:21:60.
The One Mile race was won by Beau Smith. Beau continued his remarkable season,swimming strongly to finish in a time of 21:50:10. Not too far behind was Alasdair Grubb who used all of his water polo playing experience to survive the scrum. Alasdair finished in 4th in a time of 22:04:90. Next home for COLT was Alison Oliver who will be pleased with a good solid swim. Alison finished in 37:07:45.
The Ironman distance of 3.8km was taken on by a trio of COLTS. John Carr had a good solid swim to finish in 30th place in a time of 01:09:58:95. Something he can build on as he prepares for IMUK. Not far behind John in 34th place was Michael Woodbridge. Michael put in a strong performance to finish in 01:10:24:90. Louise Stevens was the 16th Female in this long distance swim. She swam well to finish in 1:13:37:45.
Well done to all our swimmers.
Keswick Triathlon
4 Colts finished the Keswick Tri today. Conditions were perfect. Driving through the Lakes in the early morning the Lakes were mirror smooth, and the water temperature was excellent. Low water conditions meant a longer transation than normal though! The main event is approx olympic distance, but with a shorter swim and of course a very hilly bike and run. It is an excellent event (it filled out in 2 days! I got a late entry)
The swim was even photograhed/video'd by a gyrocopter! Also notable was one contestant doing the event in a "borat" mankini (not a nice sight from behind I can assure you)
Times were as follows (note that team entries are included in overall positions) 300 people started and winning time was 2 hours 6 mins
Tom Phillips 30th (12th V40) 2:23:48
Chris Clarke 67th (37th Senior) 02:30:22
Philippe Jumeau 174th (63rd V40) 02:51:13
Alistair Shawcross 202nd (89th Senior) 02:55:27
Well done everyone
The Fred Whitton Challenge
Sunday 9th May saw the annual Fred Whitton Challenge, a 112 mile sportive that is often described as the toughest in the UK. It takes in the monster passes of Kirkstone, Honister, Newlands, Whinlatter, Hardknott and Wrynose. It's a wonder riders don't get nosebleeds being that high up!
The Mighty COLT never one to back away from a challenge were represented by six riders. All of the riders posted very respectable times:
Thomas Phillips 6:31
Mark Hammond 7:16
Michael Woodbridge 7:20
Dave Wilson 7:20
Rob Smith 7:23
Robert Patchett 8:43
Peter Clarkson 8:51
Full results can be found here
Photos : Tornado Tom Philips and Mark Hammond
Well done to all riders who took up the challenge.
April 2010 Results
Ironman South Africa
After a nightmare wait and journey, caused by an Icelandic volcano, COLT John Towse finally made it to the rainbow state to compete in the SpecSavers Ironman South Africa. After a choppy sea swim, a 20 minute puncture break and a rough patch in a very quick marathon, John completed his debut Ironman in an amazing time of 10:43:07.
I'm not even going to attempt to write a report because John's own race report that you can read here is inspiring, and I couldn't do his performance justice. Well done John!
Virgin London Marathon
A tri of COLTs pounded the streets of the capital with over 30,000 other runners. Thankfully the red hot weather of the day before was replaced by dull, wet but humid weather on race morning. First home for the Mighty COLT was Duncan Vavangas in a blistering time of 3:21:03 to finish 3061st overall, 2771st in gender and 193rd in category. Next home was Mike Cubin in his first ever Marathon in a time of 3:43:49 for 6806th overall, 5749th in gender and 1175th in category. Mike will hope to build on this performance as he trains for his first Ironman in August. Last but not least for Team COLT was Andy Holgate, whose legs decided not to talk to him anymore after 22 miles. Andy finished in 4:13:05 for 14218th overall, 11369th in gender and 6235th in category.
Well done to the Marathon trio.
Kendal Triathlon
Several members of Team COLT competed at the local Kendal Sprint Triathlon with a great amount of success. Beau Smith was the overall Male winner and Louise Kelly coming back from injury was the 1st Lady, and 11th overall. They were backed up with strong performances from Liam McGuinness who was the first Youth and 6th overall. James Bale was the fastest swimmer on the day and 17th overall, a great performance in his first triathlon.
Full results can be found here. Well done everyone
Skipton Triathlon
The Mighty COLT flexed its muscles for the first designated Club Race of the season on Sunday 18 April. What a fantastic turnout from the club with 20 members racing and some superb performances on the day. With nearly 600 competitors the event took some organising and COLT swim time starts varied from 8.00 am to 2.00 pm. The weather was relatively kind, not too windy but rather chilly.
The COLT Men’s Champ for 2009, Beau Smith, showed that it was a title well deserved as he kicked off the season with a second place overall and a time of 1:01:01. Next back and 28th overall was our Hawaii Ironman, John Knapp, in a time of 1:07:04 proving he can still give everyone a run for their money over the shorter distances.
Hard on his heels was another of our junior members, Paul Hodgson, finishing in 29th place with a time of 1:07:16. Paul Tynan was not far behind the two of them with a great time of 1:08:56. Tornado Tom Phillips improved on his 2009 time substantially to come in at 48th overall with a time of 1:09:31 – all that fell running must be doing him some good. His partner in crime Crazy Ian Richardson was not far behind in 1:10:18 as was Chris Clarke in 1:10:36. All those interval sessions at COLT running on Wednesday nights seem to have paid off for Chris.
Duncan Vavangas in 1:12:00 had a great race, followed by Philip Taylor in 1:13:54. New member Thomas Ely finished in 1:16:14 despite running the second lap of the run in bare feet carrying his trainers. He decided to go sockless but his trainers started to rub big time so he took them off and continued – good effort!
Ironlady Valerie O’Donnell also proved she can turn her hand to the sprint distance finishing in 1:19:21. Stuart Foy and Sam Patterson both first timers at Skipton last year improved considerably on their 2009 performance to finish in 1:22:21 and 1:23:36.
And the COLTs kept coming - Andrew Holme 1:26:37, Jennifer Gabrysch 1:28:25, Chris Lawson 1:29:31 (despite taking a wrong turn on the bike and ending up cycling at least a mile too far), Peter Sariwee 1:32:32 and Louise Stevens 1:41:48. COLT Casualties on the day included Louise Kelly only swam and biked due to her injury, Stuart Pike who pulled out on the run due to a dodgy knee and Sarah Patterson whose legs held out but back tyre exploded 6 miles into the bike leg. Captain Mason didn't race also due to injury but was seen at the finish line throughout the day yelling loudly at all COLTS and selling COLT tee-shirts out of a carrier bag for a tenner a go. Well done to everyone – a fantastic start to the season!
Manx Mountain Marathon
Another COLT that travelled overseas to race this weekend was Dave Deason who completed the 31.5 mile fell race known as the Manx Mountain Marathon. This gruelling race that starts in Ramsay on the Isle of Mann also includes 8000 feet of climbing. Dave had brilliant race in not very pleasant weather conditions to finish in a time of 7:46:36 for 57th overall.
Full results can be found HERE
Well done Dave
Ronde Van Vlaanderen
COLT were represented at this northern classic, The Tour Of Flanders, this past Saturday by Andy Holme. Andy completed the 75km cyclesportive, mostly on cobbles, and vowed that he would never again complain about the local roads around here !
Well done Andy,
March 2010 Results
Ribby Hall Triathlon
The Mighty COLT had a busy weekend taking part in this new local triathlon. A 400m swim was followed by 10.5 mile bike ride, and the whol event was rounded off by a 5k run.
Nicola Rowley finished 2nd women in 1.01.09 whilst Liam McGuiness was 2nd junior in 58.22 Philip Taylor was 2nd M50 in 1.02.47 and Jennifer Gabrysch 2nd F40 in 1.10.10. Kevin McGuiness finished 82nd overall in 1.09.47 and Peter Sariwee in his first triathlon finished in 1.14.01.
Full results can be found here
Great racing everyone!
British Junior Elite Duathlon
Beau Smith had a great race at The British Elite Duathlon on the 28th March and is now 6th in the rankings. The Junior Elites raced with the Senior Elites, so Beau lined up with Tim Don & Will Clarke and prepared to show them what he's made of! Predictably the famous pair finished 1st & 2nd, but Beau gave a good account of himself - the aforementioned were,the only athletes to lap him - Beau finished an excellent 6th Junior (from 20 finishers), and around 30th or 31st overall (from 54).
You can see the National rankings here
Well done Beau
Parbold Duathlon
Beau Smith had a great race at the Parbold Duathlon coming 14th overall and 1st Junior by a massive margin of 7 minutes. He burned his way round the hilly course in 1 hour 32 minutes and 55 seconds.
Full results can be found HERE
Well done Beau
Haworth Hobble
The Haworth Hobble is a brutal Yorkshire Fell race that sees runners battling their way over rough terrain, climbing a total of 4,500 feet and covering a distance of 32 miles. Sounds like a challenge worthy of a COLT or two doesn't it ? Dave Deason, Andy McCracken and Tom Phillips (with other runners as partners)all completed this epic fell race.
Tom finished in an extremely quick time of 5:30:02, Dave was next home in 5:53:44. and Andrew finished in 6:14:30.
Full results can be found here
Well done to all three COLTs, as this sounds like it was one hell of a tough challenge.
KiloMarathon
Whilst his clubmates were running around the Lune. Duncan Vavangas was racing on the roads between Nottingham and Derby, taking part in the world's first Kilomarathon. A 26.2km road race. Duncan had a very strong race to finish in a time of 1 hr 57.04 mins. This performance earned Duncan 11th in his age group and saw him finish 229th out of 4200 finishers.
Full results can be found HERE
Well done Duncan
Trimpell 20
Sunday March 14th saw the local annual long distance road race take place, The Trimpell 20. This year it actually started at Salt Aire instead of the Morecambe based rugby club. A flat and fast course ( well as fast as you can get for a 20 miler ) saw runners heading out on the city's cycle paths towards Trimpell, then doubling back across the Millenium Bridge, along the Quayside before turning and heading out to Caton. The race finished back on the running track with a 700m stint on the tartan, which wasn't nice when you could see the finish! It was made easier though by the noisy COLT support.
The first Runner home for COLT was Mike Cubin in an impressive time of 2:15:14. Mike has been training hard for his marathon debut at London next month where he is hoping to run close to three hours. The Barrow based triathlete will then be hoping to carry his running form forward to August when he'll be making his Ironman distance debut at the Outlaw.
Next came a battle between the New guard and the Old guard ( although JK certainly isn't old ) as Daniel McParland managed to hold off a quick finishing John Knapp. Daniel finished in 2:22:23 and John was hot on his heels in 2:22:28. Daniel had used the race as part of a brick session, cycling up from Manchester. John had done 6hrs on the bike and a 10 mile run the day before. Machines the pair of them. It'll be interesting in Lanzarote in May when Daniel makes his long awaited Ironman debut, will he be able to edge in front of John there ?
Andy Webster put in another solid performance to finish in 2:37:07. The guy runs like a metronome, banging out consistant mile after consitent mile. And finally there was a close COLT battle between Chris Lawson and Andy Holgate. Chris took the spoils on this ocassion, passing Andy in the last mile and holding on despite a spirited sprint around the running track from Andy. Chris finished in 2:55:20 and Andy finished in 2:55:30. All of which was good preparation for their upcoming marathons in Edinburgh and London.
Full results can be found HERE
Well done to everyone who took part. Good running Team COLT.
February 2010 Results
Great North West Half Marathon
Sunday 21st February saw the running of the 20th Great North West Half Marathon in Blackpool. 881 runners from all over the country braved the snowy conditions to race along the flyde coast.
Louise Kelly had a great race to finish 30th overall in a time of 1:23:09. She was the second fastest lady in the race, and by all accounts was closing strongly on the leader in the last mile.
Husband and Wife COLT duo John Knapp and Valerie O'Donnell had good solid races. John finished in 77th overall in a time of 1:28:22 and Valerie finished 357th overall in a time of 1:43:38. Valeries performance saw her improve by 3 minutes on last years time. Full results here.
These early strong performances bode well for a strong season ahead for the thre of them. Well done.
November 2009 Results
Lancaster Half Marathon
Sunday saw a strong COLT turnout at the concluding race of the Lancaster & Morecambe AC Race Series. Eight runners from the club the 666 person field to race in the Lancaster Half Marathon. The race went from Salt Aire along the quayside to Condor Green before doubling back through Aldcliffe and back across the Millenium Bridge for a finish on the running track. This flat course has the potential for some seriously fast times, however a 400m long stretch through ice cold ankle deep water did little to facilitate speed, or indeed comfort!
Despite the conditions under foot the Mighty COLT had a great 'morning out' with three of the time completing their first ever half marathons and hopefully putting down markers for a successful step up in Tri distance next year. Louise Kelly led the debutants home in yet another very impressive performance of 1:23:42. Louise took the 2nd Lady prize of the day, after only being caught in the last mile or so. Stuart Foy saw the weeks of early morning runs pay off as he completed his first ever half marathon in a respectable time of 1:58:51 for 482nd place. Sarah Patterson ran steadily, in what for her was a massive step up from a 10k, her previous longest race to record an encouraging 2:13:30. I'm sure that next season we'll see Sarah go under the 2 hour mark. Both Sarah and Stuart have got the bug and are both talking about tackling a marathon next !!
Chris Clarke seemed to get stronger as the race went one, starting conservatively and turning on the speed after the turnaround point to finish 86th overall in a very impressive time of 1:29:20. Just six seconds behind Chris was COLT new boy Peter Sariwee who finished in 1:29:26, Peter will be hoping to coninue in this rich vein of form when he races at the St.Helens duathlon next month. Andy Webster came home in 225th place in a time of 1:39:24, a time he was pleased with after concentrating for most of the past season on his biking rather than his running. Andy Holgate was pleased with his run, after almost 7 weeks of inactivity to record a time of 1:45:23 for 315th place. Andy will be using the race as a starting point for next years assualt on the London Marathon and the Outlaw triathon. COLT veteran John Oldroyd had a very good run to finish in 1:52:50 for 418th place.
Well done eveyone.
October 2009 Results
IronMan World Championships
John Knapp flew the COLT flag at the Ironman World Championships In Kona, Hawaii this past Saturday. He battled the legendary winds over the lava fields and soaring temperatures in the high nineties to finish in a an amazing time of 10:59:47.
John completed the non wetsuit swim in a very impressive 1:18:22, worked hard on the bike to record 5:45:56 and ran strongly in the furnace heat to complete the marathon in 3:48:49.
Britain's Chrissie Wellington & Aussie Craig Alexanda successfully retained thier world titles.
Awesome performance John, you're an inspiration to everyone at COLT ! Well Done.
September 2009 Results
Fleetwood Triathlon
Perhaps it was the threat of Cpt Mason being a marshall that saw the Mighty COLT continue their winning ways with another victory at the Fleetwood Triathlon. This time it was young Beau Smith who had just recovered from swine flu that came home in first position. Beau completed the course in a blisteringly fast 55:21.
Hot on his heels was Mark Hammond, proving that after his ironman heroics he can still race up a storm at the shorter distance events. Mark took fourth place in an impressive 56:58. Using the event as a final build up race to the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii in a couple of weeks, John Knapp, raced strongly to finish in 12th position in a time of 1:00:57.
Sam Patterson and Stuart Foy had a close battle finishing just 40 seconds apart. With youth on his side, Sam who'd just turned eighteen just missed out on a prize in his age group, finishing fourth in a time of 1:14:49. Stuart will be pleased with his time of 1:15:30 for 119th place. Stuart has worked hard consistantly in his first season and given a strong winter under his belt will get faster and stronger next year.
New COLT athlete, Tony Jeffery had a great race to finish in a very respectable time of 1:20:00. Team COLT also was represented in the ladies race, spurred on by her little brothers encouraging words from his marshalling point, Sarah Patterson had a strong race to finish in a time of 1:26:05.
Well done to everyone. Full Results can be found here : Fleetwood Results
North West Sprint Triathlon
Stuart Pike travelled to Nantwhich in Cheshire to take part in this popular triathlon. It is well known for his brine pool swim. Stuart had a very strong race and will have come away feeling very content with a time of 1:30:55. Well done.
Tatton Park Triathlons
The magnificant setting of this Cheshire Stately home sees several different distances set out to challenge Triathletes. A strong contingent of COLT's took on the Olympic distance event, and did the club proud.
Louise Kelly continued her great season with a win in the ladies competetion. Louise finished 2:07:05, this time also saw her finish 6th in the overall event.Paul Tynan led the men home in 20th position. His excellent time of 2:11:25 saw him claim 1st prize in the 45-49 age group. Philip Taylor continues to improve as the season draws on. Phillip's time of 2:17:46 saw him finish 64th. Peter Clarkson will be very pleased with a solid all round performance which saw him finish in a time of 2:23:48 for 122nd place. Well done.
Bala Standard Distance Triathlon
Louise Kelly and Chris Clarke travelled to North Wales to take part in one of the most popular races on the calendar. The olympic distance event always fills up every year and the level of competition is high.
Louise had a strong race to finish 6th Female overall in a time of 2:12:30. Chris wasn't too far behind in a quick time of 2:16:55 for 178th place. Well done.
Fleetwood Marathon & Half Marathon
Two great performances from Colt Athletes at this local long distance race. New girl, Sarah Davies, ran very strongly to finish the marathon in a great time of 3:43:34 for 52nd place. Her previous best time for the distance had been 4 hours !
John Carr continued his rich vein of form in the half marathon with a time of 1:36:02. This earned John 31st place. Well done to both COLTs.
Helvellyn Triathlon
The Mighty COLT were ot in force at one of the toughest triathlons around. Never one to shy away from a challenge, "Crazy" Ian Richardson made an amazing comeback from a nasty injury to lead the team home. Ian finished 69th overall in a time of 4:13:57.
Less than a month after taming the tough Embrunman, Tom Phillips was recording a sub 2 hour bike leg on one of the hilliest courses around. Tom finished 83rd overall in a time of 4:17:57.
Two more Ironmen were next home for COLT, showing that they had recovered well from their exploits in Bolton. Andrew McCracken finished in 131st place in a time of 4:26:35 and Mark Procter came home in 4:48:16 for 232nd place.
COLT ladies Valerie O'Donnell and Hannah Marshall had a close battle over the tough course. Valerie finished in 318th place in a time of 5:08:32. Hannah was just over a minute behind in a time of 5:09:46 for 323rd place.
And spare a thought for Alistair Shawcross, who did a full head over heels coming down Kirkstone Pass when the guy in front crashed after a blowout. Alistair survived intact amazingly, though badly bruised!
Well done everyone and recover well Alistair!
Cockermouth Triathlon
COLT tasted double success at this popular Cumbrian triathlon with Louise Kelly and Beau Smith taking both the the womens and mens overall titles.
Beau continued his remarkable season by winning comfortably in a time of 57:09. Louise continued the COLT victory march with a ladies winning time of 1:04:20. Louise was also 5th overall !
Paul Hodgson made it 3 COLTs in the top 10 when his time of 1:06:20 earned him 10th place.
In his first ever triathlon Kevin Lindeque made a brilliant start to claim 45th place in a time of 1:15:49
Continuing the COLT success, Sam Patterson and Sarah Patterson both recorded personal bests. Sam took 4 minutes of his previous time to finish in 1:19:03 for 55th place. Not to be outdone, mum Sarah took 3 minutes off her previous best to finish in 1:29:05 for 111th place.
Well done everyone.
August 2009 Results
Clitheroe Triathlon
The mighty COLT were represented by Duncan Vavangas, who put in a great performance to finish 21st overall. His time of 1:56:36 on a hilly course was good enough for 2nd place in his age group as well. Well done Duncan.
National Club Relay Championships
The Mighty COLT had two teams flying the COLT flag at the National Club Championships at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham.
The Bright Young Things finished 69th overall in a time of 3:25:51. This was a brilliant performance from the clubs upcoming talent : Daniel McParland, Louise Kelly, Hannah Marshall and Beau Smith. This team is only going to get stronger and faster.
Not far behind the youngsters were the COLT Fine Aged Vintages in a time of 3:42:32 for 170th place. The team of long distance specialists engaged their sprinting muscle fibres for a change and did the club proud. They were led by Cpt Richard Mason, and also included Valerie O'Donnell, Chris Wild and David Haygarth.
And to top a great weekend, Louise Kelly only went out the next morning and won the women's sprint race in 1:09:01 !!
Well done to all, lets get more teams there next year!
Allerthorpe Classic Triathlon
John Towse completed his second Olympic distance triathlon event in 2:09:03. This earned John 20th place in very windy conditions.
Lakeland Triathlon
COLTs out in force on saturday with impressive results
Phillipe Jumeau 2:30:02
Dave Worthington 2:43:31
Mike Cubin 2:44:51
Valerie O'Donnell 2:53:08
Hannah Marshall 3:02:42
Embrunman Ironman distance
Out in France, Tom Phillips (14:32:54) and Alistair Shawcross (15:42:30) conquered the really tough Enbrunman triathlon and survived. Well done guys!
Ironman UK
Name
Swim
Bike
Run
Finishing Time
Position
Richard Mason
1:14:51
5:44:31
3:25:42
10:32:25
48th
Mark Hammond
1:00:29
6:00:28
3:44:09
11:01:11
83rd
Andrew McCracken
1:13:15
6:00:31
3:40:40
11:05:18
96th
Dave Wilson
1:04:38
6:01:30
3:59:38
11:28:14
152nd
John Carr
1:08:25
6:30:57
4:05:04
11:53:28
252nd
Chris Wild
1:23:49
6:18:24
4:26:26
12:19:28
381st
Mark Procter
1:04:35
6:39:50
4:45:13
12:42:23
495th
Paul McQueen
1:24:29
7:07:48
3:54:53
13:03:59
617th
Loz Loxam
1:24:20
6:51:20
4:53:45
13:26:23
740th
Simon Devereux
1:52:08
7:18:28
4:36:25
14:10:44
942nd
Rob Sellers
1:23:28
7:18:55
5:48:22
14:49:34
1066th
Kevin Bedford
1:20:53
7:36:11
5:31:58
14:50:33
1070th
John Gilbert
1:32:14
7:39:49
5:35:59
15:10:16
1121st
Thirteen members of the MIGHTY COLT did the club proud at Ironman UK this past Sunday. There were some awesome performances from the old guard and the iron new boys.
The 2.4 mile swim took place in the chilly waters of Rivington Reservoir, and was believed by some to be over the distance. The riders then took to the roads around Horwich and Chorley for 3 hilly and windswept loops making up the 112 mile bike course. Finally the athletes were faced with a tough 26.2 mile course that meant this was not going to be the fastest of marathon performances.
Leading by example was COLT captain, Richard Mason, who backed up a very strong, determined bike ride with the marathon performance of his life. Richard did brilliantly to finish 7th in his age group.
Mark Hammond in his first ever Ironman race was simply phenomenal, as he narrowly missed out on a sub 11 debut. With youth and enthusiasm on his side, Mark is only going to get faster. Andrew McCracken was next home, despite feeling sick after swallowing water in the swim, he ran Mark very close. Andrew just kept getting stronger and faster on the run, and he smiled all the way round the course.
Dave Wilson was another COLT new to the Ironman, and he reaped the benefits of all the hours he'd put in as he had a strong race to dip under the 11 and a half hours mark. Not far behind him was another new Ironman, John Carr, who started his day off with a strong swim and just went from strength to strength as he headed to towards Bolton Town Hall.
Perhaps the most remarkable performance of the day came from the "Wildman". Chris Wild was on crutches at the begining of July with a torn knee cartlidge, he'd not really ran since and he showed utter determination just to make it to the start line. Amazingly the knee held together and he finished in an Ironman Uk pb of just over twelve hours. Not bad for a veggie !! You can read Chris' account of his Ironman adventure here
Mark Procter followed up his great performance in Lanzarote with another solid race in Bolton. Cheered on by his proud family, Mark followed up his strong swim with a determined bike ride and a gutsy marathon. Paul McQueen was next home for COLT, Paul paced the race well all day and and had enough energy to run a sub 4 marathon, that is some going !!
Loz Loxam not only was taking on his first Ironman, he was also running his first ever marathon. He had a good swim and a solid bike ride. The marathon caught up with him a little but he rounded off an amazing day to become an Ironman in under 13 and a half hours. With a mixture of youth and enthusiasm on his side, and a new found respect for marathon running, Loz is only going to get faster! You can read Lozs' account of his day here
After a nightmare start to the day which saw cramp take hold in the swim, Simon Devereux, recovered well to have a solid bike ride and a strong run. After a four year break, Simon completed the Ironman just over 14 hours and was met by his very proud family. Simon has written a report of his day which you can read here.
The closest COLT battle of the day saw Rob Sellers and Kevin Bedford finish within a minute of each other. Kevin led by 3 minutes coming out of the water but Ironman virgin Rob took an advantage into the run, Kevin gained time back but Rob just held on. Unbelievable to have such a close club battle in such a huge race.
John Gilbert saw all his hard work come to fruition when he became an Ironman in just over 15 hours. What is more remarkable is that John had overcome a fear of the open water in order to compete. Once out of the water anything would be a bonus for John and this allowed him to relax and have a very strong race. You can read Johns personal account of the day on the COLT Ironman Experiences page.
COLT also made the Bolton Evening News with a photo of Cpt. Mason. You can see it HERE
Well done to all our COLT Ironmen, you did yourselves, your families and the club proud!
July 2009 Results
The Black Sheep Ripon Triathlon
Saturday the 11th of July saw seven COLT athletes compete in another of the clubs designated "championship" races at Ripon in North Yorkshire. The race, over the Olmpic distance is the biggest club organised event in the country and it was a victorious day for Team COLT !
Louise Kelly became the overall champion beating some tough competition to record a very fast time of 2:26:08 on the challenging course.
First home for COLT on the day was John Towse. John was taking part in his first Olympic distance event and it was his exceptional running strength that saw him pip Andrew McCracken at the end. Andrew took a minutes advantage over John into the run but he could match a 40:17 10k performance. John finished in 2:21:04 for 35th place, Andrew was exactly 2 minutes behind him in 2:23:04 for 50th place.
And in another close COLT battle Mark Proctor finished less than 2 minutes ahead of Matt Barnes. Mark recorded a time of 2:29:34 for 106th place and Matt finished in 2:31:06 for 131st place.
Both Tom Phillips and Danny Rogerson put in strong solid performances to complete a great day out for the Mighty COLT. Tom recorded a time of 2:36:42 for 204th place and Danny recorded a very encouraging 2:47:07 for 362nd place.
Very well done to all who competed.
Full results can be found here : Ripon Results
Deva Divas
The COLT ladies all gave strong performances at the Chester Deva Divas ladies only triathlon on Sunday 12 July.
First back in a very impressive time of 1 hr 19 min 55 sec was Emma Shawcross (51st position).
Louise Stevens put in a great performance in her first ever triathlon of 1 hr 28 min 20 secs.
Louise was followed very closely by Sarah Patterson completing this event for the 6th time with a PB of 1 hr 28 min 21 secs.
Jane Patel did the swim and the bike and her relay partner completed the run to give them a strong overall time of 1 hr 31 min 3 secs.
Well done ladies – you did the MIGHTY COLT proud!
Ironman Germany
Andy Holgate travelled to Frankfurt in Germany to take part in Ironman Germany. This would be Andys second iron distance race and his goal for the season was to go sub 13 hours. Andy achieved his goal with a time of 12:57:21.
Andy completed the swim in 1:26, took way too much time in T1 and then had a great time on the bike finishing in 6:15. It was over 30 degrees by the time Andy started the marathon and he died in the heat, but recovered on the last lap to achieve his goal.
You can read Andys first hand race experience on his Blog : IronHolgs The Musings of a Pirate Ironman.
June 2009 Results
A Day in the Lakes
Thirteen members of COLT tackled this grueling half Ironman distance event. The 1.2 mile swim took place in Ulswater before the gruelling 56 mile bike course took in the climbs of Kirkstone Pass and Shap Fell. If that wasn't bad enough the 13.1 mile fell run was described as "Bloody Brutal".
COLT Captain Richard Mason led the team home in 21st place in a time of 5:19:59, he had to work hard on the bike to catch his Vice Captain, Andrew McCracken who had a significant lead on him going over Kirkstone. Andrew finished 45th overall in a time of 5:36:00. Close on Andrews heels was Tom Phillips who finished 3 places behind in 45th in a time of 5:39:39.
Chris Clarke recorded the fastest COLT swim split with a 30:33, he went on to finish in 78th in 5:53:15. Simon Devereux and Mike Cubin had a close personal battle finishing only a couple of minutes apart. Simon just piped Mike finishing in 148th in 6:18 and Mike was 157th in 6:20:50. Just behind them was Alistair Shawcross, who like Mike was making his COLT debut. Alistair had a great race to finish 160th in 6:22:16.
Peter Clarkson put in a strong performance to finish in 199th in a time of 6:40:06. Hannah Marshall was the first lady finisher for COLT coming home in 239th place in a very respectable time of 6:58:37.
The COLT train just kept running as Andrew Webster, Dave Deason and Danny Rogerson all performed strongly to finish within 20 minutes of each other. Andrew led them home in 275th place with a time of 7:14:42. He was followed by Dave in 291st recording a time of 7:28:31 and Danyy in 299th recording a time of 7:35:01.
Phillippe Jumeau completed a great Day in the Lakes for Team COLT by coming home in 315th place in a time of 7:53:13.
Well done to everyone who completed this tough event, some cracking performances to boades well for good things at IMUK and Embrunman.
Ironman Couer d'Alene
Husband and Wife duo John Knapp and Valerie O'Donnell have been flying the COLT flag in the USA as they took part in the Idaho based Ironman race.
The COLTs long distance coach, the "Grand Master" John Knapp finished in the fastest COLT Ironman time of the year ( so far ) 10:13:56. His split times were mightily impressive: Swim 1:13:06, Bike 5:31:49 and a blisteringly quick marathon in 3:23:16. John stormed his way to 115th overall and 5th in the 45-50 age group.
Valerie O'Donnell had a very impressive race, recording the quickest female COLT time of the year to finish in 12:45:47. Her split times were equally impressive : Swim 1:31:59, Bike 6:24:57 and 4:39:05 for the marathon.Valerie finished 1017th overall and 16th in the female 45-50 age group.
Once again Well done.
The Liverpool Triathlon
Not to be outdone by their club mates competing "just down the road" five COLT athletes took part in 3 different races in the shadow of the famous Liverpool waterfront on a blustery sunday morning.The swim took place in the not altogether enticing Kings Dock before competitors enjoyed a closed road bike course and a run course that took in the Albert Dock, the Liver Building and the new Liverpool Arena.
In the longest event of the day, the Olympic distance, all 3 COLT athletes placed in the top 18 places.
First home was Dave Wilson, who looked particularly strong on the bike, who finished 6th overall and 2nd in the male 25-29 age group in a time of 2:13:52.
Next home in 12th was Martin Boddie who finished in a time of 2:17:00. Martin took 3rd place in his age group, Male 30-34.
Not to be outdone by the "youngsters" Paul Tynan crossed the line in 18th place in 2:18:55. This excellent performance was good enough for third place in the male 45-49 age group.
In the sprint race Stuart Foy took ten minutes off his previous sprint race time to finish in 1:27:52, this gave him 98th place, firmly in the top half of the field. This performance was even more remarkable given that Stuart was riding a borrowed bike!
And finally and by no means least, COLT teenage sensation Beau Smith dominated the Youth Super Sprint event winning by over 2 1/2 minutes in a time of 34:36. He led from the gun and recorded the fastest times in all disciplines.
Well done Everyone. Full results are here
Chester Deva Olympic Triathlon
Five members of the Mighty COLT travelled to Chester early on Sunday morning to take part in the well established Chester Deva Olympic Triathlon. This is a great race with the swim taking part in the River Dee, a technical bike course and a multilap 10km run to finish with. Colt picked up quite a few honours.
The fastest performance came from Mark Hammond who finished 11th overall in a blistering time of 2:09:44, this was good enough to take 3rd in the male 30-34 age group.
Next home for the COLT was Paul Higton, he performed excellently to record a time of 2:37:32.
Dave Worthington continued his impressive season with a strong time of 3:38:22 to take another age group 3rd place, this time in the male 55-59 category.
Not to be outdone by the men, the COLT ladies had a great day. Taking first place in the female 55-59 age group was Chrissie Hewitt in a time of 3:20:55.
In her first Olympic distance triathlon, Sarah Patterson followed her recent pb at Cockermouth sprint, with a very respectable time of 3:22:14 to finish 5th in the female 45-49 age group.It can now only be a matter of time before she follows her little brother down the Ironman route....
Well done everyone. Full results are here.
Cockermouth Sprint Triathlon
Four members of COLT put in spirited performances at this popular sprint triathlon. Matt Barnes was the first club member home in a very impressive 10th place. Matt recorded a very quick time of 1:04:38, all the more impressive as he'd been suffering from a virus.
17 year old Sam Patterson performed really well to finish in a time of 1:23:31 for 93rd place. This was an excellent performance considering Sams cricketing career has recently been eating up his training opportunites.
Not to be outdone by her speedy teenage son, Sarah Patterson smashed her course pb by over 4 minutes to finish in 1:32:03 for 123rd place. Sarah started her race off well by going under 11 minutes for the first time in the swim, and built on it with a strong bike leg. Despite not wearing a watch ( much to the despair of her brother ) she said "I knew I was going fast!".
Kirsten McAteer competed in her first ever triathlon and after a strong performance, it won't be her last. Kirsten recorded a time of 1:45:40 for 156th place. A great performance that should give her the confidence to build on it as she gets more experienced.
Well done everyone.
Morecambe 10k
New COLT member Mike Cubin continued his recent good run of form with 10th place at the Morecambe 10k race on Sunday. Mike recorded a very impressive time of 37:26. Mike will hope to build on this in a couple of weeks at the Day in the Lakes 1/2 IM, his first outing at that distance, and only his second ever triathlon.
Well done Mike
Full results can be found here : Morecambe 10k results
Bolton Junior Triathlon and other races
COLT athlete and member of NW JETS (North West Junior Elite Triathlon Squad), Beau Smith raced yesterday (June 14th) in the Bolton Junior Triathlon (Youth race) which he won convincingly, placing first in all three disciplines. Just what he needed to restore his confidence a bit after a few mixed performances.
Beau had a mixed race at Eton: solid swim coming out of the lake around 10th place, excellent bike making it up to 4th, unfortunately suffered with a couple of stitches on the run (too much breakfast!) so dropped down to 9th overall, but the race included first-year juniors as well as youths so when they were taken out he was 5th. A reasonable result, but he was disappointed not to place higher.
Blenheim was a bit of a disaster! After the stitch problem at Eton, and a much earlier start at Blenheim, decided not to eat breakfast at all and had a protein shake instead. Fantastic swim, coming out of the lake in 5th, long run up to transition, out on to the bike in about 7th, but ran out of steam before the end of the first lap (not like him at all, bike is usually his best bit), then had an almost crash situation just before T2 losing a bit more ground, what can best be described as a steady run to finish 15th. He was not happy. More breakfast needed!
Next up for him in the National Series will be the National Youth Aquathlon Championships, taking place at Parc Bryn Bach, South Wales, on 18th July alongside the British Elite Sprint Triathlon Championships. (Bad planning on the part of British Triathlon here, because he was also offered a start in the Elite Sprint race, but unfortunately doesn't think he is quite up to doing both on the same day!) He is hoping to put his bad races behind him and finish in a much higher position in the Aquathlon.
Next Sunday he is racing in the Youth Supersprint at the Liverpool triathlon, and is hoping to do well there.
Coniston Olympic & "Old Man" 1/2 IM Triathlons
Coniston,Saturday 6th of June saw wind and rain lashing the Coniston olympic transition area as the COLT contingent thought seriously about rehydrating in the Sun inn rather than the lake.
It wasn't an inviting course. A short 1500m out and back swim with the wind beating the waves into your face on the return. 'Beach yourself like a whale' was the prerace advice to avoid the stagger on frozen feet over the pebbles to the shore. Bike 42 hilly and wind torn wet kms. The race best was 1.15. The run, 9.8km on shale track and gravel trail included a significant climb to the turn.
And all this was just the warm up for the real racing on the long course on Sunday.A very tough event with a fierce bike leg over Hardknott, Wrynose, Ulpha Fell and Kirkby Moor (1500 Metres of ascent in 73 kms) Then straight into a fell run around Wetherlam and Coniston Old man with 1100 metres of ascent, with a long rocky ridge run and a steep fell runners descent. All this preceded by a cold and very choppy 2km swim (strong Northerly breeze made the return leg very tough)
Respect to Tom Phillips for being the only COLT to compete the full course, 7th in a magnificent 6:01. Tom pushed the bike leg hard, and picked up 10 places, then worked hard on the run to pick up another 2 places. Finishing strongly taking just 25 mins to get from Coniston Old man summit to Coniston Village.
In the Olympic event Valerie O'Donnell showed fine pre IM form as first vet woman in 3:03.
Laurence Loxam demonstrated his return to swim fitness on his way to 26th in 2:43.
Dave Wilson had a day to remember showing great speed for all the endurance work he's been doing in 10th with 2:30.
John Knapp rounded out a good day for the 'Nappy Valley' team with 5th overall in 2:26 and the fastest run split of the event.
Well done all and thanks to John and Paul who came to support.
May 2009 Results
Cheshire Sprint Triathlon.
On Sunday 31st May over a 1000 athletes descended on leafy Nantwich to do battle in the Cheshire Sprint Triathlon. COLT were represented in the mens race by Stuart Pike and Andy Holgate. The course consisted of a 500m swim in a brine pool, a fairly flat 20km bike course and a four lap cross country course making up the 5k run to finish.
In unseasonably hot conditions Stuart had a great race making his triathlon debut to finish 478th in a time of 1:36:24.
Despite a near miss with a tractor on the bike leg that saw his back wheel leave the ground and prove that there was nothing wrong with his brakes, Andy recovered well to beat his pb by over 3 minutes. He finished 89th in a time of 1:11:23. Well done to both Stuart and Andy.
Full results can be found here : Cheshire Sprint Triathlon Results
ETU European Duathlon Championships
Louise Kelly raced superbly to finish in strong 6th place at the ETU European Championship this past weekend in Hungary. Louise was part of a Great Britain Team that dominated proceedings.
Well done Louise.
Ironman Lanzarotte
With it's sea swim, desolate larva fields, biting winds and unforgiving heat many consider Lanza to be the toughest Ironman race in the world.
Four members of COLT stepped forward and asked themselves to dig deep and face the challenge.Well done Chris Wild ,Mark Proctor,Mark Buckley and Club Captain, Richard Mason,you did us proud !
They all raced fantastic times at the toughest Ironman in the world ,Lanza will remember and respect the mighty COLT.
Mark Buckley 13:04
Mark Procter 12:46
Chris Wild 11:27
Richard Mason 10:47
Etape Du Dales
Seven Riders from COLT took on the leg busting Etape Du Dales this past Sunday. Riders battle over 111 miles and 3540m of climbing taking in some of Yorkshires biggest peaks.
First home for COLT was Ian "Crazy" Richardson in a very quick time of 6:45:56 to take 36th place overall. Next home was Vice Captain Andrew McCracken, who despite a puncture, and some dodgy spare tubes rode admirably to finish in 7:04:12 for 82nd place. Some 9 minutes later Paul McQueen completed a strong day in the saddle to finish in 7:13:41 for 107th place.
The COLT Peloton of Dave Wilson, Mark Hammond and Loz Loxam rode as a strong unit all day and finished together a few seconds apart at 8:15:01, 8:15:04 and 8:15:09. Four minutes later Rob Smith completed a great performance for COLT with a strong ride to come home in 8:19:05.
Well done to everyone. Full Results are here : Etape du Dales Results
Keswick Mountain Festival Triathlon
Four COLT athletes completed this tough triathlon despite some showery weather.The morning held out for good weather and roads that were just a bit damp in places. Even though the sun came out just before the swim the water was chilly, just 11C.
This is a great event, very well marshalled and a scenic and interesting course, with a killer hilly 10km fell run to finish. Gold Medal Rower and adventurer James Cracknell got around the course in 2:14:37
Tom Phillips - (vet) 35th overall - 13th in category - improved on bike leg from last year to post 10th fastest bike time. Thanks to COLT for some hard training runs!
overall 02:21:13 -splits - 00:16:20 - 01:09:03 - 00:55:50
Chris Clarke (senior) 82nd Overall - 41st in category - great swim coming 17th on the swim
overall. 02:29:53 - splits - 00:12:59 - 01:18:57 - 00:57:57
Peter Clarkson (vet) - 118th overall - 50th in category
overall 02:36:41 - splits - 00:15:11 - 01:18:23 - 01:03:07
Kevin Bedford - (Vet 50) 145th and a great 8th in category
overall 02:42:08 - splits - other times not yet published?
Well done everyone.
The Distillery Challenge
COLT athlete, Kevin Bedford, raced in the The Distillery Challenge this past Sunday. The 100 mile ride went from the distillery at Dalwhinney to the distillery at Rosisle - 68 riders in total, Kevin was 3rd finisher in an impressive 5h23mins.
Well done Kevin.
Kendal Sprint Triathlon
COLT Athletes were out in force again at the Kendal Sprint Triathlon on Sunday with some impressive performances . Well done to Andy Greenwood 69th, Dave Worthington 25th, Paul Tynan 12th, Martin Boddie 10th, both following up strong performances at Skipton. But the male performance of the day came from Paul Hodgson who finished 8th overall & 1st in his age group.
COLT lady, Louise Kelly continued her comeback from injury with overall victory in a time of 1:15:41. Louise will hope to build on this performance as she gears up for the European Duathlon Championships in Budapest later this month.
Full Results can be found here : Kendal Sprint Triatahlon Results
Well done to all who raced.
Dalton Charter 10k
Andy Holgate had another strong run on Friday night in this very hilly race. Andy came home in 42:50 taking 2 minutes off his previous best time for the course.
Full race results can be found here : Dalton 10k Results
April 2009 Results
The 3 Peaks Fell Race
COLT athlete Tom Phillips took on the tough challenge of the 3 peaks Fell Race this past Saturday. The race takes in Pen-Y-Ghent, Ribblesdale and Inglebrough and every little hill inbetween !! Tom had a great race finishing in a time of 4:23:36. Tom finished 276th out of about 700.
Well done Tom
Skipton Triathlon
17 COLT athletes travelled to Skipton this past Sunday for one of the first races of the season. The sun finally came out & the later starters were treated to glorious sunshine unlike their team mates who started earlier in the dull & cold wind . The only glitches of the day were when Andy Holme and our vice captain missed a turn on the bike leg and got lost in the middle of Skipton. Andy recovered but Andrew McCracken unfortunately recorded his first DNF.
The BIKE leg was slightly longer than last year with a long drag up from the roundabout to finish you off in the last mile with a tricky decent down to the dismount & run across the main road into transition,very interesting ( all the same for everybody tough).
There were some serious athletes racing yesterday & although it was disappointing not to get a COLT athlete into the top ten ,we didn't do too badly considering the quality of the field.
Best placed from COLT were
20th Richard Mason her mines 29secs
35th Martin Boddie her 11mins 44secs
37th John Knapp 1hr 12mins 18 secs
Fastest Splits
SWIM 6mins 25secs Paul Higton
BIKE 40mins 34 secs Richard Mason
RUN 18 mins 10secs John Towse
COLT athletes also dominated the 40-49 old gits age group with Richard Mason , John Knapp, John Towse & Paul Tynan all making the top ten, well done fellas.
Special mention must go to first time triathletes Sam Patterson,Stuart Foy & John Towse all racing for the first time & by the looks on their faces after the race I'm sure they will all be back for more ,good efforts by all three. And very well done to our only Female athlete, Sarah Patterson, who had a good race to finish 89th lady in a time of 1:48:31.
Full COLT results:
20th Richard Mason 1:08:29
35th Martin Brodie 1:11:44
37th John Knapp 1:12:18
41st Ian Richardson 1:12:42
42nd John Towse 1:12:43
43rd Paul Tynan 1:12:47
46th Chris Wild 1:13:40
61st Phillip Taylor 1:16:42
68th Tom Phillips 1:17:13
112th Danny Rogerson 1:21:44
135th Paul Higton 1:23:58
209th Sam Patterson 1:29:40
237th Andrew Holme 1:31:42
318th Stuart Foy 1:39:49
324th Andrew Turner 1:41:44
89th Female Sarah Patterson 1:48:31
There are photo's of this event on the gallery page
And full results can be found here : Skipton Results.
Lancaster 3 Bridges 10k
Whilst their COLT club mates were battling their way round the course at Skipton, Matthew Barnes and Andy Holgate raced in the Lancaster 3 Bridges 10k. A fairly flat 10k that takes in 3 of Lancasters bridges, including a leg cramping climb upto the aqueduct at just after the half way point.
Matt had a brilliant run to finish 5th overall in a very quick time of 38:02.
Andy finished in 25th overall with a time of 41:32, this was Andy's fastest time for 5 years and only 10 seconds outside his pb.
There are photo's of Matt and Andy on the gallery page.
Full race results can be found here : Lancaster 3 Bridges 10k Results
Lakeland Loop
Easter Sunday saw three COLTs take on "The Lakeland Loop" a 75mile cyclesportive with over 400 riders taking part . The conditions could not have been better & apart from the traffic there could be no excuse for not posting a fast time .
Valerie O'donell was 6th lady home in 5hrs 25mins placing her 190th overall , a great ride .
Andrew McCracken & Richard Mason shared the work for the majority of the ride , McCracken hammering on the flats & Mason taking the lead on the undulations & fast decents but as the pair approached the first real test "Hardknott pass " 60 miles into the ride, those famous words were uttered "LAST MAN STANDING" .The final ten miles are the hardest part of the race but the pair didn't fade & rode strongly till the end, Mason finishing in 4hrs 10mins 7th overall & McCracken in 4hrs 17mins 17th overall a great result for both showing that the Saturday morning "A" rides do pay off .
Ampleforth Triathlon
COLT athlete Dave Worthington had a great race this past Saturday to finish 4th in his age group at the Ampleforth Leg Warmer Triathlon .
Dave finished in a very respectable 2:23:21 on quite a tough course. He finished the 750m swim in 14:58 before heading out onto the 39km challenging and technical bike course. Dave completed the middle leg of the event in 1:19:29 and had a strong run around an offroad 10km course to finish in 46:11.
Well done Dave.
North West Biathlon Championships and National Qualifier.
City of Lancaster Triathlon (COLT) Club’s juniors had their first racing experience on Sunday in the North West Biathlon and Open Triathlon Championships which were held at Salt Ayre. The event incorporated trials for the National Championships which are to be held in Macclesfield next month.
The club’s youngest athletes ran 1000m on the track and followed this with a 50m swim. Olivia Clinton won the bronze award overall and also won the medal for the fastest swim time in her category. Together with Joshua Banks who was placed 5th overall in the corresponding boys’ event, Olivia will now compete in the National Championships.
The U13 and U15 teams also ran 1000m but needed to swim 100m. The U13 girls ‘A’ team, consisting of Mary Hodgson (3rd), Kirsty Fairhurst (4th) and Georgia Hannam (8th) were placed first team overall and have all been selected for the National event. Such was the strength in depth in this age group that COLT were able to enter three teams.
The U15 ‘A’ girls’ team were no less impressive winning outright with Sarah Hodgson 3rd, Lauren Sharkey 5th and Lauren Munro-Bennett 8th. The girls are all off to the Nationals together with the U15 boy’s team consisting of Alasdair Fairhurst (3rd), Luke Saul (8th) and Isaac Scott (12th) who were placed 2nd. Alasdair also won the medal for the fastest swim in his age group.
The distance stepped up again for the U17 teams with the athletes running 2000m and swimming 200m. The girl’s team, comprising of Isobel Rawlinson (2nd), Robin Goodfellow (4th) and Reanne Harvey (7th) won the gold medal and in doing so booked their place at the National Championships. Isobel also competed in the triathlon which included air pistol shooting and was placed 3rd in this event. 2nd place in the U17men’s event was sufficient for James Bale (4th), Bill Timpany and Dylan Stewart to book their places to Macclesfield.
Paul Hodgson was the club’s sole entrant in the U20 class but with first place in the 3000m run and 3rd place overall he also joins the squad for the Nationals. Masters entrant Jennie Hodgson was placed 2nd overall with 1st place in the swim.
Other results U15 ‘B’G (Paige Clinton, Hollie Tuer, Katie Howard)5th; U13G Jessica McCracken 12th , Eve Simpson 14th, Amy Burns 17th , Elizabeth Goodfellow 19th, Shannon Perry 21st, Chloe Banks 22nd U13B Raffi Scott 11th.
COLT would like to thank Lancaster and Morecambe AC for providing sponsorship for the athletes to travel to the National Championships. Together with Helm Hill running club, Dallam AC, Lancaster City Amateur Swimming and Water Pool Club, Carnforth Otters Swimming Club, Garstang Swimming Club and Troutbeck Swimming Club they have also helped prepare the athletes for this event. Junior athletes who are interested in competing in multi-discipline events can find out more about COLT at http://www.cityoflancastertriathlon.co.uk
March 2009 Results
Ironman New Zealand.
COLT athlete Steve Stretch travelled to the other side of the world to take on the Ironman course at Taupo in New Zealand. Steve had a great race and improved on his time from last year which was 10:25:42. This year Steve tore around the course to finish in a very impressive 10:17:15.
Steve was competing in his sixth Ironman distance race, and finished in 151st position out of 1,600 competitors.
Steve finished the swim in the crystal clear waters of Lake Taupo in 61 minutes, and was out onto the 112 mile bike course after a quick transition.
The bike ride went smoothly, with Steve achieving an average speed of just over 20mph and a split time of five hours 33 minutes. After a change into running shoes, the hard work really started for superfit Steve, who completed the a marathon run in three hours 35 minutes.
Stretch finished 11th in his age category (45 to 50) and sixth from the UK, a group which included several elite athletes.
Well done Steve.
Febuary 2009 Results
The Great North West Half Marathon.
The Great North West Half Marathon took place on Sunday in Blackpool, and despite the blustery conditions COLT couple John Knapp and Valerie O'Donnell had gone strong runs. Putting down early markers for the coming season John came home in 1:24:23 and Valerie crossed the line in 1:46:23.
The Lune RCC Coal Road Challenge.
Sunday also saw a band of intrepid COLT athletes tackle the tough Lune RCC Coal Road Challenge, a 67 mile hilly ride through the rolling hills of North Lancashire and Cumbria. The club was represented by Loz Loxam who finished in a very resptable 4hrs 26 mins, Dave Wilson, Paul McQueen, Vice Cpt.Andrew McCraken and Cpt.Richard Mason. Richard finished in a very quick time of 3hrs 47 mins, despite puncturing at Bentham.