Almost 30 GTC members headed to the traditional end-of-season ’Gilp tri, the MacQueen Bros Mid Argyll Sprint Triathlon 2019, which takes place in Lochgilphead.

The group came home with a haul of medals and everyone enjoyed a great day of racing and socialising.

Celia Greig was part of the GTC contingent. She said: “The weather was beautiful and it was a perfect day for a race in a gorgeous part of Scotland.”

6 solo podiums

Jamie Glen finished first male junior despite sustaining an injury. Celia said: “Jamie somehow took off most off the skin on his left foot as he came into T2 and this meant he struggled on the run. Tom Kemlo stayed with Jamie for a good section of the return leg to get him back safely.”

Graeme Neagle was first male, senior. He was also the fastest competitor overall for the swim and the bike.

Louise Ross won the female vets category and she was second female overall. She also recorded the fastest female run. In the male vets, Paul Wallace took second place.

John Kinsella was second in the male vintage race, while Alan Duff was third in the same age category.

Craig Ross finished fourth male senior.

Team medals

Two GTC teams made it on to the podium, too. The GTC MurMac Pack was second mixed team while the GTC Retired Auld Gits team came in third in the male senior category.

Other competitors from GTC included David Hepburn, Alastair Young, Sheonagh Law, Darren Morley, Martin Smith, Hilary Glen, Jacques van der Merwe, Lizzie Hamilton, Tom and Hannah Kemlo, Christina Cox, Mike Newall, Jim Elliott, Rose McIlwhan, Julie Macnaughton, Alasdair Ireland and, of course, Celia Greig, our race reporter.

Race day romance

The race was witness to another lovely moment when (non GTC) competitor Dominic Sharkey, who finished second overall, picked up an engagement ring from his shoe in T2 and proposed to his girlfriend during the run as she came back on the return leg in her debut triathlon.

Celia said: “Thankfully, she said yes! And Dominic still ran the fastest run leg of the day.”

‘I’ll be back’

Celia said: “This was my first time at Lochgilphead and I’m so glad I joined others, who have enjoyed this event many times before. I have to say I can see why – and I definitely hope to return next year.”

GTC headed to Peebles at the weekend for the final race of the Live Borders Triathlon series.

For Fiona Greenhalgh, it was an opportunity to try her first sprint triathlon. She did impressively well coming seventh senior female and 15th female overall.

She said: “I managed not to drown  and I  really enjoyed it.”

Bruce’s brother Kier Greenhalgh, also Fiona’s husband, competed in the sprint distance triathlon as well. Other GTC sprint tri competitors included Kate Pearson and Graham Cunning.

Kelly Ludwig took part in the novice distance race. She said: “I am super chuffed after completing my third triathlon in sunny Peebles. I was 20th overall in my race, seventh female and third in my age category.

“Thanks to all the great coaches at the club and to all you lovely folk for your support & encouragement.”

Trio of junior podiums

The GTC juniors came home with three medals.

In the Tristart male category, Cory Mcconville was the winner. Brodie Burnett also competed and, as ever, thoroughly enjoyed himself.

His sister, Erin Burnett, had a very close race with Katy Otterson from North Shields in the Tristar 1 females category and ended up in second place.

Erin’s result gave her a first place in the series of three races.

Skye Dick also competed in this race and Connor Birnie raced in the Tristar 1 male category.

Erin Greenhalgh enjoyed her race in the Tristar 2s, while another club member Lucy Donaldson was first in the Tristar 3 females race.

Cameron O’brien also competed in the Tristar 3 males race.

Well done to all!

A group of GTC youths headed to Mallory Park in Leicestershire earlier this month to take part in the prestigious British Triathlon U20s Festival. The event included the final Super Series Race in the National Championships 2019 and the Inter Regional Championships (IRCs) for Tristars 2 and 3.

The IRCs comprise a weekend of racing by regional teams from throughout the UK at the Under 20s festival (formerly known as the British Triathlon Big Weekend).  Each region takes a team of 16 athletes from TriStar 2 and TriStar 3 categories (4 male and 4 female athletes from each age group).

Super Series finals

Mia Padmanabhan and Callum Miller raced in the Super Series. Mia was 43rd in their Youth Female race, although she had not been feeling well going into the race.

Callum Miller was 10^th in his Youth Male Tier 2 race.

IRC Tristar races

Finlay Adler and Rory Treharne raced in the Tristar 2 boys’ race, while Mirren Stewart competed for the Tristar 2 girls. These races took place on the Saturday. The trio took part in the IRC relays on the Sunday, too.

Mirren was 12^th in her TS2 race. Rory Treharne was 23rd, while Finlay Adler was 30^th in their TS2 race.

The Scottish team finished ninth region overall. In the relays, Scotland A team (including Mirren) finished in fifth place. Team B (including Finlay) was 30^th and Team C (including Rory) was 31^st.

A report from Triathlon Scotland stated: “All members of the team should be extremely proud of not only their races but also their attitude and behaviour throughout the whole trip. They are a credit to themselves, their clubs and the region.”

Finlay: ‘It was a different experience’

Finlay Adler described the experience of racing at the IRCs as “completely different to any race I have done before”.

He added: “At first, it seemed a bit daunting because it was on a different scale to any other race I had entered.

“I enjoyed staying with the team because I knew a few of the others from my club. The coaches were all extremely supportive and encouraging and I would love to be able to have the experience again.

“As far as the racing goes I thought that I had an okay race and, as ever, different parts went better than others.

“I don’t think that someone ramming into me on the bike helped very much but I was really pleased with my run. Just like at every race I learned a lot.”

Our junior members were out in force in other races this weekend, including the Fusion Balfron Junior Aquathlon on Saturday and the Stirling Modern Biathlon on Sunday.

The Modern Biathlon is part of a series of events organised by Pentathlon GB.

It was great to see two new members from the Isle of Mull, twins Gemma and Ellen MacRae, taking part in both events. Gemma was sixth Tristar 2 female at Balfron and then took second place for the U12 girls at Stirling.

Meanwhile, Ellen was not well enough to race at Balfron but took third place behind her sister at Stirling.

GTC team mates also raced both days including Amiya Patel, who was second at Balfron and second U14 girl at Stirling, and Aurelia Tiffoney, who was the only female youth competitor at Blafron and came first in the U16 girls’ race at Stirling.

Balfron Aquathlon results:

Tristar 3 females: Amiya Patel second and Lucy Donaldson came fourth.

Tristar 3 males race: Charlie Treharne was second.

Also competing was Cameron O’Brien (5^th) and Alfie Churches (7^th)

Tristar 2 females: Gemma MacRae (6^th), Morvern Smith (10^th) Calli Abel (11^th) and Eilidh Dick (13^th)

Tristar 2 males: Finlay Adler came first and Rory Treharne was second.

Tristar 1 females: Erin Burnet was third. Also competing was Emily Dawson and Molly Knox (6^th equal), Isla Amon (8^th), Skye Dick (9^th equal) and Jodi Abel (17^th).

Tristarts male: Cory McConville was first and Elliot Smith was third

In equal fifth place were Benjamin Abel, Harvey Churches and Joel Adler.

Brodie Burnett (8^th) and Ruben Devlin (10^th)  also competed.

GTC came home with six medals at the Border Triathletes’ Junior Triathlon in Galashiels at the weekend. Some 15 juniors took part in the event, described by club member (and dad) Neal Padmanbhan as: “A lovely race. It’s relaxed and informal and a good one to do as a first race at the end of a summer training, or as a fun event after a season of racing.”

The swim was pool-based, the bike section was off-road on gravel tracks and the run was hilly and on grass.

Three first places

Erin Burnett was the winner of the Tristar 1 female race, while Fraser Donaldson won the Tristar 2 race. Charlie Treharne was also first in the Tristar 3 race.  

3 more podiums

Other podiums included Rory Treharne who was second in the Tristar 2 race, Nina Padmanabhan who was third in the TS2 female race and Lucy Donaldson who was third in the TS3 race.

Other competitors included:

Tristarts: Brodie Burnett (4^th) and Talia Padmanabhan (4^th)

TS1: Eilidh Greenhalgh (7^th) and Imogen Hammond (9^th)

TS2: Fraser Anderson (4th), Fraser Corfield (9^th) Erin Greenhalgh (4^th), Eilidh Henry (7^th), Mariyah Kareem (10^th)

TS3: Ali Padmanabhan (9^th).

Neal added: “The races were strongly contested, especially the TS2 boys where Fraser and Rory were neck-and-neck all the way.

“In TS3, Lucy and Ali probably rode an extra bike lap, which is a shame, but they all did the club proud.”

GTC had a great turn out – and five podium places – at the recent New Cumnock Supersprint Triathlon and Junior Aquathon 2019.

The adult race comprised a 400m swim in the New Cumnock Open Air Pool, followed by a 15km cycle and a 3km run. Juniors, aged eight to 15, swam 50m before a 1.5km run.

Laura is third female

In the adult triathlon, Laura Henderson came home third female. Other GTC competitors included Mary Donaldson, Sarah Grant, Nicola Dawson, Martin Smith, Susan Marsh, Caroline MacFadyen and Kelly Ludwig.

Mary said: “The race was great, but the outbound leg of the cycle nearly broke me. The were a lot of  uphill into a howling gale! There was also a very civilised buffet laid on after the race.”

Nicola said: “It was a good race except the killer headwind on the cycle on the way out. The run section definitely felt longer than 3k.

“For me it was my first cycle event since my accident so it was good just to get out and see how I got on. The food afterwards was amazing with a proper spread put on.”

Four podiums for juniors

GTC youngsters took home two gold and two silvers in the junior event.

Erin Burnett was first in the Tristars 1 female race, while Cory McConville  won the Tristart race.

Finlay Laskey was second in the Tristar 1 and Ruari Laskey, also took second place in the  Tristar 2 race.

Imogen Hammond, Molly Knox and Lillian Smith also competed.

Another podium for Erin

In another recent race, the West Lothian Triathlon in early September, Erin was second Tristar 1 female.

Silver medals went to Morvern Smith in the Tristar 2 female race, Lucy Donaldson in the Tristar 3 female race and Fraser Donaldson in the Tristar 2 male race.

Ferryn Stewart was third Tristar 1 female and Brodie Burnett came home fourth Tristart male.

Other young competitors included Eilidh Dick,  Mariyah Kareem, Isla Amon and Skye Dick.

Many thanks to Kenny Girvan, Nicola Dawson and Steve Burnett for photos.

GTC youngsters Nina Padmanabhan and Morvern Smith were delighted to make it on to the podium in the recent Go Swim Loch Lomond Junior Aquathlon.

Although the number of entries in this race were low, everyone knows you need to be in it to win it.

The junior aquathlon comprised a 250m swim and 2km run. It was open to athletes aged 11 to 14.

Nina was second in 17:09 while Morvern was just behind in 17:34.

Nina said: “I loved the atmosphere and it was nice to be part of a big event and it was nice to race with Morvern.

“It was fun to race in open water because there are very few open water events in my age group.  The water wasn’t too cold!”