A warm lake swim, countryside cycle, an off-road run through beautiful gardens, a stunning backdrop of the castle, followed by a pint of Erdinger Alkoholfrei for post-race refreshment was the experience enjoyed by 800 competitors at the fourth Cholmondeley Castle Triathlon on Sunday (23 June).
The British University and College Sport (BUCS) Standard Distance Championship stole the show with some outstanding performances by the students. Loughborough University took home most medals with a particularly strong female team.
Vicky Johnson from Loughborough came second, “I really enjoy the Castle Triathlon Series and was pleased to see that the BUCS Championship would be at Cholmondeley Castle. After medalling at all BUCS events so far I was pleased by our result today, especially as not been well and a tough bike course.”
“It has been a fantastic success. Everyone has really enjoyed the unique surroundings of the castle. There have been some impressive performances across the field. Big thanks to the Castle Triathlon Series for putting on an awesome event,” comments BUCS Sport Manager, Ed Curran.
There were some notable performances by individuals and tri clubs across the board;
Elite, Carl Shaw (Loughborough) came back from injury and was first to cross the finishing line, just piped to poll position by the BUCS students.
Charlottle Wormleighton (Chester) won the female sprint for the third year in a row and is all set to defend her title in 2014.
Jamie Turner (14) from Nantwich rose to the challenge of the adult sprint two years before his peers. He completed the race in a sterling 01:28 making his family proud and a big dent in his fundraising efforts for an expedition programme to Mozambique in 2014.
Chapel Tri club from Southampton dominated the Junior races in the afternoon, the triathlon club now has 120 junior members and are great fans of the Series.
Brook Hill and his team mates won the 8-10 year old relay, an admirable race time and even more so understanding that Brook suffered from a critical brain injury over the Winter following a ski accident.
With the field double the size of last year, the event village also grew to create a mini festival including a live band, huge selection of warm food, bar, children’s entertainment and partner’s retail tents.
The unseasonal weather conditions made for a more challenging cycle course than expected with some strong head winds but competitors soon made up for it on the run. Mike Cornes coaches the Birmingham University Triathlon squad said: “The weather conditions were not great but found the course setting a needed motivation. Really glad BUCS have chosen the triathlon for the championship and feeling good about the team’s performance today. I thought I would also give it a go as such an appealing setting and will definitely be trying out Hever Castle in September.”
Registration is now open for The 2014 Markel Cholmondeley Castle Triathlon taking part on Sunday 29th June 2014. New features for 2014 will include:
- The Gauntlet, Half iron distance, 1.9km swim/90km bike/21km run
- Open water and training day at Cholmondeley Castle
- School triathlon programme
Registration is now open; don't miss the special early bird discount (30%) at www.castletriathlonseries.co.uk.
