31 Oct 2023
WTC finish the season in style
October started as September finished. Sandra Cater took on her first Ironman in Barcelona. Having not even done a 70.3 before, Sandra decided to go straight in at the deep end and did a superb job of completing the full distance triathlon in 14 hours 34 minutes and 59 seconds. Congratulations on a fantastic achievement Iron Sandra!
Sandra becomes an Ironman
Phil Wortley completed the Ironman 70.3 in Cascais, Portugal knocking 22 minutes off his Ironman 70.3 time from the Netherlands last year. Phil finished in 6 hours 7 minutes 4 seconds.
Phil finishing the Ironman 70.3 Cascais
Andrew Harden-Sweetnam (AHS) completed his 100th Parkrun whilst on a training weekend in Cornwall.
AHS on his 100th Parkrun
Alex Smallshaw (1:45.28), Jules Philips (1:37.38) and Martin Harrison (1:59.53) all completed the Oxford Half Marathon. Some great times there guys, well done.
The Abingdon Marathon finally came around and the foursome of Roger "is he faster than Colin?" Gill, Colin "can't stop running" Wood, Harry "the growler" Gow and Matt "sub4?" Clamp
The Abingdon Marathon Foursome
Colin and Roger started out together, but Roger, being the whippet that he is, stretched out a lead, setting a blistering pace of about 3.43/km whilst Colin settled for a more pedestrian 3.55/km. However, as in the case with the tortoise and the hare, Colin caught and overtook Roger in the last few kilometers finishing in an impressive 2 hours 54.
Harry ran a very well paced marathon, almost managing to negative split. Matt unfortunately, once again missed out on his sub 4 hour at Abingdon meaning that he's going to have to enter again next year.
Times for the four were as follows:
Colin (2:54.09)
Roger (2:55.28)
Harry (3:43.23)
Matt (4:04.50)
October sees the last month of the Club Championships for 2022-2023 with the top of the leaderboard very close between Colin Wood and Phil Wortley. Colin completed 3 marathons in 2 weeks and then they both finished the season off, joined by AHS, Jules and Tom Hill at the Kent Classic sportive. The 111km hilly ride was eventful, with more water than you'd expect as the heavens opened, AHS' cleats detached from his shoes and his pedal broke and Jules' derailleur fell apart just 20km from the end. Still it was a fun ride and everyone finished, albeit a bit soggy.
Phil, AHS, Colin, Jules & Tom in Kent