Derwent Reservoir, on the border between Durham and Northumberland hosted the 17th running of the Prince Bishops Triathlon on Sunday 16th July. The only standard distance race in the region, it follows that it is also the regional championship. Unfortunately this year saw a clash of dates with the Ripon Triathlon being held in North Yorkshire the previous day which undoubtedly affected the entries for both events. This was the hottest weekend of the year so far and the surprise really was that only 11 competitors dropped out.

In the men’s race the leaders out of the 1500m swim in the reservoir were Tony Weed of hartlepooltriathletes.com in 20.14 followed 9 seconds later by Chris Philpott of East Coast Tri. Unfortunately neither of these two were to complete the race and of those who did Roger Godley of Cleveland Biketraks Tri Club was next in 20.29. These three were well clear of Paul Jones of One Life Racing, next out in 21.15.

Tony Dixon

It was on the 41 kilometres bike leg that the race took shape with Tony Dixon, also of hartlepooltriathletes.com putting in a storming leg of 1.11.49 over what is a very hilly and demanding route to move up from 5th after the swim to take the lead before the end of the first of two laps. Godley held on to second and Dixon’s team mate Gary Grounds had the second fastest bike leg in 1.12.54. Grounds’ time was even more remarkable as he had competed over similar distances only the previous day at Ripon, putting in the sixth fastest bike leg there and finishing 9th overall.

Out on the 10k run and Dixon was untroubled to take the victory and his fifth win of the season in 2.12.15. Behind him unattached Rob West put in the fastest run of the day in 36.41, over two minutes faster than Dixon’s time, to move into second overall with 2.14.53. Godley hung on for third place and 1st veterans prize with 2.15.48, ahead of brother Paul who was fourth 39 seconds behind. Grounds remarkably put in the third fastest run of the day to finish in 2.17.48, fifth overall.

Right - Donna James

In the ladies race unattached Carlota Rosales came out of the reservoir in the lead in a time of 22.55, with Natalie Batey of Ryton Tri Club 34 seconds behind. These two had a large lead of three minutes over veterans Donna James of Durham Tri Club and Diane Chaney and Angela Wylie, both also of Ryton.

Rosales however did not complete the bike leg and Batey was soon overtaken by James who showed why she is the national champion in her age-group with a bike time of 1.18.42, 13th fastest overall. Behind James a close race was being fought between Batey, Chaney, Denise Parkin and Jaci Fergusson, all of Ryton Tri, Jen Milsom of Cleveland and Caroline Findlay of Alnwick Tri.

Roger Godley

James started the run with a lead of 7 minutes over Batey but only 13 seconds covered Batey, Findlay and Milsom with Parkin and Fergusson close behind. This was easily the race of the day. Milsom however wasn’t going to hang around and put in the seventh fastest run overall of 40.54 to finish in 2.33.18. James was able to relax on the run and came home comfortably in the lead with a final time of 2.27.43 in 12th place overall. Behind these two Findlay pulled away from the others to claim third place in 2.40.18.

Photo's of all finishers and more are in the usual place:-

Leading Results

Overall Male – Tony Dixon – hartlepooltriathletes.com – 2.12.15
Overall Female – Donna James – Durham Tri Club – 2.27.43

Junior Female – Jennifer Batey – Ryton Tri Club – 3.22.00

Senior Men
1. Tony Dixon – hartlepooltriathletes.com – 21.31 / 1.11.49 / 38.55 / 2.12.15
2. Rob West – Unattached – 23.24 / 1.14.48 / 36.41 / 2.14.53
3. Gary Grounds – hartlepooltriathletes.com – 25.53 / 1.12.54 / 39.01 / 2.17.48

Senior Ladies
1. Jen Milsom – Cleveland Biketraks – 28.12 / 1.24.12 / 40.54 / 2.33.18
2. Caroline Findlay – Alnwick Tri Club – 28.16 / 1.24.07 / 47.55 / 2.40.18
3. Denise Parkin – Ryton Tri Club – 30.42 / 1.22.52 / 53.13 / 2.46.47

Veteran Men M40
1. Roger Godley – Cleveland Biketraks – 20.29 / 1.13.55 / 41.24 / 2.15.48
2. Paul Godley – Cleveland Biketraks – 21.40 / 1.14.58 / 39.49 / 2.16.27
3. Richard Senior – NYP Tri – 25.00 / 1.14.14 / 41.25 / 2.20.39

Veteran Ladies F40
1. Donna James – Durham Tri Club – 26.29 / 1.18.42 / 42.32 / 2.27.43
2. Jaci Fergusson – Ryton Tri Club – 28.11 / 1.26.06 / 48.33 / 2.42.50
3. Caroline Pollard – NYP Tri Club – 32.11 / 1.33.20 / 51.38 / 2.57.09

Veteran Men M50
1. David Bell – Tyne Tri Club – 24.25 / 1.18.30 / 45.06 / 2.28.01
2. Tim Broomfield – NYP Tri Club – 33.22 / 1.23.51 / 42.47 / 2.40.00
3. Neil Wylie – Tri-Lakeland – 26.40 / 1.30.13 / 51.36 / 2.48.29

Veteran Ladies F50
1. Anne Faulder – Ryton Tri Club – 32.13 / 1.34.32 / 1.04.39 / 3.11.24

Veteran Men M60
1. Don Shotton – Tyne Tri Club – 36.57 / 1.31.35 / 1.00.29 / 3.09.01
2. Chris Foote-Wood – Unattached – 52.50 / 2.00.55 / 1.37.22 / 4.31.07

Veteran Ladies F60
1. Erika Enisz – hartlepooltriathletes.com – 39.25 / 1.44.55 / 1.12.17 / 3.36.37

Teams
1. Ski2Tri – 47.54 / 1.23.42 / 43.16 / 2.54.52

Full results, courtesy of Richard Coates are available here:-