National Team Relays, 5th August 2006

Report by Jonathan Dabbs

The biggest field in the relays history saw a weekend of highs and lows this year with just over three hundred teams racing - 14 of those from MTC - the highest turnout from any club. With one of the competitors suffering a heart attack during the morning wave a sense of what matters in life was thrust home to everyone. Fortunately thanks to the excellent work of the Emergency services, the venue staff and a large number of competitors who were medically qualified, it is good news indeed that the competitor is well, and on the mend.

For the 5 MTC teams racing, the morning wave was therefore changed to become a shortened cycle (2 laps not 3 laps) and run only, and the swim times were cancelled. This was a shame as Nina had an amazing swim on the first leg coming out in 3rd place - even better considering Nina is, I think, still only 15, and was competing against both men and women as the first wave was both mixed and female teams. The ladies 'A' continued with some excellent swims and were in the top 10 when the race came to a premature halt. After the re-start, which was started in time trial format, the 'A' team again had an excellent bike, being only 18 seconds behind the eventual ladies winners. They finished an excellent 10th, which would have been higher had it been a full swim, bike, run format.

The rest of the ladies teams all raced well, with the determination evident on everyone's faces - apart from Jo's team, who were the show-piece team, racing in Hen do sashes, tutu's and carrying devil forks in honour of Jo and Nick's impending wedding. As soon as the pictures are up on the pacesetter events website, I'm going to look for the photo of the 4 of them crossing the line together in full regalia - should be a great picture. They totally enjoyed the whole experience, and the crowd certainly did too judging by the cheers they got.

Morning wave results (4*10km bike, 4*5km run)

POS	CLUB	CAT	TIME	CAT POS	CYCLE TIME	CYCLE POS	RUN TIME	RUN POS
1	BRAT	MIXED	02:14:45	1	00:49:18	37	01:14:56	1
46	MAN TRI	FEMALE	02:37:36	10	01:01:55	101	01:31:30	52
Team Members: Cathy Atkinson, Jan Rogers, Nina Mcarthur, Bonnie Hopkins
114	MAN TRI	FEMALE	02:53:15	31	01:07:58	127	01:41:36	120
Team Members: Suzy Blackledge, Helen Sloman, Viv Slack, Sarah Swanton
138	MAN TRI	MIXED	02:59:57	80	00:53:48	69	01:50:28	145
Team Members: Steve Clayton, James Brown, Emma Deakin, Nicola Horton
146	MAN TRI	FEMALE	03:06:41	44	01:15:04	149	01:47:36	141
Team Members: Jo Harvey, Jo Weeden, Clio Kirwan, Kelly Pickford
150	MAN TRI	FEMALE	03:11:36	46	01:11:27	139	01:56:18	151
Team Members: Lorraine Carrington, Sarah Lees, Daniela Fairclough, Ala Jackson

9 mens MTC teams raced in the afternoon, which meant there was always someone to cheer on. The fastest team from MTC was never in doubt - or so we thought. After the swim, there wasn't too much between the first 3 mens teams, with Jason's team leading as expected. However, a stunning bike leg from Rob Harvey brought his team to within 30 seconds of the lead MTC team, and with the third MTC team just 2 minutes further back, could there be a shock be on the cards? Unfortunately not. The 'A' team's strength on the bike meant that they then extended the lead to 7 minutes at the end of the bike, and the second team was looking over their shoulder at John Murray's team who were still only 2 minutes behind, but they themselves were looking over their shoulder at the Mens Vets team, led by Deano, who were now just under a minute behind them too. Some strong running from the 'A' team saw Nick bring the 'A' team home in 10th spot, and also saw them break the 3 hour barrier, with the second MTC team less than 10 minutes behind in 34th, and just 3 minutes later, a 45th spot for John Murray and co.

For some of the other MTC teams, the racing was even more competitive, with Andy Woodward's team holding just a 45 second lead after the swim and bike over Martin Webb's Vets team, who themselves were holding a mere 5 second lead over Dave Preece's team. As the run progressed however, that order was reversed with Preecey's team overtaking both teams on the run, and Martin's team moving up too.

In amongst all of this, Dan Nolan's team finished between Dave and Martin's team, but their time doesn't seem to have been logged for some reason. Thanks to James Brown for filling a void in Dan's team, despite having already raced in the mixed team in the morning.

Afternoon wave results (4*400m swim, 4*15km bike, 4*5km run)

POS	NAME	CAT	TIME	CAT POS	SWIM + CYCLE	POS	RUN	RUN POS
1	TFN	SENIOR	2:51:39	1	1:43:19	2	1:08:20	1
10	MAN TRI	SENIOR	2:59:47	10	1:46:58	11	1:12:49	10
Team Members: Jason Pickford, Chris Clarke, Nick Thomas, Josh Tompkins
34	MAN TRI	SENIOR	3:09:44	31	1:54:09	44	1:15:35	25
Team Members: Rob Harvey, Steve Birkett, Tim Johns, Jonathan Dabbs
45	MAN TRI	SENIOR	3:12:56	39	1:56:34	63	1:16:22	32
Team Members: John Murray, Paul Schofield, Phil Stannard, Mark Bradbury
81	MAN TRI	VETERAN	3:24:36	18	1:57:30	72	1:27:06	94
Team Members: Dean Frost, Steve Collins, Jeff McGinty, Shaun Walsh
100	MAN TRI	SENIOR	3:31:11	75	2:04:53	108	1:26:18	87
Team Members: Andy Higginson, Rob Harper, Mark Walker, Mike Lodge
110	MAN TRI	SENIOR	3:35:34	81	2:09:45	121	1:25:49	84
Team Members: Dave Preece, Simon Brereton, Nathan Gladwell, Mark Wallwork
116	MAN TRI	VETERAN	3:39:39	30	2:09:40	119	1:29:59	110
Team Members: Martin Webb, Dave Waterhouse, Andy Bathe, Andy Chalmers
125	MAN TRI	SENIOR	3:46:25	91	2:08:55	115	1:37:30	129
Team Members: Andy Woodward, Carl Parker, Guy Dobson, Joel Benson

The evening entertainment progressed as usual with bar-b-q's and drinking - the only disappointment was the lack of songs from Deano, despite much prompting (he'd forgotten the words - so next year we're getting some song sheets for him!). Still, in Dean's place, we had former punk band backing singer Suzy, and her rendition of that well known punk song "Mon cherie amour". We also had Jo and her Hen do II - with plenty of dares to please the audience, and also included swapping clothes with Nick - which he seemed to like just a little bit too much.

The partying continued well into the wee hours for all apart from the "iron-ladies" who, as preparation for their various Ironman races, went out and did 5 hour plus rides. Full admiration goes to Bonnie, Lorraine, Cathy and Jan for this.

And so to photos of the weekend - there were lots of people with cameras - don't forget to get them on the website. Here are the photos we have so far.

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