There was fun for all ages last Saturday (11 July) as 800 participants took to Dorney Lake, Buckinghamshire, to take part in triathlon and duathlon events.
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The 2015 BananaMan Triathlon offered up six different triathlon events, meaning something for everyone. If that wasn’t enough, for the first time in the event’s history there was a duathlon for competitors who didn’t fancy a swim.
Those participating could choose from a selection of disciplines ranging from team time trials to relay, sprint to the complete triathlon distance. The triathlon distance known as the Whole Banana (800m/31.8km/7.5km) proved to be the most popular and the men’s category had to be split into over-40’s and under-40’s.
Matt Clarkson and Carol Bridge recorded the fastest individual times over the triathlon distance, while James Repper and Kate Sharland won the inaugural duathlon.
The Whole Banana
As previously mentioned the men’s category had to be split into two age groups – the over-40’s and the under-40’s. The course consisted of an 800m swim, a 31.8km bike and 7.5km run in the sunny Buckinghamshire sun.
The over-40’s kicked off the Whole Banana and, showing the youngsters how it’s done, Matt Clarkson finished the course in the fastest time of the day with 1:33:56 – two seconds ahead of Michael Marzetti. Scott Forsyth completed the top three.
Mark Chamberlain, from Southampton Tri Club, won the under-40’s individual triathlon finishing ahead of Mark Furth and Jack Knight. Chamberlain’s finishing time was three minutes behind the over-40’s winner Matt Clarkson.
With the men’s event done and dusted it was the turn of the women to take to the lake. The women’s category wasn’t split into the two age groups so all competitors raced together.
Carol Bridge, from Rhondda’s Triathlon Club, finished 14mins ahead of her nearest competitor. Bridge not only recorded the best swim, bike and run times of any women, but also beat any of the men’s swim time – delivering a split of 10:03mins.