Sunday saw an unprecedented day of wall to wall sunshine for the Bishopbriggs sprint triathlon. Usually scheduled for the Sunday of the 1st of the May bank holidays it has suffered with some pretty terrible weather in recent years. While the downside of moving it to the week after the bank holiday meant that the post-race club social event was a no-go, I think all of us who spent the day there were quite happy our sunny and warm trade off. Between the juniors and seniors, I think we had over 50 members racing, while this sounds a lot it is quite a bit down on previous years. Those who raced all did the club proud, those who didn’t perhaps wish they were after they saw the weather! Several of those racing have gotten in touch with me so I have done my best to include the best bits of their messages to me. I have also received a few excellent full race reports that I will put up on the club website as stand-alone reports as they have put such an effort in.
Andrew Grant recalled the freeze of 2015 when many children turned into racing smurfs so was pleased to race in warmer weather. Andrew made time reductions on the swim, T1 and bike from his last time at the event so was overall pretty pleased with his day and appreciated the great support from club members.
Andrew Fretwell had a slight mishap leaving T1 (maybe too enthusiastic Andrew) so was pleased to finish and is even happier that the bike is ok – we all know that’s the main thing anyway.
Fraser Murdoch well and truly ripped the proverbial plaster off and took part in his first ever race on Sunday – AMAZING NEWS ? He might not have felt so amazing during the race however having only really had two weeks training prior to the event. Kindly lent a bike by Andrew Fretwell, Fraser managed out on it a whole two times prior to Sunday – I’m sure race prep is over-rated anyway Fraser! Clearly naturally talented, he had estimated ending between 1:30 and 1:45 and finished 1:31:38. Not too shabby Fraser
Jennifer Perry helped fill up the all-Fusion overall top 3 females podium on Sunday finishing 3rd woman and 1st vet yesterday, what a great fusion woman’s podium!
Audrey Williamson and Beth Murisson are two of our newer members of the club and new to racing. Audrey finished in 1:19.40 3rd female vet!!! Beth had a change of plan after her road bike broke prior to race day so had to ride her hybrid and finished in 1:32.19 – fantastic effort in her their first races.
Lynne McIntosh told me that “despite some shady swimmers in the lane who wouldn’t let me overtake, a repeated chain slip on the 4x bike hill and a stitch on the run it was rather enjoyable!” I bet you didn’t have the confidence to put the swim time down that you are capable of Lynne, next time don’t listen to your head, you’re clearly better than you give yourself credit for being – go for it!! Also, we getting those bike maintenance days up and running again team?? ?
Ally Anderson……where to start? let’s start with those socks……………
“Managed to blag 2nd Place in the vets category”. How much you get beaten to 1st place by? Four seconds? We don’t want to see socks on those feet for any race shorter than a half again! lol He is also very grateful for manual timing having left his timing chip in his bag. Ally’s take home lessons for the day…. Timing chip-YES, socks-NO!! Just as well he’s not a club coach…. oh wait……
Morag McFarlane took part in the novice but has said she doesn’t think of herself of ever actually racing. For Morag, it’s a bit of a personal challenge. After choosing to switch from the sprint to the novice, there was some minor bit confusion and Morag ended up being kept in the sprint race but with a swim time she had written down for the novice race – welcome to heat 12 and the super-fast guys, poor Morag – that must have gotten the heart racing. Thankfully it was all sorted and Morag was given a place in the novice race but not in the lane she should have been. This caused a change of plan for her swim but Morag coped well and plans to race again and enjoy it a bit more without the pre-race and swim mishaps.
Everyone who has contacted have mentioned how great it was to have the support of other Fusion members and their friends and family. It was great to see so many people cheering everyone on and supporting fellow club members. Thanks to everyone who raced and earned our club ranking points and a huge thank you to those who got in touch and helped encourage others to get involved and enjoy racing. Full race reports on their way from Kate Rowley, Alex Rennie and Paul Anderson once I work out how to work the new club website – this might take some time!
Also, huge thanks to club photographer for the day, J.J. O’Hara, for giving permission to use his fantastic photos.
Provisional results http://www.glasgowtriathlonclub.co.uk/bishopbriggs-triathlon-2017-provisional-results/
