Each year, Thames Turbo chooses a series of races in various disciplines and distances which see club members compete to win the title of Club Champion. All club members are actively encouraged to take part, whether part of the race team, seasoned athlete or a complete beginner. It’s also a great opportunity for newcomers to the sport to race alongside more experienced athletes and learn from their successes (and mistakes!). For a list of the 2012 races, visit the thread: Club Championships 2012: Races Announced.

Series winners were:

Age 15/16 - Alex Rowe, Thames Turbo Triathlon Club
1st Mens - Richard Legge, Thames Turbo PowerBar
2nd Mens - Tim Male, Thames Turbo PowerBar
3rd Mens - Paul Burton
4th Mens - Richard Parker, Kingfisher Triathletes
5th Mens - Giles Carter

Age 15/16 - Eliza Cottington
1st Ladies - Ruth Hutton, Thames Turbo PowerBar
2nd Ladies - Sandra Blenkinsop, Kingfisher Triathletes
3rd Ladies - Helen Smith, Thames Turbo PowerBar
4th Ladies - Gaelle Lebray, Team Dillon
5th Ladies - Aimee Billington - Thames Turbo Triathlon Club

For the ladies, Katie Murray came first, Nici Cahusac came second with only 12 seconds later Michaela Furlong.

Full results here

Our male winner has been competing in Thames Turbo races since 2005 and a nervy wait at the end would see him take the win by just one second in a time of 59mins 11seconds. That’s right folks Thames Turbo Powerbar’s very own Richard Legge showed that his recent win at the Human Race Eton Supersprint was no fluke with another stella bike split allowing him to take the victory from the fast improving Paul Burton. Speaking at the finish Legge has this to say : “I’ve been trying to win this race for years and somebody always turns up to steal it. Dan Corner, Tim Male, Jonathan Hotchkiss, Dion Harrison are just a few high profile big hitters who’ve preventing me from winning. I’ve even come 3rd in the past with a 56!!”.  Dirk To Oude Ophuis rounded out our top 3 with a creditable time of 1.00.14.

Meantime in the ladies race Thames Turbo’s very own Aimee Billington took her first victory in 1.10.45 from the fast running Lucie Custance (Clapham Chasers) with Thames Turbo starlet (15-17 age group) Eliza Cottington filling the 3rd spot with the fastest swim split of the day (6mins42s). At 432m and the swim time including T1 you’ve got to swim close to 5mins per 400m pace to go that far under 7 mins.

A big thanks to all our marshals and sponsors.

Provisional results can be found here. We’re aware there are tweaks / amends that need to be made but if you do spot anything do let us know at webmaster@thamesturbo.com Amends will be made tomorrow in one hit.

Click here for the results

Also out on the course was our very own treasurer David Thomas. His photos can be seen at http://sports.webshots.com/album/580134450FWdNja

In the female race honours went to Thames Turbo Powerbar’s very own super vet Ruth Hutton. The current F45-49 Age Group World Champion’s overall time of 1hr4mins51s included an astonishing bike split of 35.16 on her way to beating the talented Libby Cameron into 2nd place by over 1 min 20s.

Records were also smashed in some of the age groups. Notably 15 year old Luke Penney of Optima (a former Thames Turbo junior) finished a creditable 6th place overall and recorded an excellent time of 1 hour 37s smashing Pav Rooprai’s M15-17 2010 record by nearly 4 mins. Luke Penny is certainly a name to look out for in the future as the lad follows in the footsteps of Tim Don and Stuart Hayes who are also products of the Thames Turbo junior system.

Another super vet Thames Turbo’s Richard Stanhope, a four time Olympian at rowing, silver medalist in the 8 at the 1980 Olympics and a stalwart of the local triathlon scene clocked an impressive 1hr4mins18s to better his own M50-59 2009 record by over 1 min. A truly impressive performance and an inspiration to all.

Well done to all our finishers and don’t forget we still have places available in our popular evening Aquathlon on Thursday 23rd June. Visit www.thamesturbo.com for more details.

Oli Bradbury notched up an impressive bike split beating all the big hitters by almost 30 seconds. Given the field had some of the UK’s best triathlon bikers that some achievement to the young buck. Watch out for Oli this year.

Results can be found here

Nigel Clemens the Chairman Thames Turbo was delighted and said, ” The last couple of years have seen a rapid evolution in Thames Turbo as a club. We have increased membership significantly (most particulrly in our Youth section) and taken many areas of the club to new and higher levels. With the support of the BTF we have achieved Clubmark and Starmark and now are proud to accept Level 1 accreditation for our ever popular Sprint Series of races. Entrants can be reassured (as they have come to expect) that Thames Turbo provide safe and high quality events, attractive to novice entrants and the elite alike”.

Heather Barclay, the Series Race Director also was overjoyed to hear the news “Thames Turbo are proud to have achieved BTF Event Qualitymark Level 2 for the popular sprint race series. This demonstrates the hard work from all Turbo members behind the scenes to make the race a success and appealing to all levels from novice to elite, without it’s members volunteering at the races it wouldn’t be the success that it is.”

There are only seven other events in the country that have achieved the Event Qualitymark Level1. If you think your event is a high quality event please get in touch with Gareth Hall, National Development Manager”