Brilliant atmosphere at Amble’s first ‘try-a-tri’ event
Front row (l-r): Ben Murray-Jones, Jess Swan, Sadie Bryson, Matthew Park, Harris Hall. Back row: Dan Fletcher, Faye Park, Maddy Hall
On 15th August 2015, Alnwick Tri Club hosted a try-a-tri event at the Amble Pool & Leisure Centre. Under the banner of GoTri, which is the triathlon equivalent of a Park Run, a family event was orgnised with a childrens adult fun races.
The 8-13 yr olds raced over an 80m swim, 1.5km bike and 500m run with the bike being 3 laps of the same grassed area used for the run. The bike was surprisingly tough considering it is right on the links so has no real hills but the undulations in the grass, combined with the grass being very wet from 2 days of rain made for slippery and difficult conditions.
This is the first time Alnwick Tri Club have organised a childrens race due to restrictions such as the children having to be within sight of a marshal at all times and they cannot cycle on the road so it is very difficult to find a suitable and safe venue, but this was perfectly contained and probably the toughest childrens pool based race in the area due to it being on the undulating grass.
Sadie Bryson won the girls race in her first triathlon and Ben Murray-John won the boys race, both in fantastic times but special mention goes to the youngest competitor Maia Humphreys (8 yrs old), for whom the 80m swim was a huge challenge and the bike was so hard that she was exhausted by the time she came to run but there was never any thoughts of quitting. After finishing, it took her a while but even she started talking about the next race she would do.
The Adult race was over the slightly longer distances of 200m swim, 3 miles bike and 1km run. The bike for this was on the links road from Amble to Hauxley and back but there was a lot of standing water to deal with despite the sun which had appeared in time for their race.
The run was on the same course as the kids race, just 2 laps of the grass.
There were only a handful of the adults who had ever done a triathlon before so it was a brilliant atmosphere with everyone uncertain of what was to come. The finishers came over the line with great big smiles but also saying how tough it was for a race which took less than 30 min to complete.
Dan Fletcher won the men’s race and Faye Park won the ladies by 2 min in her first triathlon.
Thanks to The Old Storehouse next to the pool for providing great bacon butties after the race (and hot chocolate all round for the kids).
Tracey Sample
the247triathlete.com
Head Coach, Alnwick Tri Club
Triathlon England’s North East Participation Coach of the Year 2013
Alnwick & District Sports Council Coach of the Year 2014
