A field of 260 turned out at the inaugural Bicester Triathlon on a fine sunny morning. The event began with a 400m pool swim, followed by a 20km ride around the Oxfordshire country roads and back to Bicester for a spectator friendly 5 lap 5km run.
In the men’s race Mark Yeoman from Sigma Sport was one of the quickest to leave the pool, with Sam Blanshard from Hillingdon AC and Matthew Hammersley from Abingdon and Vale not far behind. An equally quick bike section allowed Yeoman to maintain this lead but blistering runs from Blanshard and Hammersley meant that Yeoman was unable to hold onto this lead and finished third in 1:05:05 with Blanshard taking first in 1:03:48 and Hammersley second in 1:04:12.
In the women’s race Claire Lait from Tri2O was first out the pool and a quick bike saw her hold onto this lead. A fast run from Emma Clydon was not enough to snatch the top position from Lait who won in 1:12:59 with Claydon in second place with 1:14:21 and Georgina Sculthorp holding onto third place with 1:19:28.
The event was supported by TriRunning and Baines Racing who provided any last minute race items, and live music came from The Groove Company.
The next On Your Marks event is the Stowe open water sprint and Olympic-distance triathlon on May 13 (sold out) followed by the Buckingham pool sprint triathlon on 17 June. More at www.onyourmarksevents.org.