There are very few days in the racing calendar when all the elements come together to make a spectacular race! Gorgeous sunshine, but not too hot, no gusty winds just a gentle breeze through the trees to keep the competitors cool and the beautiful Northumberland countryside as the backdrop. Yes, it’s the first open water event of the season at Northumberland Tri, Druridge Country Park. Ponteland boasted six entries; two in the sprint distance and four in the standard. Everyone had an excellent race and seemed to thoroughly enjoy the experience (although maybe not the extended 10km standard run route, which stretched them out to 11.4km!)
There were some super sprint finishes, a spot prize was awarded to Mark Kelly’s for his mad dash at the end when someone dared to try and overtake him on the finishing stretch! Yet again we’ve had some amazing results and the ladies are continuing their early season successes by winning multiple podium spots. A second place podium spot for Lyndsey Curry, who is having a great winning streak this season, which bodes well for her debut middle distance triathlon in a few short weeks (no pressure Lyndsey!) and a third 
place podium spot for Emma, who despite it being her first podium position wasn’t aware of her success (the relay teams skewed the results) and missed her moment of glory, but the trophy found its way home to her for an evening celebration! John McGargill was seconds away from a podium spot coming fourth in the super vets age group, but with his Edinburgh marathon legs only having had a week to recover and with only 17 hours of preparation (he signed up for the tri on Saturday afternoon) he shouldn’t be too hard on himself! Mark Kelly took three minutes off his time from last year despite a weekend of entertaining rugby players and attending rugby dinners! A special mention to both Steve and Andy as they embarked on their first open water standard triathlon with ease and completed in impressive times! Andy is competing in his first full distance Ironman in July and this was only his second triathlon and first open water event. He’s showing he’s got what it takes, you just need to do that another three times in a row Andy! 😉 Steve meanwhile has embarked on a triple challenge this summer; Coast to Coast in May, Northumberland Standard Tri in June and Steelman Middle distance tri in July. Wow, you’ll definitely deserve a break in August Steve!
Well done to all and hope to see you back in the water for the Woodhorn event on 17th July!
