Tuff Fitty’s Summer Lido Race July 22nd

Perfect weather conditions again for our latest Summer Aquathlon and barbecue as 50 club members attended the Lido to race and eat or simply attend for the social aspect & food. Thanks from the chairman to, Adrian & Jenny Oliver, Wendy Frost & everyone who brought a dish or two along, and Jon Roper & Tiff Orton for working through the abundance of meat sizzling away on the barbecue.

In terms of the race action it was a closely fought affair, but setting competitors off in two waves proved a good way to enable everyone to have a go as there were quite a few nervous faces prior to the start. Some were attending their first Lido club race along with one new member who only became a Tuff this week – congratulations Amy. Once again Susan Douglas had a longer transition as hers included a run to the car to collect Stig and then run, but they were our Cani-cross champions a great run with Stig putting in a sprint finish for the line.

At the sharp end of the action Ollie Thomas punched out his usual impressive swim emerging from the pool with the quickest swim split of the evening; just 5:32 with James Mapley in hot pursuit just two seconds behind in 5:34. Despite having concentrated on cycling for his epic ‘Ride for Joe’ Tom Goddard still exited the water in 3rd place in 5:59. There were a further 5 sub 7 minute swims with Juliette Reader in the action with the fastest female swim split of 6:45.

The results were taken as swimmers heaved themselves out of the pool, so the run splits will include time spent in transition.

Onto the run out over the Town Bridge down to the Black rabbit, then there was the small matter of the cheeky climb towards South Stoke before retracing steps with the thought of the barbecue spread awaiting them. Henry Teague-Smith was on the run in his traditional rapid style and having won at this venue last month, he improved his run split by 5 seconds. However having been beaten into second place last time, James Mapley set about his run with conviction and having been ahead of Henry from the swim they both headed into the finish straight in sight of each other. James also improved his run time since the last outing shaving 43 seconds off and crossed the line in first place, in 25:42 victorious by just 7 seconds ahead of Henry in second. Mark Walford fresh from his BTF Aquathlon last week secured 3rd place overall with a very strong 19:42 run and transition split. We always knew Ollie Thomas to be a super quick swimmer, but it is great to see how his running is developing, and putting them both together Ollie was fourth overall and Tom Goddard 5th. Having stroked out the fastest female swim split, Juliette Reader followed this with the fastest female run split finishing first female, knocking 13 seconds off her June time in the process. Jo Baldwin shaved two minutes off her June appearance running well finishing as second female. In her first club race, well done to Carey Woods crossing in third position.

There were two using the occasion as a comeback from injury, even more are booked in for Dawn on The Downs on Sunday, but all the pre-race comments about ‘I’m taking it easy tonight’ seemed to dissipate with some great performances across the whole squad – congratulations to you all.

By now the food was all cooked and laid out and comments received echoed that once again the event had been a success. It really does show that when we can get a group of Tuffs together, a good time is had by all. Or as one of the club motto’s state – “It isn’t about getting a good time, it is having a good time“. (The other one is… “Don’t be shit!”)

If times are important, please see the pdf document attached to this article on our app.

Thanks to everyone who took turns to click away on the chairman’s camera whilst the timings were being recorded, and together with Capt Adrian’s photos, there are a vast array of photos in the flickr album above. Please feel able to copy any for your own Strava or social media use.