Team WhittleFit racing roundup - 16th & 17th September 2017

This weekend we had lots of athletes racing, from Anglessey and Llanberis in North Wales, to Weymouth on the south coast and all the way to Rotterdam in southern Holland; let’s see how they got on:

• Sandman Sprint Triathlon: Tom Nesham raced the Sandman Sprint Triathlon on Saturday, with an eye on the overall series title after winning the Slateman Sprint Triathlon and the Snowman Sprint Triathlon earlier in the year. Tom finished 2nd on the day and took the overall series win by over 7 minutes, well done Tom!
• Brutal Triathlons: On Saturday Gavin Burrough and Adam Pritchard lined up at Lake Padarn for the Double and Triple Brutal triathlon respectively. These events are simply mad with Gavin swimming 7.6km (4.8 miles), cycling 360km (224 miles) and running 84km (2 marathons) and Adam swimming 11.6km (7.2 miles) cycling 540km (336 miles) and running 126km (3 marathons)! Both Gavin and Adam did extremely well, with Gavin coming 9th in 39hrs3mins and Adam coming 2nd in 60hrs48mins! These are guys are legends!
• Ironman Weymouth 70.3: On Sunday we had lots of athletes racing in Weymouth (Bethan, Martin, James and Matt). A choppy swim to start the race put a few of the athletes on the back foot, but I’m very happy to report that all 4 athletes came good on the bike and run and ended up having very solid races; well done all!
• Rotterdam ITU Standard Distance Triathlon World Championships: Andrew ‘Pops’ Martin raced in Rotterdam on Sunday at the ITU Standard Distance Triathlon World Championships and put on another great display in the GB race suit to come home 5th in his age group, well done Pops! 

Team WhittleFit racing roundup - 3rd September 2017

With Ironman Wales and the Brutal Triathlons just around the corner, we didn't have many people racing this weekend, but Andrew 'Pops' Martin didn't let us down!

• Reading Sprint Triathlon: Andrew ‘Pops’ Martin raced the Reading Sprint Triathlon yesterday as a warm up race for the Age Group World Championships in Rotterdam in 2 weeks time. Andrew had a great race, with the fastest swim and bike times of the day to come home 2^nd overall and 1^st in his age group. Well done, great preparation for the World Champs!!! 

Ironman Hamburg race report - Craig Burrows

Coached athlete Craig Burrows raced Ironman Hamburg a few weeks ago, lets hear what he thought about this race and see how he got on:

Continuing the modus operandi of 2017’s ‘only flat races need apply’, Ironman Hamburg promised to be just that. With a fraction over 1000m of climbing (IM wales has almost 3000m for a comparison) and two loops of closed road German tarmac this had all the potential to be a PB course, and that's precisely why I chose it. After successfully negotiating personal bests in both Marathon and 70.3 distance this year it was time to turn my full attention to the one that mattered most.

Ironman Vichy 70.3 race report - Luke England

Coached athlete Luke England raced Ironman Vichy 70.3 on Saturday, lets check out his race report and see how he got on:

Even before Staffs 70.3 in June I always knew my “A Race” was going to be Vichy. The course was supposed to be fast and overall conditions were also deemed to be more suitable for me. It would also serve as a mini getaway for Mrs E and I knew she was very much looking forward to a little trip away.

Following on from the lessons I learnt at Staffs, it was decided that we would focus on getting the bike and run in better shape before the race. In the weeks leading up to the race there were a lot more brick sessions and focused runs and as race day approached, I can genuinely say I felt more prepared this time around. I’m not entirely sure what gave me this feeling, but something did.