It has been a great first year for Chichester Westgate Triathlon Club, but it has been made even better by eight athletes traveling to Australia for the World Triathlon Championships. Qualifications was via a series of national events where you had to finish in the top 4, which ranked our 8 as serious triathletes in the UK.
Chichester was responsible for 8 of the 450 GB age group squad, and was one of of the most represented clubs out there.Great Britain was also the largest traveling country out beating their Kiwi neighbours and the USA, which puts the achievements of the club at a very respectable level.
The team had travelled out to the Gold Coast over a week before the race to acclimatize and get over jet lag. There were several training sessions before the big race, which were to help with racing in the Australian Heat!
The year’s hard training showed as all team members set personal bests in the race! The swim, was a tough battle against the current and the high salt level water. Coach and Chairman Adrian Campbell is convinced that swim times were good as the threat of sharks (which had been spotted the previous week) sharpened their senses. The bike was a very fast course in which several members managed an hour or under for 26 miles! This was followed by a flat, but hot run. The Club Olympic Distance record was broken by Tom Wilson in 2:05:03 (finishing 52 in is age group AND only in his first year!)
Mary Campbell, the only female racing from the club, did well to battle an earlier start than the men, to finish in a superb time of 2:26:11 (finishing 43 in the world and 5th Brit) James Woodward came through strong posting one of the fastest bike legs of the day, 00:59:02 for the 26 miles, and all the other members did extremely well, considering the exceptional conditions, with most achieving PB’s. The hopes of another medal for Dan Bailey were dashed when he was involved in a 25 bike pile up. Dan said that “that’s all part racing and I’ve learnt a lot in my first year. It has certainly made me more determined for next year”.
The results are as follows:
Tom Wilson 2:05:03
James Woodward 2:10:57
Mike Cooper 2:14:10
Andrew Soppitt 2:14:26
Jason Davis 2:18:24
Steve Hasler 2:18:34
Mary Campbell 2:26:11
Daniel Bailey 2:29:35
For more information visit www.cwtc.org.uk
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