Plenty to celebrate at Stratford Triathlon - The Stratford Observer

Plenty to celebrate at Stratford Triathlon

Stratford Editorial 1st May, 2018 Updated: 1st May, 2018   0

OLLIE SENIOR was Stratford Athletic Club’s highest placed finisher at Sunday’s Stratford Triathlon, which was won by David Dew of the local Do3 triathlon squad.

More than 550 participants lined up for the competition in which Dew was the first finisher, winning in 53:50, and Naomi Forrest of Redditch was the top woman, clocking 1:02:18.

Stratford Triathlon comprises a 400m swim, held at Stratford Leisure Centre, followed by an 18km bike ride and 5km run.

Senior started his day with a 6:34 clocking for the swim section. He followed it by recording 32:48 for the cycle section before significantly moving through the field on the run section, which he covered in 20:34 – the eight fastest time of the day.




It gave him an overall finishing time of 1:01:16, putting him in 21st place out of 558 competitors.

Do3 member Anita Howe, from Coventry, was age group winner and second overall female, whilst her club-mate Toni Senior was also an age group winner as she finished third female.


Stratford AC’s Ben Phyall and Mark Loosmore – also Do3 athletes – also finished in the top 50. Phyall finished 32nd in 1:03:06 (7:09 swim, 30:04 cycle, 22:54 run), while Loosmore placed 46th in 1:04:28 (7:22 swim, 30:27 cycle, 23:34 run). Neil Stannard clocked a personal best.

Stratford AC’s Caroline Gionis and Laura Dowson both placed in the top 50 in the women’s competition. Gionis started with 8:28 for her swim, then followed it with a 36:06 bike section and a 28:02 run, putting her in 39th in the women’s event with 1:16:31.

Dowson clocked 1:18:15 (8:09 swim, 38:47 cycle, 28:26 run) to finish 50th.

Sarah Wheeler, contesting her first ever triathlon, finished a highly respectable 60th in 1:20:55. After a 12:37 swim and a 41:34 cycle, she covered the 5km run in 22:54 – one of the fastest runs of the day – to make up dozens of places.

Other finishers from Stratford AC were: 90th James Purdy, 1:09:51; 91st Bogdan Ene, 1:09:53; 267th David Wheeler, 1:24:19; 295th Andrew Smith, 1:28:36; 298th John Angus, 1:28:47; 316th Richard Eden 1:33:30 (age group win); 120th Jean Hill, 1:28:51.

Following his top ten finish at the recent Leamington Regency 10k, Stratford AC’s Joshua Newman made it on to the podium at Leicester’s Big 10k on Sunday.

Held at the picturesque Abbey Park in Leicester, Newman finished third in 34:52, just 36 seconds behind winner Sylvain Lutendart of Tamworth.

At the Dave McNamee Memorial 10k, held in Temple Guiting in Gloucestershire, Stratford AC’s Roger Wilson was the top M75 finisher. He placed 53rd overall in 49:09, making him the fourth fastest M75 runner in the country so far in 2018. Bourton’s Tim Carter won the race in 35:49.

Two weeks after setting a marathon personal best in Brighton, Stratford AC’s Karl Harris was back in action at the Blenheim 7k. He finished 133rd in 36:31, while his wife Karen completed it in 1:06:15. Cindy Brittan finished in 57:27.

Daryl May won the race in 26:56 and Claire-Louise Gorman was the top woman in 31:29.

A 17-strong Do3 squad made their mark at the Southam Triathlon – 400m swim, 20km bike and 5km run – as three athletes made the top in both the men’s and women’s events.

Corinne Moss of Bishop’s Itchington was overall ladies’ winner in 1:05 and third place was claimed in the relay event by the Brown family from Southam.

Mel Knight, a Team France age group triathlete, finished in 1:15 and Guy Bicknell secured his second top ten place of the season in 1:02. Peter Wharton from Wellesbourne completed the race two minutes ahead of Mike Davis, who closed the sprint event in 1.13.

James Hartwright and Jonathan Ward both finished within the top ten male competitors. Many personal bests were set on the cold and blustery course including Mike Willers, Alison Robbins and Sonya Tate who crossed the line as tenth woman overall.

GB age group athlete Katie O’Neill raced her fastest Southam triathlon to date, shaving 5 per cent off last year’s time.

At overseas events, Paul Nash celebrated his 60th birthday by competing at Ironman 70.3 Marbella, while Mark Woo, Richard Shephard and Do3’s professional triathlete Eloise du Luart raced in Lanzarote at the Volcano Triathlon.

Solihull’s Stephanie Cox finished in the top five at Solihull Aquathlon on Sunday with a time of 32 minutes.

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