Wednesday 13 July 2011

The club's first Iron(wo)man!

London Fields Triathlon Club has just added another Ironman to its ranks. Laura Boyd completed her first Ironman in Switzerland last weekend in a very respectable time of 13h 52m 15s. Congratulations Laura you are an Iron(wo)man! So which of you girls in the club will be up for the challenge next year?

Challenge Roth is known for its huge crowds, party atmosphere and super fast course. Last weekend at Challenge Roth Chrissie Wellington beat her own long course world record when she finished 5th overall in a time of 8h 18m 13s. Will she make it onto the podium amongst the men soon? Now that would be great to see! The new men’s world record was only set a week ago. The man with one of the coolest names in sport, Marino Vanhonacker of Belgium, set the record at Ironman Austria. Just one week later Andreas Raelert went 5min faster at Challenge Roth setting a new world record of 7h 41m 33s.

This weekend is another round of the ITU World Championship Series. Hamburg is the host and it is a great race that takes place in the central city. Did you know Hamburg has more bridges than any other city in the world? The swim actually goes under at leat one of them. Ironman World Champion Chris McCormack is racing. His bid to make the Australian Olympic team will be worth watching.

A number of LFTC members will be heading to Hillingdon in Buckinghamshire for the next race in the London Triathlon League. It’s an interesting format with a swim, run and then bike. For those competing in the race remember to have a look at the race pack for directions, timings and the all important course map! Some good performances could see the club move up a place or two in the rankings. So let’s give it some on Sunday morning!

The festivals have taken over the Victoria Park ash track again. We will meet at the grass track and use it if there is no cricket on or we will use a patch of grass adjacent to the ash track for our intervals until the festival set up has been removed next month.

Remember if you want a LFTC tri-suit get your orders in quickly so that there is enough time to get them made before the end of the race season. It would be great to everyone in North Norfolk wearing the club kit. It does look great.

See you Saturday for a threshold swim followed by a run similar to last week's but with a shorter recovery. Karl will take the Sunday technique swim. Be safe. See ya, Tim (LFTC Coach).