Jamie takes the ArranMan title as locals rise to the challenge
The third ArranMan challenge attracted 200 athletes who competed in five races over the weekend.
Centred in Lamlash, the events were held in very different conditions over the two days last weekend with the Saturday hot and sunny and the Sunday wet and windy. However, the conditions did not deter the many visitors as well as a number of locals who took part this year.
Kicking off at 6am on Saturday morning with the ArranMan iron distance, where athletes completed a 2.5 mile swim, cycled twice round the island, then ran a marathon.
They were joined in the water by a very curious seal who swam among the athletes for half an hour, then on Saturday afternoon by runners ‘just’ doing a marathon.
The final ArranMan finished at 10.15pm.
On Sunday morning, the largest number of athletes awoke to perfect racing conditions for the middle distance, standard distance and relay team events.
Not to be outdone by the wildlife from the previous day, the slower athletes had tough, muddy obstacles to contend with as the cows at Claughlands decided to sit right across the race course.
Falkirk’s Jamie Anderson has knocked a massive 25 minutes off the record for the iron distance event, while, in the female race, Alicia Lauckner of London also broke the course record, knocking an hour off Anna Gilmour’s record from last year. Second place Elaine McGeachy, from Campbeltown, was two minutes faster than Anna last year.
David McLure, from Troon, was 11 seconds off beating Greenock Harriers Kevin O’Donaghue’s record marathon time from last year. However, in the female race, Angela Reid, from Ardrossan, knocked 26 minutes off the record.
The biggest field of the weekend was again for the middle distance race. Having finished second last year, Mark Arndt improved by one place, winning and setting a new record by 32 seconds, an improvement on his own time last year by five minutes, two seconds.
Arran Junior Triathlon Club coach Craig Wood, of Lamlash, got Arran’s best result of the weekend coming second in the middle distance event, finishing with a guard of honour when a dozen members of the club ran the last kilometre cheering alongside him.
He was first out of the swim and onto the bike then, with only the safety motorcycle for company around the island, first into the run. However, around the 11km mark, last year’s winner passed Craig. He said: ‘I knew Mark Arndt was a better runner than me over that distance but had no one with me on the bike to push the pace and make the gap too big.
But I experienced my best ever triathlon feeling when the triathlon club children ran the last 200m with me and I’m not scared to admit I had tears in my eyes, so thank you to the AJTC children for giving an old man a good memory.’
Wayne Dale, of Whiting Bay, completed the middle in 6hr 48m and Eliot Stedman of Lamlash completed in 6hr 1m and Barry Smith of Lamlash in 6hr 26m.
First out of the water by over 100 metres and finishing in a fantastic fourth place overall, the female middle distance race was won by last year’s LOCH loMAN and Celtman Triathlons winner Siobhan Prise. Siobhan knocked 56 minutes off last year’s record set by Dorset’s Ginny Mills.
Aberdeenshire’s Siobhan was joined on the podium by her younger sister, Kerry Prise, who won the standard distance female race in a time of 2hr 36m.
Fireman Graeme Croll won the standard distance
of 2hr 24m. This race was by far the most competitive, with the lead changing hands several times with Grangemouth’s Derek Simpson first off the bike and young athlete Ruaraidh Wells finishing in third place after being first rider up The Ross.
Largest field
The standard distance triathlon, including a ride over The Ross, had the largest field of athletes from Arran. Results from islanders include: Greg Hamill, Shiskine, 2hr 56m; Gerard Tatersfield, Lamlash, 3hr 16m; Christopher Hogge, Brodick, 3hr 37m; and Lorimer MacKenzie, who was last out the water, but had the incentive of riding past his family home at the bottom of The Ross, finishing in 4hr 58m.
Jellyfish sting
Several athletes withdrew from the swim due to jellyfish stings while Arran’s roads proved too much for some competitors, with several withdrawing from the race at the South End due to multiple punctures and a couple of buckled wheels.
Gemma Beedie of Clachan of Campsie, however, was not one of them, completing the standard distance with a sit up and beg Amsterdam bike, replete with large wicker shopping basket. A massive thank you to Sgt Allen Dodds from the final athlete to finish, Edinburgh’s Elaine Sandeman, who was last out the water for the middle distance swim and suddenly realised she had forgotten her cycle helmet, Sgt Dodds thankfully had a spare in the back of his police car.