Dense fog couldn’t put a stop to what was otherwise decent racing conditions, (well, for mid October anyway). The East Riding Tri is usually one of the last sprints of the calendar and despite the wintry feel still attracts almost 200 entrants, such is the popularity of this sport.
A sensible decision by the event organisers to delay the start by an hour saw the fog lifting enough for the early starters to enjoy a safer race. However, anyone racing in sunglasses or aero helmets with built in visor had the fog all the way around this technical bike course ;-). The hour delay saw the queue at ‘Clair’s Coffee stop’ increase threefold as nutrition plans had to be readdressed and bacon butties consumed.
Last week at Goole a private battle between Drax Age group winner Huwie Davis and toddler of the moment Aiden Grocock saw the veteran take the plaudits by the narrowest 2 second advantage. Watching from the banks of the River Ouse the atmosphere was enough to encourage dad, Steve Grocock, to join this week’s party.
The Squadders’ rivalry saw them take 3 of the top 5 finishing places although (OTCF RT) Steve Grocock (2nd 1:07:19) had to be content with an age group trophy as he couldn’t quite do enough to edge out a worthy winner from the Hull & East Yorks Tri team.
The ever improving youngster Aiden Grocock (4th 1:08:46) took the Junior 15-20 yrs trophy. Aiden found that posting the second fastest run of the day was enough to reverse his result and battle with Huwie from the previous week.
Huwie Davies(5th 1:09:39) could consider himself unlucky because if the prizes were awarded in the same format as the Brigg & Goole triathlons he would have taken the Veteran Age Group trophy home. Although i’m sure the OTCF RT man didn’t lose any sleep over it.
Yet another ‘Grocock’, Stuart (19th 1:17:40) found himself back at the same venue he’d competed in earlier this year. Obviously keen to test his season’s form this race was a perfect opportunity to see if he’d made any headway. A massive 7 minute PB was enough to elevate Stuart’s finishing position by 9 places compared to his last effort in early spring.
Stu Logan (83rd 1:33:07), a regular at this year’s Time Trials found out that unlike his previous two Triathlons this bike course was long and far from flat. Despite a cracking swim of 7:36 which included a 150m run to transition it was the 2 minute improvement in his run that Stu found particularly satisfying.
Annie Dolby (119th 1:45:18) unusually, found she was our only female representative in this event. Annie’s another youngster that races with a big smile on her face and improves race after race. 3rd in her Age Group was testament to all of her hard work this year. A quick chat with Annie afterwards it was evident she’d had a great race and her enthusiasm said it all. A new run PB could have been the reason for the smile.
Apologies to Dave Milton (111th 1:41:41), a newbie to the club who unfortunately didn’t receive the normal hearty handshakes and ‘high fiving’ as we couldn’t put a name to a face. Looking at the results Dave had a great first ever race and has now laid down a time to beat for next year. A strong run for Dave of 22:45 being of particular note.
Deja-vous…you would be forgiven for thinking you’ve read this report before but……… The Team Prize, is, for the third time in dispute. In April we watched another team get wrongly presented with our trophy and a few years previous we witnessed a gang of Barracudas greedily gorging into our muffins as they too were wrongly awarded. Well, if you add the top 5 finishers up this time we narrowly fend of the ‘Humber Triathletes’. But, when there’s photos of champagne fuelled open topped bus parades of our rivals plastered all over Facebook I’m not going to say ought!……… An Email’s on its way 😉