Ayro stars take on ‘ the Beastie’
Brave members tackle mud
A large contingent of Ayrodynamic athletes travelled to Loch Lomond to take part in a group of events entitled ‘ the Beastie’ by the organisers.
But it was more like ‘ beastly’ for several of them on a day which was never made for open- water swimming in Scotland’s biggest Loch – the far side was barely visible through the rain and murk.
Lyndsey Foster didn’t even make it to the start line, as he discovered his saddle had snapped in transit.
Tommy Turner lost a pedal on the bike, and had to pull out while Iain Ferguson punctured after only two kilometres of the 18k course.
Undeterred, plucky Iain got off and ran, pushing his bike through the mud for the remaining 16k of the bike course before going on to complete the 5k run.
To complete a strange day on the bike, Lorna Sloan snapped her chain and had to abandon the race.
Faring much better in the ‘ Bikeless Beastie’, the name given to the Scottish Aquathon Championship involving a swim and a run, Lorna Todd took silver in the female vet category and Davie Auchie did the same in the male supervet. Senior club coach Stewart Bailey added bronze in the supervet group.
In their first ever triathlons, Alice Vernon was second woman overall in the shorter ‘ Beastie’ event while Trina Mulholland completed her maiden event in 51st, the top half of the field.
Charlie Martin was third supervet in the longer triathlon, with Chris Figgins 46th and Derek Cambers 50th.
Lyndsey Blair was 40th in the shorter event before driving to Yorkshire to take part in a major sea swim triathlon the following day at Redcar.
Also competing at Redcar, which was a draft legal race, were young guns Marc Auchie and Karl Owens with Andy Rennie in the vintage category.
Race rules, unlike the normal triathlon, allow competitors to draft each other on the bikes, whereas normally there has to be a 10 metre gap between riders.
The result is a fast and exciting bike section, where the aim is to save energy for the final run.
Marc demonstrated this to perfection with a great time of 64 minutes for the race with Karl just over two minutes slower, with Lyndsey finishing in 78 minutes.
Andy Rennie, who was third in his category in 81 minutes, bagged a European Championship qualifying spot.
Ayrodynamic now looks forward to a sold- out Irvine Sprint Triathlon on August 13. More than 100 will take the start line at the pond behind Bookers Cash and Carry for the 750m swim, 20k cycle round quiet roads around Irvine and Gailes, and a 5k off- road run on pleasant pathways.
The rebuilt pool at New Cumnock will host a ‘ Super Sprint’ on August 26 with a 400m swim, 18k cycle and a 1500m run. Enter on ‘ Entry Central’ website.
The Prestwick Aquathon for eight to 16- year- olds takes place at Prestwick Pool and the Oval on September 23. The club is also organising several open- water swimming events at Barassie Beach on Thursdays in August, with the exception of the final session which will be on Saturday 26th. They are planned to coincide with high tides.
Details on Ayrodynamic web site, or Facebook page, ‘ Barassie Sea Swims’.