Three brave Ponteland Tri members took part last Sunday in the Spanish City Triathlon at Whitley Bay.  The weather forecast,  in particular the wind,  would have put most people off but not our keen participants.  The following race report is from Andy Gowens.

“Well the race….., it was a great course in sunshine and wind. The mass start on a mainly pebbly beach with hidden boulders beneath the grey north sea was a great starter and I managed to find a nice sandy take off strip which gave me a decent start on the hooter. The water was purely tropical once the initial shock had worn off and I must say not as bad as anticipated with the forecast. Anyway once over the washing machice start and into the swim it was ok. The first bouy was a bit bumpy and second rather ruck like buy nothing like the turn back to the dome of the spanish city with the wind providing several gallons of seawater when breathing. Well at last out of the water, thank god and several hail mary’s into transition and onto the bike. No sooner onto open road and the wind started proving that the deep section wheels were not a good choice with several hairy moment over the two laps at seaton sluice bridge of what would be a fast course on a better day. I was pleased to rack the bike and run off towards st Marys lighthouse thinking who’s stolen my legs and I need to do more bricks in the winter. The run course being a mini me of park run was good with a few hills and a set of rocky like steps chucked in near the turn and finish. What a joy they were but a great spectator course thoughout with lots of encouragement throughout.  A really good morning.”

Results for our three participants are available here.  Really well done to Andy Gowens, Dave Legg and Paul Armstrong.

Just three Ponteland Tri members took part in what was an extremely well organised event by the Fire Brigade on Sunday 10th August.  The weather forecast had been for heavy rain but on the morning the forecast moved and we had a clear morning,  although a little breezy on the coast.

Danny Kendal and Sue and Chris Heppell took part and enjoyed the pool swim in the new eight lane pool at Haven Point, and a closed road circuit for the bike leg.  The final section of the run was on the sand of the beach to add to the pain.  The event included buffet and presentations afterwards and all was completed prior to the rain in the afternoon,  perfect timing. Certainly an event to recommend to club members next year.

Sunday 13th July started with some heavy rain making the early start for the 16 Ponteland Tri members a bit wet whilst setting out their transition.  The event saw nearly 300 entrants enjoy Triathlon at our usual venue of Ponteland Sports Center.  Many were experiencing their first triathlon,  and many of our own club members doing their first triathlon which is excellent to see for the club.

Full results are on the Ponteland Triathlon website here.  We had three club members received awards in the presentations with Martin Hallissey 2nd overall,  Sue Heppell 3rd Ladies Vet and Paul Armstrong 3rd Mens SuperVet.  Paul wasn’t around to collect his award, obviously not recognising how well he had performed in the age category.

Ten minutes after Martin had finished competition in the club hotted up with Mattty, Joe and Chris all finishing within a minute of each other,  we’ll have to watch out once Joe can swim the whole distance, then we had another 8 athletes in under the 1:20 mark which are all great performances.   The new tri-suits looked great and served as a good advert for the club.  A number of people asked about the club in Ponteland and when/where we trained.  There are still other pool-based sprint triathlons available this season as well as open-water events so hopefully the club will continue to see results.

Ponteland Tri Club results shown below.

Wednesday 2nd saw the third of Ponteland Tri’s Go-Tri events hosted at the leisure centre.  The third event proved the most popular having sold out before the day with many enquiries in the last week about whether places were still available.

A enthusiastic group from the Police took part,  and it appeared to be reasonable competitive amongst the group,  left is a picture of the successful participants all having enjoyed the event despite the breezy conditions up Callerton lane on the bike leg.

Ponteland Runners were able to host the event due to the great support from members of the club who volunteered to marshall.  A quick note to any who took part that if you enjoy these events then we are more able to host when we get volunteers so please volunteer to help at some future go-tri if you can.

Transition was situtated out the back of the swimming pool allowing participants a very quick route to the bikes,  after the 300m swim they completed a 2 lap, 10k bike route and then a 2.2k run around the rugby pitches.

Ponteland Tri had six club members entered in the event,  the first home was Matty Bell shown left.

First few results are below but if you click on the results it will download the full results for the 48 who completed the course.

Northumberland Tri includes a sprint and standard distance event and Ponteland Tri had participants in both this year.  Martin Hallissey participated in the sprint, along with Kevin Higgins and Paul Armstrong, and reports on the event below,

” After torrential rain the day before the weather was perfect for the 1^st Open Water swim of the year. The swim was marked out very well and easy to navigate, it’s always a surprise how far 750m looks in open water when you have spent so long swimming 25m in a pool. Water temp at 16C was just right. I had an OK swim but still a long way behind Tri4u coach Phil, who was 3^rd out of the water. The bike course was flat and quick and reasonable car free, I worked my way into third on the bike with a large group chasing me down on the final stretch into T2. The run course was round the lake and traffic free, some large puddles to cross but was actually refreshing as the temperature built up. I managed to chase down 2^nd place on the last lap but could not bridge the gap to the leader. Highly recommend the event – especially if you want to sample open water swimming. There was a number of Ponteland Tri members out, all enjoying the sun and racing well.”

Excellent performance from Martin to finish in second place.

Helen Moor and Danny Kendal for Ponteland were in the standard distance event, results below.

The Blaydon race is steeped in tradition,  and for Ponteland Runners we have had participants every year since the club affiliated in 2007.   This year we had 23 runners registered in the race with the club name,  and probably more that didn’t have the club name shown in the results.

Great times by Joe Barker and Joanne Brown as first lad and lass for Ponteland Runners.  Left is a great photo of Suzanne,  and an excellent advert showing the Ponteland Runners Vest.  Results below for the 23 listed as Ponteland Runners on the results website. Full results here.