The second race of this year’s Argo Re Summer Series took place at Clearwater Beach on Thursday 22 May in extremely challenging conditions. (OK, in reality it was sunny and dry, if rather windy. But I found the conditions challenging. So they must have been!)
This week it was the Smith Show. Tyler Smith (pictured) made a strong comeback after injury by winning overall in a strong time of 23:36. His mother, Karen, our National Olympic Distance champion, was the first placed lady and in third place overall in 26:06. Otis Ingham clearly doesn’t know that you should never come between a mother and her son, because he did just that. Otis split the two Smiths, finishing second overall in 26:00–a good improvement from his times last year. Kim McIvor came in in fourth place and was the second lady home, in 27:16.
Otis wasn’t the only person showing an improvement. Rebecca Christie knocked about 5 minutes off her time from the prior week (it helped not to take a tumble on the run!) Gentleman Richard Mileham, who gallantly helped Rebecca last week, did even better and improved by over 10 minutes. And let’s not forget Nancy “Ironman” (nearly) Swart, whose long distance training is clearly paying off.
In the shorter race, Roxy Crockwell-Laurent was the winner but also the only entrant–where have the younger kids gone so far this season?
Jennie Lightbourne–a new name to me–wins this week’s prize for honesty. Based on the original results, since corrected, she was originally placed just 6 seconds behind Karen Smith in fourth. Jennie was kind enough to email me to point out that she had only completed part of the course. As Jennie explained it, “My poor bike Betsy has been in storage for a VERY long time (about 14 years) and she decided to stop moving during the race. After getting off to fix the problem three times during the first lap I decided one lap was enough!” Get well soon, Betsy. Karen, you’re safe for now.
Last but not least a BIG thank you to Donna Pilgrim for bravely taking the times (a stressful job even if you’ve done it before, and she hadn’t); Karen Smith for helping her; cheerful Alex Wilberz (sporting a natty hat) for keeping us safe at the bike turn; Sarah Bonnet for recording the entries; Otis Ingham for dealing with the swim marker buoy; and, as always, to everyone who pitched in to set things up and take them down!
200m swim/8km bike/2km run
Position Time Name
123:36Tyler Smith
226:00Otis Ingham
326:06Karen Smith
427:16Kim McIvor
528:07Nick Pilgrim
628:19Megan Berry
728:44Bron Turner
829:54Sarah Bonnet
930:32Nancy Swart
1031:00Alfred Simmons*
1131:10Zoe Roberts
1231:52Liz Stewart
1332:48Fabio Oliveira
1434:13Alan Gilbertson
1535:22Joseph Lam
1635:48Lesley-Jane Smith
1736:08Sam Naude
1836:19Richard Mileham
19 43:41Rebecca Christie
* estimated time
100m swim/5.6km bike/1km run
133:47Roxy Crockwell-Laurent
Other distances
30:26Roz Wingate 200m swim/5.6km bike/1km run
26:12Jennie Lightbourne 200m swim/2.km bike (I think)