Dambuster Triathlon

The Dambuster Olympic Tri was held at Rutland water on the longest day, Sat, 21st June. Six TeamMK triathletes went up on a wet morning with cool air temperatures.

At 7am the senior men started their race with Jamie Hawthorn and Viv Cox  among their ranks. Jamie, who has been out with an injury for a while proved that he has not suffered and is in fact looking very strong bef9ore his appontment with Ironman Germany in 2 weeks time. He swam very well recording 22:07 for the 21st fastest overall swim split. He continued with a solid bike leg and ran on for a 9th position in his age group and 21st overall. Viv who was battered in the face as another triathlete cross in front of him during the swim performed well with a final 129th overall position.

At 7:30am the 40-49 men started with Mark Booth, Robin Dowswell and Mark Church. Mark set off in the 2nd group exiting the water in just under 23 minutes with Robin who'd taken his own line coming out 58 secs later in 23:56. Churchy wearing borrowed goggles reached terra firma in 28:31. Robin was 22secs faster than Boothy in T1 and only 36secs behind at this time however their fortunes diverged at this point with Boothy setting the 2nd fastest bike split of the race in 64.17, while Robin had problems with a flat front wheel which progressively deflated during the race. After about 2/3rds distance Robin experienced changed handling and the unusual experience of being overtaken on the bike leg. Church was "havin' it" on the back end of the course and recorded a respectable 69:41 the 33rd fastest overall split. The run saw Boothy leading the veteren men and running 36:22 to finish 1st vet and 8th overall. Robin who saw Mark 3 times as they lapped the dam wall managed a 37:32 for 7th vet and 30th overall. He was satisfied with his swim and run, but disappointed with the bike. He should have left his tyres alone and not reflated them as the bike had been going well in mid-week training. Churchy also saw Booth and Dobbin on the dam and high 5'd them. He finished through the sheep crap covered run in with a time of 41:40 and 73rd overall. 

Steve Rice 50-59 men started at 7:40am in a race won by sometime local lake swimmer Pete Winfield. Steve started slowly as normal and then overtook the back of the field with a 79:39 bike split and 44:10 run split. Steve and a fearsome Booth pictured below.

Distances:swim 1500, bike 42k, run 9.6k