Bolton Ironman Triathlon – July 19th 2014

Steve Parker, 58, raced in the Ironman triathlon last weekend in Bolton. Itstarted with a rude awakening at 2.45am to get to the start at the lake at6.00am. He reports that competing with 2000 other swimmers was a bit like beinga pin ball rounding the buoys on the two lap swim but the 2.4 mile swim wentwell in a time of 1hr 27mins.

After a leisurely transition, it was out for a 112 mile bikeride. The two lap route was far from flat, including the infamous Sheep HouseLane climb but Steve found the long steep Hunters hill was more of a challengeas this had to be negotiated riding out of the saddle. The bike ride took 7hrs43 mins.

Another leisurely transition saw Steve exchange his bike formore familiar running shoes for the hilly, mainly 3 lap course marathon of 26.2miles. By this time the temperature had risen steeply and he said it took sixmiles to find his running legs and get into his stride. The time took completingthe marathon part of the race was 4hrs 34mins.

Steve was very happy with his finishing time of 14hr and 12min and was placed 1046 out of 2000 and 16th in age group.

Steve started his training over two years ago, not beingable to swim much more than a length of the local pool front crawl and never havingowned a road bike. His quest to become an Ironman before his 60thbirthday was now complete. He said hearing the phrase “you are an Ironman” ashe crossed the line was quite emotional after so much training and such a longhard race. Special thanks also to all that have helped him and the support fromhis long suffering wife.

SCVAC Match 4

Ilford Vets team travelled to Hemel Hempstead for the fourth and final match on Monday 14 July.

Due to traffic problems the numbers were not available for the first track event, the 2000m walk so some guaranteed points were missed. The 800m followed where Kevin Newell picked up 3rd place in the over 35 age group crossing the line in 2:28:7. He also came home in 1st position in his age group with 10:17:6 in the 3000m. Malcolm Muir secured 1st place in the 800m and 3000m with 2:12:2 and 9:30:9 respectively in the over 40 age group. Rob Sargent came down an age group to cover the over 50 category finishing 5th in the 800m with 3:12:3 and placing 2nd in the 3000m with 13:19:6.
In the 200m Mike Horsey placed 4th with 30.1 (over 35), Henry Ricketts placed 3rd in 27:2 (over 40), Pete Whiting 5th in 31.6 (over 50) and John Batchelor coming down to the over 60 category finished 5th in 35.2. John also covered this category in the 3000m finishing 3rd in 12:39:1.
In the field events Henry covered the over 35 category placing 4th in the high jump with 1:00m, 3rd in the javelin with 24m 08 and 2nd in the long jump with 4m 98. Pete Whiting in the over 50 age placed 4th in the high jump with 1m 20, 2nd in the javelin with 25m 44 and 5th in the long jump with 3m 40.
The 4x200m relay team of Henry, Pete, Kevin and Malcolm brought the baton home in 3rd with a time of 2:01:7. This despite a dropped baton on the first and second changeover.

The performances warranted a team placing of 3rd on the evening and 3rd overall for the league. Barnet and District go through to the end of season final.

Davos Alpine Marathon
Davos, Switzerland
Saturday 26 July

Peter Spelman of Ilford AC travelled to the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos on the Landwasser River to take part in the annual Alpine C42 marathon. This event runs among the magnificent scenery from Davos to Bergun but is challenging as it runs mainly on mountain tracks with numerous ascents and descents. The marathon was tougher than usual this year as rain fell throughout the race and Peter came home in 5h 43m 02s in 117th position