On Sunday 14th November, the University of Nottingham Triathlon Club took a team of 26 eager triathletes to Mallory Park for the first BUCS race of the season – BUCS duathlon. This comprised of a 5km run, 18km bike and 2.5km run around the race circuit.
The team left Portland bright and early at 6:30am for the first wave to set off at 8:50am. The first wave of girls – Clarissa Burwood, Tessa Marley, Hannah Maybury, Daisy Hollister, Dasha Roberts and Amelie Roberts got the uni off to a great start with each girl completing a fantastic race with good times all round.
We then moved on to the boys – Felix French, Barnabas Pitchford, Alex McRae, Ollie Clemow and Lewis Bull. Despite coming from a cycling background, Felix and Barnabas fought it out to the end on the run and Ollie and Lewis finished strong. Even with a nasty crash, Alex still had a smile on his face and smashed his 5k PB.
The elite boys were next – Simon Davis, Jamie Pugh, Toby Fernandez, Charlie Harding, Gregory McVicker, Ben Dibley and James Walker. This was an exciting race to watch with the boys battling it out throughout. Toby, Charlie and Gregory finished 26th, 27th and 28th, Jamie 16th and Simon an amazing 10th. This meant the boys team finished an impressive 2nd overall. This is not only a great achievement but bodes well for the future seeing as all the current Performance boys are either in their first or second year.
Finally, it was the turn of the elite girls. Christy Dublin brought the girls home in style finishing 18th followed by Rachel McDonald in 26th. Putting injuries behind her, Imogen Matthews raced confidently and smashed a sprint finish with Georgia Hamblett not far behind. Following them came Anna Smail, Lydia Baxter, Alicia Roberts and Emma Hurdle. Well done girls!
It was great for the team to be out getting stuck into the first BUCS race of the season. It was also fantastic to have lots of supporters join us on race day. With lots of freshers to the club this year, BUCS has been a great chance for both beginners and elites to take on a multisport race. For 9 athletes this was their first BUCS event, and for 8 their first multisport event. Hopefully come BUCS sprint and standard in the spring, we will have many more incredible performances.