Romsey Advertiser's Articles

The thought of competing in a triathlon is often a scary prospect. Not least does it involve the three disciplines of swimming, cycling and running, it also often involves long distances and open-water swimming. You’d be forgiven for thinking it was better left to the experts with lots of time to train and the cash to get all the right gear! But one company seems to have found a winning formula for budding tri athletes to give it a go and see what triathlon competitions are all about.

The AXLR8 Wellington Triathlon was originally introduced as a one-off event in 2004 with very achievable distances for the beginner tri athlete. Such was the success of the event, held at Wellington College in Crowthorne, Berkshire, that the organisers from AXLR8 have continued to put the event on, with various charity partners along the way.

Four competitors from Romsey Road Runners successfully took part in this year’s event, undertaking a 200m swim in the College pool followed by a 17km bike road race and finishing with a 5km run in the grounds of the College. The idyllic weather and stunning grounds made for a fantastic and enjoyable event for the four, with Derek Kelly achieving a personal best overall time of 1 hour 12:26, closely followed by Julia Abab in 1 hour 17:31, Wendy Couper, who has returned to the event for several years, in 1 hour 18:02 and Ruth Page in 1 hour 22:38. Their enthusiasm for the event and sense of achievement has inspired other club members to have a think about taking on a new challenge to complement their running.

Also competing at the weekend were Lynne Whitaker and Emily Toone at the Alresford 10k, organised by the local Rotary Club. Both ladies put in excellent performances with Whittaker finishing in 44 minutes to take the title of first lady and Toone finishing 4th in her age group and 8th lady overall in a time of 48:32.