RAF Sprint Triathlon Champs

The RAF Sprint Triathlon Champs turned out to be a very close race – well between 2nd and 8th was very close. Andy Fisher was always going to take the win but the improvements made by some of the ‘younger’ RAF triathletes is awesome! If these guys stay in the sport, the RAF will have a very strong future in the inter-services competition. The results are below:

Andrew Fisher 01:01:59
Mark Saggers 01:03:59
Darren Sharpe 01:04:17
Jason Walkley 01:04:26
Peter McCrory 01:04:53
Michael Westwell 01:04:53
Mal Rose 01:04:53
Del Pitcher 01:05:29
Mike Scott 01:06:39
Jamie Elliot 01:06:40
Nigel Porter 01:07:47
Mick Pullin 01:08:12
Jon Leigh 01:08:23
Ben Lonsdale 01:08:54
Joseph Dale 01:09:06
Reg Swallow 01:09:29
Christopher Wilcox 01:09:29
Stephen Hesketh 01:09:35

Less than a minute between 2nd and 7th…….wow! That is close. Undoubtedly, the performance on the day for me was Daz Sharpe and Mick Pullin. They had both raced hard the previous weekend at half ironman distance! How they managed to make it to the start line, let alone race so well, I will never know! Daz would have beaten me for sure, had he had fresh legs. I came out of the swim slightly up on him and managed to maintain the lead into the run. Normally Daz would have eaten me up on the run (actually, he would have eaten me up on the bike!). Although he cut into my lead on the run, he was just too fatigued to catch me.

Check out Jase Walkley too! He must have had a storming bike split, as he said his run was not good. With Mal, Westy and Pete McCrory all improving with every race, we should see a blanket finish at the Inter-Services next week between the RAF guys. We also have Pete Norris back from Cyprus to compete. Pete has been flying over in the sun; hope he can cope with the UK summer! Let’s just hope that we are ahead of the Army!

Overall, I was happy with my race. I ran well off the bike and my swim was as good as I can expect. I have had a stomach problem ever since the race; hope it clears up for next Wednesday. The Inter-Services Triathlon is always an important race and we will try like mad to overhaul the Army. However, they have massive strength in depth. We have Andy Fisher missing and Dale Grassby injured. Losing these guys is a big loss for the RAF as they are potential top 3 placings. Oh well, we will do what we can!