Belvoir Tri Club round-up
Members of Belvoir Tri Club have been competing in international events.
Paul Letchworth joined more than 100 starters in a a four day adventure swim in Croatia.
The 33.3k event consisted of swimming in a mix of headland-to-headland routes, channel crossings and bay swims.
Over the four days of swimming, feed stations were on offer for all swimmers and recovery evenings in place with fireside chats.
Paul commented: "The event was extremely challenging, amazingly organised and you get to meet inspirational swimmers from around the world of all levels."
Claire Armstrong travelled to Slovakia for her first race of the season in the Challenge Family Middle Distance Championship.
It is an event that you have to qualify for by finishing in the top six in your age group at a challenge event.
The conditions were also different with a head wind on the way back, tail wind out and temperatures around 26 degrees with a running course largely on compacted sand with minimal shade.
Claire finished in five hours 11 minutes which was slightly slower than last year but, on reflection, it was due to not fuelling enough on the bike and suffering on the first two laps of the run before finally getting it together with the calibre of the field.
Claire missed out on the front group on the swim due to lacking a bit of confidence.
She commented: "I swam really well and made my way through the packs. It was a great bike leg even with the head wind averaging just under 35km which caught quite a few ladies.
"The run wasn't a reflection of what I can do and how well I have been running but I hung on in and didn't give up.
"I have so much more to come on this element. For me, it's to take the learning and implement this into the next race in two weeks time."
Closer to home, club member Lisa Udall entered a last-minute sprint distance aqua bike race at Box End Park in Bedford.
This consisted of a 750m lake swim followed by a 26km bike leg.
Lisa had no expectations from the race as it was her first entry of the season and she was just looking forward to being back racing among others.
Lisa, who has recently qualified for the World Triathlon Championships in Torremolinos, started at the front of the swim pack and was making better progress in time than she had thought.
The bike leg turned out to be surprisingly cold and, with head winds mainly along the route, it became challenging at times.
Lisa commented: "I struggled to really get going until about six or seven miles on the bike.
"It wasn't until after I hit the second loop of the bike that I picked up speed and really started to warm up."
Crossing the finish line as the first lady and second overall for the sprint distance, Lisa finished in 01:17.
Steve Gabbutt completed his fourth Leaden Boot challenge in the Peak District.
The marathon walking challenge consisted of more than 5,000ft of ascent in some gruellingly hot temperatures and Steve finished in a very respectable time of 7h 53minutes.
Andrew Goddard chose the Goring Gap Ultra Marathon as his first ever long distance run which covered 52k.
It was described as perfect for first time ultra runners as it is a looped run which means you finish where you start.
The route used the Thames Path and Ridgeway national trails and is mostly flat with a mixture of trail, footpaths and quiet lanes.
There is a 8.5 hour cut off for all participants and Andrew completed his first Ultra in a very respectable five hours 53 minutes.
Matt Hine took part in a local 10k road race at Market Deeping.
The flat and fast one loop course started and finished at the Deepings Rugby Club and Matt completed the race in a 46:51 and was rather pleased with his time and to support a local event.
