The 7th Gatorade BIG HALF Triathlon, which took place on Sunday 11th July at Trentham Gardens, Staffordshire, was absolutely full to capacity, and even though there was a late change to the bike course, was considered a success by organisers and competitors.
The Half Iron Man distance involved a 1.2 mile swim in the lake, 5 laps of the bike course around Staffordshire and 4 laps of the run course around the grounds of the Gardens.
Despite reports of rain, the weather held off and the sun came out mid way through the morning and the conditions ended up being quite warm which helped attract the spectators that lined the route and kept the lake nice and calm for the competitors.
2009 men’s winner Hywel Davies was on the start line hoping to retain his title, however, he was beaten out of the lake by 2008 winner Mike Cornes who had a swim time of 31 minutes, more than 5 minutes faster than anybody else. Out onto the bike and Davies put in a cycle time of 2:33:41 around the 58 mile course, 6 minutes quicker than Cornes to put him into the lead going into the run, but it was Cornes who came through victorious with a blistering run of 1:23:01 giving him a total time of 4:34:7, beating Davies by a minute and a half and regaining the title he lost last year.
First out of the swim in the women’s race was Jen Seager from Stafford competing in her first Big Half at Trentham. She put in a swim time of 38:29 and was closely followed by Catherine Jackson and Samantha Boswell but it was out on the bike where the field started to separate with Boswell coming back in with a time of 2:51:46, almost 9 minutes faster than anybody else. The 13.1 mile run only increased on her lead, completing it in a time of 1:40:53 and finishing the race in 5:12:30, more than 25 minutes ahead of her closest rival
Lee Durkin took part in the race: “I took part at Trentham because the revised cycle route seemed to make it a challenging event. It took us through some nice climbs that enabled the stronger riders to make a break. Coming into the last mile of the bike I punctured, so after some encouragement from the massive crowds that had gathered, I ran with the bike. The event was well run and both spectator and competitor friendly and along the whole run course there where crowds cheering every competitor on as they battled to achieve their times. The race crew couldn’t have done any more to make it a great day; Trentham is definitely a race to be done in 2011.”
