Out & About October 2017

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takes on the Newbury Triathlon and comes third – in competition with his two children Jonathan Hopson

Split time for the bike was just over 44 minutes, an improvement on last year’s 49 minutes. A two-minute transition from bike to run was on the slow side, but I was able to get in to a running rhythm, (albeit a slow one at nine- minute mile pace), fairly quickly, which was a relief. I was helped along with shouts of

The rise of the triathlon Triathlon has enjoyed significant growth in Britain since it came to the country in 1983. In 2016, there were around 150,000 committed active racing triathletes in the UK (Triathlon Industry Association). Other people do triathlon as a ‘bucket list’ activity. Sport England believe that about 200,000 people in England did at least one triathlon in the last year. Membership There has been a 134 per cent increase in Triathlon England, Triathlon Scotland and Welsh Triathlon members since 2009. 25,200 people purchased a membership in 2016. Demographics show that a particular growth between 2009 and 2016 are young people (300 per cent) and women aged 55+ (521 per cent). There were approximately 202,000 race starts across Britain in 2016 – so more than 550 people doing a triathlon every day on average. This is 67 per cent more than in 2009. British Triathlon offer permitting services to events, with the objective of ensuring that the events around the country are safe and fair for competitors. There was an average of 26 permitted events happening each week last year, so plenty of opportunities to get involved. To find out more visit www.britishtriathlon.org

Jonathan with his children Ed and Sophie

A rriving at Northcroft Leisure Centre, Newbury, at 8am on a cold, damp and misty Saturday morning in September, one can perhaps be forgiven for the odd thought questioning the wisdom of a not-so-fit near-60-year-old taking part, for the second time, in the Newbury Triathlon. However, once I had engaged in some positive banter with several friends who were also taking part, negative thoughts swiftly subsided and I could concentrate on the first discipline – four lengths of the Newbury lido, 300 metres in total. An additional incentive for this year’s event was whether I could match, or perhaps even improve on, the time of my 24-year-old daughter Sophie and 20-year-old son Ed, who were also taking part. Swimming is by some margin my weakest discipline, as I am sadly unable to master front crawl and have to resort to breaststroke. Eight-and-a-half minutes later and I was in transition, putting on cycle shoes, unracking the bike and heading out on the 22km road course through Boxford to Welford, up the mile-and-a-half incline to Wickham and then back to Newbury along the B4000. The weekly bike training paid useful dividends here and I was able to push on, overtaking a few competitors en route back to Northcroft & Goldwell parks until having to slow down at some roadworks in Speen.

encouragement when a friend passed me after about a mile and then it was over the Monkey Bridge and the final few hundred metres around Northcroft field to the finish line in a time of 1h:25m:43s. All three members of the Hopson family taking part finished less than two minutes apart, with Ed winning the family competition in 1h:24m:25s and Sophie 35 seconds behind, in 1h:25m exactly. I will no doubt have to endure many more family jokes about wearing the Lanterne Rouge*, but I’m hoping to pass it on to one of my children after the 2018 Newbury Triathlon. In the meantime, cycling and running training are continuing in preparation for taking part in the Team Kennet Newbury Duathlon in April 2018. This event consists of two 5km runs either side of a 25km bike ride. A longer and more gruelling event than a sprint triathlon, but hopefully useful preparation for next year’s Newbury Triathlon. So for anyone reading this article wondering about trying a triathlon, whatever your age or ability, be brave, take the plunge and join the 400+ entrants in the September 2018 Newbury Triathlon. For more information about the Newbury Duathlon in April 2018, visit https://race-nation. com/newbury-duathlon-2018

*The Lanterne Rouge is the man at the very bottom of the list of finishers of the Tour de France. The name comes from the red safety lantern that used to hang on the back of the last carriage of trains and almost certainly dates to the very first days of the Tour de France, before the First World War.

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