Author: admin

Hever Castle is our final triathlon event of the season and as usual it didn’t disappoint. We had 19 athletes representing the club and in many different events; sprint triathlon, super sprint triathlon, sprint duathlon, standard duathlon, tristar 1, tristar 2, tristar 3 and youth! Some families made a weekend of it and had lots of laughs together on the event campsite. Four of our younger members were competing for the first time so a huge well done to them. Everyone gave it their all and from a spectating point of view they were amazing to watch. As is always the way with the club, the support they showed for their team mates was brilliant. We can’t wait to return again next year.

Brother & Sister gold and silver success at Woking Aquathlon & Triathlon

Benjamin and Lottie-Rose Van der Helstraete from the Isle of Wight Triathlon Club both entered the Woking aquathlon and triathlon respectively yesterday. Early on a beautiful Sunday morning Lottie-Rose undertook the sprint triathlon covering a 400m swim, 23km open road bike leg and a 5km off road run. Despite her young age of 16 Lottie-Rose was one of the last to start recording the fastest female swim time and second overall to the winning male. She safely navigated the open roads and roundabouts of Woking before returning to enjoy the 5km park route ending up 1st senior female and 2nd female overall. Benjamin then took on the 400m swim and 5km run in the aquathlon event. Benjamin led the swim then headed out to join his sister on the 5km run where he held his lead ending up in first position overall.

We took the opportunity of some calm seas to hold another of our Club Aquathlons.  Athletes from age 9-17 completed a swim in the stunning Totland Bay followed by a run along the coastal path. All of them put in so much effort and rewarded themselves with lots of splashy fun in the sea afterwards. We were able to use our new tow floats and swim buoys, purchased with a very generous grant from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Community Foundation.

Seven triathletes from Isle of Wight Triathlon Club travelled to Yorkshire for the Castle Howard
Triathlon. Lottie-Rose Van der Helstraete competed in the sprint distance (750m lake swim, 23km
cycle, 5km run). She was 9th female overall out of 90 competitors and 5th in the under 40
category. In his first year of the youth category, Ben Van der Helstraete came 6th out of 19
competitors in his 500m swim, 8km bike and 2.4km run. Coach Mark Jenkinson completed the
standard distance triathlon (750m swim, 43 km cycle and 10.5km run) and finished 23rd in his
category out of 56 competitors.
Katie Bunn and Jasper Jenkinson both completed the age 11-12 triathlon event. Katie just missed
out on a podium with a brilliant 4th place out of 45 girls. Jasper placed a great 11th place out of 52
boys with another year to go in the same category.
In the Tristar 1 event (age 9-10), Emily Bunn and Elsie Jenkinson both did fantastically well, again
in their first year of this age group. Emily came 5th with a superb swim section and Elsie came 11th
out of 25 showing what she was capable of on her bike leg particularly.

We had an excellent club turn out to the beautiful grounds of Bowood House for an open water triathlon. The setting was beautiful but all our athletes were faced with a gruelling uphill run out of the swim into transition! The cycle course was a fast, flat circuit but the run was more challenging with plenty of uphills.

The morning started with 9 year olds Elsie and Emily completing a 200m swim, 3km cycle and 1.5 km run in the Tristar 1 event. We are so proud of their efforts for getting their heads in the water in the lake swim, giving their everything to run up the hill in their wetsuits and carrying on to complete a great bike leg and fabulous finishes on the run.

Next off were Katie, Bella and Jasper in the Tristar 2 event for 11-12 year olds (300m swim, 6km cycle and 1.8km run). All of them posted some great individual times and the photos show just how much effort they put into their race. We can’t wait to see how these athletes progress.

15 and 16 year old Ben and Billy took on other youths, juniors and adults in the super sprint race (400m swim, 12km cycle and 2.5km run). Ben came out of his swim wave with not another competitor in sight for quite some time! They both showed what they were capable of on the bike and run and ended up with a fabulous 4th and 6th place in the youth category.

Finally it was the turn of the sprint triathlon which saw Gethin, Thomas, Lottie-Rose, Millie, Jason and Ali take part in a 750m swim, 21km cycle and 5km run. Having to complete 2 laps of that hilly run was an achievement in itself but which most of our athletes took in their stride. Gethin placed 7th youth (and was a fabulous 38th male out of 250 at just 15 years old!). Thomas finished brilliantly as 2nd placed junior. Whilst Millie and Lottie came an incredible 1st and 2nd juniors. Jason posted some great splits but ultimately was beaten by his 16 year old daughter Lottie! Ali was pleased to actually finish but ended up with a pleasing 9th place in the 45-49 age group.

What an amazing set of results but also what amazing camaraderie we saw from our club members and parents. The cheering and encouragement for every one of our triathletes round the course was what made the event so special.

Wightlink Wightmountain Time Trial sees a continued enthusiasm from the Isle of Wight Triathlon club again.

This time six of our amazing young triathletes (James, Millie, Lottie-Rose, Kaitlin, Billy and Gethin) entered the Wightlink Wightmountain Time Trial Series at Colemans on the evening of Thursday 24th June.

Dry conditions with a noticeable sidewind spurred these youngsters on, resulting in more trophies for them on an enjoyable undulating course. Well done to all our club members and our thanks as always to Wightlink Wightmountain for putting on these local events.

The Isle of Wight Triathlon Club held a club aquathlon this week coinciding with The Royal Life Saving Society Drowing Prevention week to try and help raise awareness of the dangers of the sea.

23 members of the club, in ages from 8-18yrs varying in their swimming abilities enjoyed their first 2021 club aquathlon in Totland Bay on Wednesday evening. They swum distances from 100m to 600m then ran distances of 1km to 3km. All did amazing well, including three new younger members who had never done an open water competitive swim before. After watching the more experienced stronger swimmers no one hesitated jumping in and giving it a go…..

One thing they never enter the sea without, is a tow float – these are the most unobtrusive pieces of swim kit no open water swimmer should ever go without, regardless of their abilities or the conditions. The swimmers do not feel them nor do they interfere with their swimming, but they are a life saving piece of kit for many reasons -wearing a brightly coloured tow float makes swimmers easier to locate and increased the chances of being found quickly, helping swimmers mitigate the risk of hypothermia, as we all know, conditions can change rapidly. They also help increase confidence, which is great for inexperienced or younger open water swimmers as they can hold onto the tow floats whilst help is coming. If by doing this the club has saved just one life, we have done a great job.

Wightlink Wightmountain Time Trial gets the IOW triathletes out racing again….

Five of our amazing young triathletes (Millie, Lottie-Rose, Kaitlin, Billy and Gethin) decided to join the cyclists and enter the Wightlink Wightmountain Time Trial Series on Sunday 18 April 2021.

Great conditions for an extremely hilly 20km course over the West Wight didn’t deter these youngsters, who all finished safely with some extremely respectable times, gaining a few trophies amongst them. This gave them really good experience racing alongside the Island’s cycling teams and they are looking forward to the next one in May. Great racing experience ahead of the triathlon season.