EIGHT Burnden members took on the legendary Whole Earth Man v Horse challenge in Llanwrtyd Wells, just north of the Brecon Beacons.
Andy Staveley was again the leading club representative. He was the third V55 and 78th male finisher in a tremendous time of 3hrs 22mins 42secs. He covered the first 6.5 miles in just under 41 minutes and barely let up on that pace over the whole 21.52 miles.
A tough middle section through to 13 miles took him 1:32:09 but the last 8.5 miles were timed at 1:09:37 to give him a very strong finish.
Jane Forrest put in a remarkable run to claim second in the F50 category in 4:11:51 – less than 15 minutes behind the first F50 female runner. Her split times were 53:52, 1:57:06 and 1:20:53.
Martin Whalley ran the first section in 43:26, completed 13 miles in a further 1:37:09 and posted 1:16:35 for the last 8.5 miles to finish in 3:37:10.
Keith Thomas was 13th F55 with his time of 4:01:43 made up of section times of 46:50, 1:42:36 and 1:32:17. Colin Faulds’ corresponding split times of 42:52, 1:48:10 and 1:31:11 gave him a time of 4:02:13.
Shirley Staveley and Alec Cottrill completed the Burnden contingent in the individual race. Staveley was seventh F50 with her time of 4:24:25 while Cottrill’s recent preparations in some tough fell races paid off with a time of 4:32:26. He ran the first 6.5 miles in 1:00:03, the next 6.5 in 2:04:02 and finished off with 1:27:51 for the last 8.5 miles.
Colm O'Brien contested the race as part of a three-man relay team that posted a time of 3:33:12 to finish 15th of 41 teams. For the record, the first horse came home in 2:20:18.
Karen Taylor’s major target for 2016 was achieved in fine style in Staffordshire as she finished 15th F50 in the Ironman 70.3 event.
The half-Ironman is a strength-sapping 1.9k swim, 90k bike ride and half marathon finish and Taylor completed the swim in 1:02:45, the bike ride in 3:37:53 and ran the 13.1 miles in 2:32:52 for a total time of 7:30:45.
In Leeds, the first visit of the ITU World Series Triathlon to the city attracted two members, Ann and George Butler.
George completed the standard open event in a time of 2:25:10 to earn fifth spot in the M17 category. He completed the 1500m swim in 21:49, the 40k bike ride in 1:10:12 and the 10k run in 43:51.
Ann chose the sprint event and came home 12th F50 in 1:51:54 with 22:43 for the 750m swim, 48:31 for the 20k on the bike and 25:54 for the 5k run.
George was 27th out of 146 and second M20 the previous day in the national aquathlon championships with 11:05 for the 750m swim and 21:22 for the 5k run to give a total of 35:24.
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