Press Report - Windsor Triathlon, Springfield Striders 5, Essex Schools Championships - Chelmsford

Windsor Triathlon

Helen Tucker claimed the national national title in Sunday's National Elite Triathlon Championships held as part of the Royal Windsor Triathlon. It was however the performance of Ilford AC's Karen Sindall that was particularly pleasing for the Cricklefields based club. Set against the magnificent backdrop of Windsor Castle, Eton College and the majestic River Thames. The river swim is followed by a bike course that takes in a number of villages around beautiful Berkshire and returns through Windsor Great Park. The multi-lap run course winds around the Great Castle, over Eton Bridge and along Eton High Street, passing famous Eton College. The event takes in 900 years of British history.

Karen put up a tremendous battle finishing in a marvellous 6th position only 2 minutes adrift of the winner but somewhat disappointingly just missing out on the prize money. A group of six women had exited the 1500m swim closely bunched. They were led out by Kerry Lang followed by Julie Dibens, Tucker, Anneliese Heard, Raw and Vicky Holland. Karen led out the 2nd group with the recent winner of the Blenheim triathlon, Rosie Clarke, just behind. Julie Dibens took on the 40k cycle leg leading a group of around ten athletes into transition 2 with Raw and Tucker just a second behind and Karen in 8th place. The run saw Raw and Tucker quickly move to the front of the race. Karen worked hard on the 10k run to come through the field claiming the big scalp of Dibens, a regular on the ITU World Cup and Championship scene, and Vicky Holland in the last of the 3 laps.

Karen's performance was such that she now automatically qualifies for next month's ITU World Cup in Salford where she will once again do battle with the cream of the World's triaihletes.

The split times of the top 8 athletes were as follows:-

Pos	Bib	Name	M/F	Cat	Club	Swim	T1	Bike	T2	Run	Total
1	54	Helen Tucker	F	U23	Giant Racing	0:19:51	0:01:02	1:04:28	0:01:20	0:37:12	2:03:54
2	58	Vanessa Raw	F	U23		0:19:55	0:01:02	1:04:27	0:01:24	0:37:10	2:03:58
3	61	Anneliese Heard	F			0:19:52	0:00:53	1:04:36	0:01:18	0:37:37	2:04:16
4	60	Helen Lawrence	F		Royles	0:21:09	0:01:00	1:04:41	0:01:17	0:36:59	2:05:07
5	57	Rosie Clarke	F	U23	Cambridge TC	0:21:08	0:01:03	1:04:36	0:01:26	0:37:54	2:06:07
6	70	Karen Sindall	F		Ilford AC	0:21:05	0:01:02	1:04:37	0:01:16	0:38:15	2:06:15
7	55	Julie Dibens	F		Total Fitness Bath	0:19:51	0:01:03	1:04:26	0:01:19	0:39:43	2:06:22
8	78	Vicky Holland	F	U23	Loughborough Students TC	0:19:54	0:00:52	1:04:39	0:01:20	0:40:26	2:07:10

Another Ilford triathlete Matt Herbert also went the full Olympic distance competing in the 35-39 category and finishing in an excellent total time of 2hrs 27mins and 13 secs. Matt's splits were 29.05(swim) 2.35(T1),1.10.10(bike), 2.06(T2), 43.14(run).

Springfield Strider's 5 miles

Malcolm Muir led home a small squad of Ilford athletes in Friday evening's 5 mile road race held at Springfield Striders HQ in Chelmsford. After leading for most of the race Muir eventually had to settle for 2nd spot to Havering 90's David Dickenson in a time of 27.36 secs. Martin Clarke was next home clocking 33mins 54 secs despite an interruption just after the 3 mile point. Lyndsey Barker led home the women in 5th place in 37.38 with Sally Gillam 9th in 38.19.

Essex Schools Championships - Chelmsford

Ilford AC had 11 youngsters represented at the Essex Schools at Chelmsford on a very hot and sunny Saturday . They were representing both the boroughs of Redbridge and Barking & Dagenham.

Youcef Zatat led the way for Redbridge in the Yr 7 boys shot putt. He continued to show his good form since joining the club and this culminated in an excellent putt of 8m 46cm to become the CLUB RECORD HOLDER by 46cm and was his personal best by some 70cms. However he finished in 11th place amid tough competition. Nkira Anyika in the Yr 7 girls ran very impressively in the heats of 200m to take 1 second of her previous best for 30.3s but just failed to reach the final. Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake ran well in the Yr 7 boys 100m with a time of 13.3 for 2nd in his heat to reach the final. In the final he found it tough and just missed out on a medal with 4th in 13.5s. In the intermediate girls Shanise Anderson was in action in the 300m. She powered home in a time of 45.2 for 2nd in heat but again like Nethaneel just missed out on a medal with 4th in the final with a faster time of 44.9s. Although not having the ideal training preparation, Julianna Dougan ran well in her heat of the 100m with a PB of 13.2s which was a 0.1s improvement. However in the final she couldn't recapture this form and came home 7th in 13.9s. In the Intermediate boys, Ozi Nzeako was in good shape in the triple jump which resulted in a PB of 12m 04cm to finish 6th.

Representing Barking & Dagenham was Aimee Jones in the junior girls 800m. She ran well for 2m 40.0s to qualify as a fastest loser. In the final she ran a more determined race and although tiring in the last 150m was able to record a quicker time of 2m 38.5s. Also in the junior girls was Charlotte Deacon in the shot putt. She is beginning to cement herself in this event and this showed with a fine 5th in the event with a distance of 8m 75cm, surely the 9m mark is not far away now. Charli Clements competed in the junior girls javelin and was unfortunately below par to come 9th with a throw of over 17m's. In the intermediate girls Laura Townsend lined up with Shanise in the 300m and like Shanise was able to get into the final with a time of 46.6s for 3rd in heat. In the final she finished behind Shanise with a 6th place of 46.4s. Last to compete was Nathaniel Senior in the intermediate boys long jump. Nathaniel continues to improve and this showed with a PB leap of 5m 97cm over 30cm better than his previous best and this was good enough for 3rd.

All the athletes did well in what is a very competitive and extremely tough county school championships. They do continue to improve and this can hopefully continue for the rest of the season. Next Meeting in Round 2 of the EYAL meeting at Chelmsford again on Sunday 18th June.