Welcome to ITCH - the Ipswich triathlon club hand-out - for July 2008...

July has been a busy month with both the club championships and our first open event of the year at Culford. Kate Stannett, Dave Copland and Matt Dye write more about these below but congratulations go to our 2008 club champions:

Champions:	John Wankowski	Lucy Bowditch
Champion vets:	Dave Copland	Julia Yelloly
Champion supervet:	Graham White	[there is no female champion supervet for 2008]

John's result is particularly outstanding when you remember that he started the year as a novice, winning the novice category at Wattisham.

The trophies will be presented at the club AGM, which will be held on Thursday club night, 13th November.

(It is not too late to get YOUR name on one of the championship trophies.  We are replacing the old trophies and sponsorship is still invited for two of the new ones.)

Elsewhere, congratulations to Ross Welton, who became an Ironman at Switzerland.
To see Ross finishing, visit www.internettv.ch - from the IMCH site, "suchen" for "Welton", then double-click Ross's time to start the film rolling at the right spot. It's worth doing just to see him bent double and speechless...

Talking of which, I have updated the "Ironman 2009 aspirants" table from last issue as a reminder that anybody thinking of trying a European Ironman in 2009 really does have to get their entry in now or, realistically, aim for IMUK09.  But don't worry if you aren't interested in Ironman - I intend moving this item way down the reading list from August, by which time all 2009 aspirants are likely to have got their entries in, or settled for 2010.

Meanwhile, we've a busy weekend coming up with sundry members competing in London & Cambridge - and also our own Hero of Telemark leaping into some freezing cold fjord for the start of the Norseman. Latest news is that, because of problems with the mountain lift, all competitors (and support people) will have to walk down from the mountain after finishing. Nice.

Good luck to everybody - and keep those race reports coming in.

Charlie "I'm Ch?" Stannett - itch@ipswich-tri.org

Our ladies' captain is Kate Stannett.

What a grand day out we had at the club championships at Norwich. We fairly swept the board with club members taking podium positions in many age groups.

Special mentions I think should go to Lucy Bowditch taking 2nd lady overall; Heather Collinson back competing in triathlon for the first time since bringing self-appointed club ambassador Phoebe into the world; and Jason Battle whose story is so bizarre as to be almost unbelievable. (A pair of horses escaped onto the road and galloped alongside the cyclists for a couple of miles when one threw a shoe which went right through Jason’s front wheel snapping spokes and buckling the wheel. Jason didn’t fall off but valiantly continued wiggling and squeaking to finish in a creditable time. His story also generated a fair bit of bemusement amongst Eurosport’s Tour de France commentary team.)

Thanks to Dave Copland for publishing some Norwich photos on http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/DaveCopland/NorwichTriathlon2008

I should also like to thank Dave in his role as race director for organising our own event at Culford, and everyone who turned out on the day to help.

It took a lot of bullying and cajoling to persuade enough people to come along and help at Culford so I feel I should stress just how important these events are to the club. Not only do they help cement our reputation as a serious club – with Culford often being a “first experience” for people - but any surplus generated from these events goes towards subsidising our running costs. Put simply, your subscription to the club is as low as it is because part of the deal is that you volunteer for at least one event.

I know that both Dave and men’s captain Steve dB would also like to thank everybody who came along to help make Culford a very successful day for the club.

Culford race director's report - Dave Copland

Derrick Smith is co-ordinating volunteers for the duathlon. Derrick writes:

The following people have committed to volunteer at the Duathlon on 21st September. [ where (d) means help on race day and (s) is help with set up on Saturday 20th. (ds) means help at  both]

Jason Baillie (ds), Nik Bestow (Race Director (ds)), James Bouttell (d), Lucy Bowditch (d), William Catchpole (ds), Heather Collinson (d), Ross Corbyn (ds),  Sarah Coulter (ds), Derek Daly (ds), Brian Mcgeeney (s), Nicola Miller (s), Mark Newman (s), Carol Nicholls (s), Max O'Rourke (d), Nick Paine (ds), Simon Palmer (ds), Paul Rea (d), Robert Peevor (d), Chris Slemmings (d), Derrick Smith (ds), Kate Stannett (ds), Charlie Stannett (ds), Danny Thorrington (s), John Wankowski (s), Mervyn Wake (d), Graham White (s), Thomas Wood (s)

We need over 30 volunteers to cover race day duties and  are currently well short  of that number so please contact Derrick Smith (marshal co-ordinator) at derrick.smith@bt.com to offer your support.

Many thanks.
 

Ironman and other long-distance events in Europe

It is worth noting that, with most of the European events, you can get most of your money back if you withdraw reasonably early, and some events even offer a cancellation insurance.

(* I've already admitted that my main attraction to IM Switzerland was because they named their website after me ("ironman.ch" - ho ho). I suspect Ross is only doing the independent German event because he thinks it was named after him...)

If you want to be on a ring round list for notification of changes at short notice then let Steve dB have your number. Steve is on 07795 564322.

Tour de France mini-league - Ant "Swiss Tony" Birt set up an "Ipswich Tri Club" mini-league in Eurosport's fantasy TdF competition. [This was won by Ross Welton]

Diss duathlon pictures - see http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/ipswich.triathlon/DissDuathlon

Ipswich BC closed circuit race - 13th July - Bentwaters
There might be more information on the IBC website.

Juniors training day June 22nd - see it in pictures

I didn't receive a race report for the Harwich Sprint triathlon.

See http://www.harwichrunners.co.uk/ for full results and photographs.

I didn't receive a race report for the Harwich Standard triathlon. Was the swim cut short? Those times look very fast.

See http://www.harwichrunners.co.uk/ for full results and photographs.

I didn't receive a race report for the Grays Sprint triathlon.