Chester Triathlon, 25 June 2006.

Report by Jonathan Dabbs

Congratulations to the new Olympic distance club champions Luke Walsh and Vicki Wade.

Despite it being the same weekend as the Dambuster, where a few members of the club where aiming for world age group qualification, 22 members of the club (and nearly as many supporters!) turned out for the Chester Olympic Triathlon, which also doubles as the club championship race.

Beforehand, there were a few pre-race nerves, especially for those who were racing in their first Olympic distance race. Some thought that Shaun had gotten a little bit too nervous, but fortunately, it turned out to be melted chocolate in his back pocket!

On a slightly overcast day - that was a big relief to those who had sweltered in the Shropshire heat two weeks earlier - the ladies set the proceedings underway at 8am, with several men's waves following. From an MTC perspective, the ladies race was a keenly contested affair - nip and tuck throughout between Vicki Wade and Bonnie Hopkins. Bonnie had a slender 7 second lead exiting the swim, which she extended to about a minute after the bike, but Vicki's strength on the run saw her overtake Bonnie and become club champion, in a time of 2-29-38, with Bonnie just 2 minutes behind in second place (2-31-40), and Suzy Blackledge taking third (2-41-49).

The men's event was more difficult to know who was winning as the race was spread out over several waves. This wasn't even clarified after the event, with several unknown times. Eventual winner Luke didn't clock his time "I think I've done alright" was a very modest response to his Olympic debut! Luke was first home in 2-18-54, Jonathan Dabbs close behind in 2-19-51, and Phil Stannard 3rd in 2-21-21.

Throughout the race, it was great to see that there was plenty of support from fellow club members, who had driven and cycled down to watch. Thanks to all the supporters from all the competitors for that - it really does help.

The race wasn't straight-forwards for all - Dave Waterhouse's wetsuit zip broke 5 minutes before the start, meaning he had to swim breast-stroke as the back was gaping wide open, and then punctured on the bike. Lorraine had a 'whoops' moment and decided to do an extra lap of the run course (just a bit of ironman training I'm sure eh Lorraine?).

As ever with Chester, a great day out, finished off by a few of us nipping out for a pub meal to discuss important issues - the race, Bonnie's impending Ironman, England's game vs Ecuador, and most importantly, Suzy's expensive taste in wallpaper (that costs £68 a roll!).

There were also a number of great results from athletes who train with Man Tri, but race for professional race teams and therefore they are not eligible for the club championships. However, we should still recognise that the race was won by Paul Hawkins, Brad Murphy was 5th (1st in age group), Mark Roberts was 6th, and Mike Shackcloth 17th. These are outstanding results for four athletes that train with Manchester.

Results (1.5km/40km/10km)

Name	Pos	Cat Pos	Swim	T1	Bike	T2	Run	Overall	Rank
Luke Walsh	52	13	00:28:01	00:01:38	01:10:48	00:00:49	00:37:36	02:18:54	55
Jonathan Dabbs	59	13	00:25:14	00:01:22	01:14:10	00:00:47	00:38:17	02:19:51	62
Phil Stannard	68	15	00:29:11	00:01:18	01:08:44	00:00:52	00:41:14	02:21:21	72
Peter White	73	17	00:28:55	00:01:30	01:08:05	00:00:43	00:42:49	02:22:04	78
Shaun Walsh	79	19	00:26:39	00:01:16	01:10:38	00:01:10	00:43:08	02:22:53	84
Jeff McGinty	101	11	00:25:28	00:01:33	01:09:46	00:01:15	00:47:20	02:25:24	109
Paul Schofield	103	20	00:28:21	00:01:28	01:14:00	00:01:07	00:40:29	02:25:27	111
David Ratcliffe	109	21	00:25:52	00:01:24	01:13:04	00:01:03	00:44:45	02:26:10	117
Tristran Saunders	133	5	00:26:49	00:01:18	01:14:01	00:01:11	00:45:16	02:28:38	141
Rob Harper	135	19	00:32:19	00:01:28	01:12:08	00:00:52	00:41:57	02:28:47	143
Vicki Wade	9	2	00:25:55	00:01:21	01:16:52	00:00:47	00:44:41	02:29:38	155
Dave Shackley	150	30	00:29:17	00:01:35	01:12:05	00:01:01	00:46:16	02:30:17	159
Bonnie Hopkins	12	3	00:25:48	00:01:06	01:16:10	00:01:11	00:47:23	02:31:40	174
David Collins	194	42	00:28:12	00:03:05	01:13:21	00:01:57	00:49:38	02:36:14	211
Rob Holmes	207	50	00:32:22	00:02:39	01:13:40	00:01:19	00:47:50	02:37:52	228
Suzy Blackledge	29	4	00:26:18	00:01:51	01:16:36	00:01:28	00:55:34	02:41:49	259
James Wilson	244	62	00:35:37	00:01:37	01:18:10	00:01:06	00:48:25	02:44:57	276
Richard Lockett	300	77	00:43:10	00:03:23	01:25:30	00:02:04	00:49:44	03:03:53	359
Lorraine Carrington	66	13					03:15:10	03:15:10	374
David Waterhouse	311	70	00:40:30	00:04:57	01:42:28	00:01:49	00:55:18	03:25:04	379
Sean Hill			00:29:30	00:01:38			DQ
Matthew Higgs			00:30:28	00:02:33			DQ

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