The Alnwick Triathlon on 14th May required competitors to swim 600 metres in the prestigious Willowburn Leisure Centre followed by a 23k bike route around the picturesque Northumberland countryside and a tough, off-road 5 kilometre run. For once this year the weather was perfect with warm sunshine and no wind and a full entry of 200 competitors ensured an exiting race.

The fastest in the pool were Tony Weed of hartlepooltriathletes.com in 8.19 for the men, closely followed by Paul Jones of One Life Racing in 8.21 and for the ladies Lisa Tweddle of NE31 Tri Club in 8.53.

Left - Tony Dixon

Out on to the bike and Phil Gray of One Life Racing, who won the recent Peterlee Triathlon, put his marker down with 36.05, the fastest bike split of the day. However this wasn’t enough to take the lead this time as he had already lost too much time in the pool. The fastest over the first two legs was Tony Dixon of hartlepooltriathletes.com the recent winner at the City of Durham Duathlon, who was turning in a consistent performance with the 5th fastest swim and second fastest bike leg of 36.26. However he was only 26 seconds ahead of Jones at this point. Weed had slipped down the field slightly but was expecting to make up places with the run at which he has improved tremendously this year.

In the ladies race Caroline Findlay of Alnwick Triathlon Club, the hosts of this event put in the fastest bike split of 43.21 but she too had lost a lot of ground in the swim and at this point was only second to junior Natalie Batey of Ryton Tri Club. Veteran Jenny Holland was next quickest on the bike with 44.02 but Tweddle lost too many places on the bike and would not be able to get back into contention.

Right - Caroline Findlay

In the men’s race the expected battle between Jones and Dixon was upstaged by Phil Coulson, who races for Tri London but hails from Tyneside. Coulson moved up several places with the day’s fastest run of 16.07. John Bent of Tyne Tri was next fastest over the tough 5km course with 16.16 and although Dixon’s run time of 17.00 was only seventh fastest he had already done enough to secure the win. Coulson moved into second and Weed came back with a time of 17.43 to hang on to third place. Dixon’s final time of 1.02.34 was 53 seconds outside the course record set last year by Richard Hunt of Army Tri.

Findlay followed up her fastest bike leg with the second fastest run time of 19.32 to pip Batey at the finish by just one second, 1.14.19 to 1.14.20. Both times were well outside the record set last year by Donna James and Fiona Lothian in a dead-heat at 1.09.16.

Left - Phil Coulson

Batey had the consolation of being first U23 lady home. By far the quickest lady on the run though was Jane Mooney who recorded 18.36 over a course which includes fields, farm tracks and climbs considerably at around the half-way point. This moved her up into third place at the finish.

In the season-long league event One Life Racing scored maximum points in the men’s race, followed by Tyne Tri Club who had their best race so far this year with hartlepooltriathletes.com in third place. Maximum points for the ladies went to the host club Alnwick Tri with Ryton Tri in second and NE31 Tri Club third.

Right - Jonathon Riall

Photographs of (nearly) all competitors can be found in the usual place. Please let me know at northernpulse@supanet.com if you can put a name to any of the un-named runners and riders.

Leading Results

U23 Men
1 Jonathan Riall - Tyne Tri (09.01/38.27/17.26/1.04.54)
2 Andrew Arnold - Army Tri (10.54/44.21/17.28/1.12.43)
3 Michael Burrows - Durham Tri (11.39/43.04/22.11/1.16.54)

U23 Ladies
1 Natalie Batey - Ryton Tri Club (09.47/44.19/20.14/1.14.20)
2 Lisa Tweddle - NE31 Tri Club (08.53/47.26/22.03/1.18.22)
3 Jennifer Batey - Ryton Tri Club (11.06/47.18/24.35/1.22.59)

Senior Men
1 Tony Dixon – hartlepooltriathletes.com (09.08/36.26/17.00/1.02.34)
2 Phil Coulson - Tri London (09.46/37.18/16.07/1.03.11)
3 Tony Weed – hartlepooltriathletes.com (08.19/38.02/17.43/1.04.04)

Senior Ladies
1 Caroline Findlay - Alnwick Tri Club (11.26/43.21/19.32/1.14.19)
2 Jane Mooney – Unattached (11.30/46.08/18.36/1.16.14)
3 Tracey Sample - Alnwick Tri Club (11.52/47.52/22.53/1.22.37)

Veteran Men
1 David Stevens - One Life Racing (09.43/39.09/17.45/1.06.37)
2 Andy Swales - Durham Tri Club (10.03/39.31/17.25/1.06.59)
3 Ken Brown - NE31 Tri Club (10.29/39.43/18.12/1.08.24)

Veteran Ladies
1 Carol Shaw – Unattached (12.36/44.12/20.21/1.17.09)
2 Jenny Holland - Unattached (13.23/44.02/21.42/1.19.07)
3 Diane Chaney - Ryton Tri Club (10.48/49.14/22.55/1.22.57)

Male Super-Vet
1 David Bell - Tyne Tri (10.24/39.27/19.05/1.08.56)
2 Michael Dunne - Cleveland Biketraks (12.10/38.12/19.29/1.09.51)
3 Paul Gibson - Durham Tri Club (13.24/41.47/18.58/1.14.09)

Full results can be viewed by following:-