Jon M reports...
Three Tewkesbury AC athletes took part in the home town triathlon. Sandie Harwood, Jason Draper and Jon Mansfield exercised their multi-sport talents in an event which consisted of 400 meters swimming into 23km of cycling to finish with a short 5km run. Conditions were inclement, switching between gales and showers. The rain caused little concern to the athletes, as the transitions from swimmer to cyclist were no wetter! Just 130 entered. However, conditions being what they were, only 104 made it to the finish line!
Sandie Harwood made her triathlon debut. Previously completing two Aquathons (swim-run), Harwood added the cycling discipline and enjoyed every minute of her total race time of 1hr 33 mins. Harwood’s run split was her strongest clocking 22.25 mins.
Jason Draper returned to the event after making his debut here in 2005. Draper’s worked miracles with his swimming technique over the 12 months as several spectators remarked how easy he made the 16 x 25m lengths look. A controlled swim left Draper in good shape to slice five mins from his previous bike time. His most impressive performance was his running. Two miles of the run course was over fields and due to the weather, conditions had become precariously slippy, nevertheless, a run split time of 18.04 was the 19th quickest of the day. Draper totalled 1hr 15 mins.
Jon Mansfield was taking part in his second triathlon of the season (last week at www.tauntondeanetri.co.uk). Mansfield having local course knowledge, put it to good use and repeated the previous week’s achievements by recording the fastest bike split time. A 38.07 minute cycle effort left his legs with a rather wooden feeling that, took a mile of running to return to normal. Mansfield finished in 1hr and in 3rd place overall and, as with the previous Sunday, only seconds off the top honour! (www.tewkesburytri.co.uk/index.asp).
3rd Jon Mansfield 6.25 (13th) - 38.07 (1st) - 15.53 (5th) = 1:00.25
38th Jason Draper 9.32 (84th) - 47.27 (38th) - 18.04 (19th) = 1:15.03
96th Sandie Harwood 9.45 (85th) - 1:01.03 (98th) - 22.25 (73rd) = 1:33.013