East Grinstead Tri Club: 26th Sprint Triathlon 2010

To mark the occasion of the 25th East Grinstead Triathlon, the Club invited some of the competitors who had taken part in the very first race in 1986. Dirk Van der Starre, who was the manager of the Olympos leisure centre in 1986, which remains the venue of the event, even made the journey from The Netherlands on the condition someone lent him a bike! The Anniversary race was won by East Grinstead Tri Club's very own legend Martin Darlison, in a time of 1hr 14 min. Martin couldn’t remember which of his numerous East Grinstead Races has been the fastest, but he enjoyed the sense of achievement every bit as much as the first time.

Nearly 400 competitors took part in the main race from as far afield as Belgium.

Even though the race is pool based, for the fastest 12 entrants, into the Sprint Tri, there was a mass start. This was right at the end, after all the other competitors had started. As the race venue is a 6 lane pool, this meant 2 per lane. Although the bike section is non-drafting, the rolling nature of the bike course terrain makes drafting less likely anyway. The 2-lap run course, taking in historic East Grinstead High Street, produced some exciting racing with GB representative and Major in the Royal Marines, Charles Pennington winning the overall contest. Pennington had a real tussle with Ben De Wolf. He led De Wolf by just 7 seconds after the swim and bike, and dug in to take the win by 35 seconds. Although not taking part in the final 12, Elisabeth Brama, still recovering from injury and only given the OK by her physio the day before the event, recorded the fastest time and won the ladies sprint. 2009 Kona Ironman World Championship participant Brama, has now realised a long held ambition of winning the Sussex event. Who knows maybe Kona might follow?

The try-a-tri is a special event for novices held over about half the distance of the main race. This year was won by Michelle Arthurs from Brighton in 42min. No less than 36 of the 60 finishers beat the magical 1hr time.

It is the Club’s aim to promote triathlon in the local community and almost 40 people from the East Grinstead catchment area took part. Top local finisher was James Podbury from Turners Hill who came 75th overall, beating Club debutant Keith Roberts. Local man Andy Muskett who had previously come 14th in 1987 had missed several years through illness found it tougher this time around coming in 219th. Special mention must go to 74-year old Don Cooper who beat his 2007 time by 3 minutes.

The swim section would have held no fears for Tom Goddard (1hr 26 min), Mat Record (1hr 25min) and Allan Cassidy( 1hr 33 min) who had all previously swam the channel.

Of all the finishers, special recognition must go to Team Laws, dad Ben and son Ewan. Ben performed superbly, towing Ewan in his special modified, bike trailer that transforms into a run buggy, to complete the course in a little over 2 hours. They are well on their way to competing in the Cowman later this year..

Results are available - click here

This year's event was in support of The Prostate Cancer Charity