MVH has never had a shortage of members ready to tackle the longer races.
Having alternated the “long-course” club A-race between “half” and “full” in recent years, 2017 brought us another full Ironman event overseas with laudable participation! But they are not the only MVH’ers with long tales of nutrition strategy, shuffling and cheerleaders……….
The Outlaws!
First up, a firm favourite amongst the experienced MVH athletes who are chomping at the bit early in the season. They just don’t seem to be able to resist the cold waters and May-Madness offered by Outlaw Half (Nottingham).
This was followed up with July offerings – also from One Step Beyond – in the form of Outlaw Half Holkham (Norfolk) and the FULL Outlaw event. The full Outlaw in late July takes the athletes right up to 140.3miles (2.4mile swim, 112mile bike, 26.2mile run). Utterly bonkers and the perfect platform for Sarah Langford to complete her first “Iron” distance event. A special well done to Sarah for taking on this behemoth, but also to the all-female MVH competitors at this event. Anna Jacques stormed home in an impressive PB time.
Meanwhile Sam Owen, Sylvia Franklin and Karen Jackson combined to provide a relay team with an objective to support Sarah (pastoral not physical!) around the marathon. A fantastic effort.
See all the Outlaw branded race results here……….
…….and an update to above (27/9/17)……Lynn Nesbitt also competed in her last ever triathlon at Holkham following a string of injuries. Lynn remains a coach and loyal member of the club and aims to compete at Aqua-Bike as it becomes more popular. Lynn has represented GB 🇬🇧 in the past and has supported so many new members! We salute you, Nesbitt, and another impressive finish!
The Ironmen and Ironwomen!
Marie Hutson was first to take on the mighty M-Dot this year. An awesome performance at Ironman-UK (Bolton) to gain a well earned medal and kudos from the MVH masses. Girl power indeed. Does anyone sense that Ironman should be renamed yet?
At the opposite end of the season, Lisa Wright faced her demons (Robin and Jellyfish) to turn herself inside out at Iron(Wo)man Wales in the delightfully mild weather (ahem, never!) around Tenby. Another beast of a course conquered.
Jerome “JJ” Jones also entered IM-Wales on a bit of a whim after training throughout the year for half that distance (both Jerome and Lisa competed at Edinburgh 70.3 in the Summer). Worth noting that these two did not plan, train or run their races together…..but rumour has it that they share the same brain cell when sat in front of a computer with credit card in hand. Who knew?!
Ash Hallam went to Ironman Vichy. A new member this year but there was no shortage of friendly members stalking Ash on Facebook to encourage him in virtual reality as he battled the heat – and probably a few Frenchmen – through this beautiful setting.
Rob Lennox followed his own rules yet again, travelling around the globe to partake in Ironman Korea just 96 hours after President Trump threatened to start a wee ding dong with their neighbours. Rob doesn’t hang about though. In and out with barely a muscle aching. Seasoned lunatic.
Those Flippin’ Hamburglers!
Ironman Hamburg was the club long distance A-Race. So many stories and highlights. Matt Wagstaffe led the club home, but a sub-10-hour effort went begging as he took a nose dive on the bike and served time in the medical tent. Warren Simms managed “one last” iron distance pass out from the wife and finished yet another(!) full distance with Liz there cheering him all the way. He says he is retired from IM……so expect to see him at an Ironman near you in two years time! Steve Sheppard completed his first ever IM. No drama but plenty of grit and determination from Steve and he now has the ink to prove it! Robin Barber has conquered the distance before but never the Ironman brand and he did so on what proved to be a tough course. Rich Mason bounced back from injury (with no small amount of effort in training) to smash an already impressive PB. Jonathan Hydon showed most of the gang how to put an IM run together with a tremendous 3rd-leg (or should we say 3rd discipline? Either way, he ran well). Performance of the weekend – as voted by many there – went to Sarah Clark (both as herself and as Meynell the Fox) as she provided support to the athletes and broadcast news back to the UK. Amazing.
Supervet is English Champ! 🌹
Alex Heron had an eventful weekend at the Owler (Half Distance English Championship 2017). A series of gaffs by organisers and overstretched marshalls meant that Triathlon England had to investigate before finally concluding that the results would stand. So our Supervet is English Champ 2017. Superb effort!
If you want to hear more about the chaos then head over to Alex’s Facebook race report (members only).
The Other Half(s)
Ed Clamp and Rich Stringer got stuck in to their ‘half’ at the Cotswold middle distance event.
Chris West took on his first half distance at the hugely popular Vitruvian. Nathan Bennett went back to Vitruvian to earn his hoodie after a bad back forced retirement from the race in 2016. Smashed it to bits on the run (but not even that was quite enough to close down another mind-blowing race from Anna Jacques).
Staffordshire Ironman 70.3, Weymouth Ironman 70.3 and Sundowner were also represented by many club members although not included in the club championships for 2017. Well done all.
And that just about concludes it! Apologies to any members not mentioned by name. The number of long distance competitors this year was huge.
What a year!
