WOW, what an amazing day we had today at the first ever Swale Tri Club multisport event.
OK, so the weather wasn't as AMAZING as what was promised but what we lacked in early morning sunshine we made up in great racing and a great atmosphere. For all the results head over to our Go Tri page.
The first race up was the hotly contested Tristars 1 race and it was brilliant to watch these 9 and 10 year olds laying down some serious pace and determination. In total they covered 1.1km run followed by a 2.7km ride and a final 550m run. As well as the amazing athletic ability all the Tristars displayed we also had some excellent Olympic style water drinking/over the head pouring and an amazing feed station run from one of the parents to make sure their star got the sugar boost they needed (he'd missed the bowl of sweets heading onto his second lap).
Second up were the Tristars 2 with a thrilling head to head. After a crazy start that involved a little bit of gun-jumping and some stumbling the competitors settled into their 1.6km run, 4.5km bike and 550m run. The end of the race saw the sister of the Tristar 1 winner coming home and making the Benson household a very proud one!
Now, it takes some bravery to enter this kind of multisport event and it takes a special kind of bravery if you're the only contender in your class and you decide to pit yourself against the clock in front of the crowd. For Tristars 3 we had Tilly versus the clock! If you've ever done a race like this, you'll know it's a little easier to do with others than doing it solo so this speaks volumes to the resolve all these Tristars are capable of.
Last up for the morning was the adults race. We had a superb mix of abilities from the seasoned to the first timers. In the group we had: a hotly contested race for first, a brave soul negotiating the gravel and grass course on a road bike and someone who took a tumble but got patched up and soldiered on to finish. It was great to see everyone enjoying themselves whether they were in it for a quick time or for a sense of achievement and they entrants deserved their medals!
There were plenty of cameras being used and you can see them on this gallery or on our Facebook page.
Of course, we didn't do this without the help of others so we need to say a big thank you to a few organisations. Firstly to Swale Borough Council for letting us use Milton Creek. It's a great venue and perfect for this kind of event. Then the Sittingbourne Parkrun guys. They normally use the location on a Saturday morning but they helped us out by donating the signs for us to use. Another thank you goes out to Maidstone Sweatshop who donated the bib numbers and lastly a big thank you to our Sponsor, The Bike Warehouse who helped with the medals!
Lastly, a massive thank you to all the competitors and to all the volunteer marshals who made our first event so enjoyable. It was great to see so many smiles and such high spirits.