Juniors stage a Northern Invasion

[click on a small picture to see it full-sized]

Our juniors have made an excellent start to the season. Stuart Fraser was overall under-20 age-group winner in the Bruce Series of Triathlons in Fife, and went on to compete at Erskine on 20th May with Frank McShane.

On the same day, our younger girls - Charlotte McShane and Hatty Floyd - travelled to the McIntosh Plant Hire Inverurie Kids Triathlon near Aberdeen where they came 2nd girl (3rd overall) and 1st in their respective age groups, with Hatty once again even managing to beat all the boys!

The following weekend saw Stuart Fraser included in our party setting off in the same direction, this time to Turriff, another hour beyond Aberdeen, for another McIntosh Plant Hire-sponsored event. This was the first full-distance triathlon the girls had attempted so they were somewhat apprehensive at facing a 20k cycle section on public roads instead of their usual bike round a park or football field. In fact, it was immediately obvious that the long and very hilly course wasn't suitable for Charlotte, who completed the swim but then biked twice and then ran round the run course just for the experience.

That left Hatty and Stuart and one other girl as the only Junior/Juvenile competitors, two other boys having also dropped out. These three started off with eight adult 'novices' who were following the same course and distance. Stuart completed the 400m (16 length) swim in a fantastic 5 mins 37 seconds, followed out of the pool just 25 seconds later by Hatty. However, Stuart showed his superior strength and experience on the bike section (Hatty's only goal was to finish the race!). He completed the whole race in just over an hour, in fact crossing the finish line a full ten minutes before the next competitor.

Meanwhile Hatty had been overtaken by three others in the final miles of the bike section but clawed back two places with a particularly slick second transition from bike to run. Thereafter her position with two other runners changed constantly as they struggled to figure out the route, hampered by signs obscured by parked cars and, as always, too few marshals. After various wrong turns and corrections, 100 yards from the finish, Hatty was just out in front of the group when a stone rolled under her foot and she fell. After stopping to check that she was okay and that there were plenty of spectators to help, her companions ran on - taking yet another wrong turn! Shouts from a marshal brought one of them back, by which time Hatty was on her feet again, albeit bleeding from a cut knee, and once more in front, although the short-cut taken by her other companion meant that he crossed the finishing line just in front of her, putting her in a very respectable third place overall as well as first female - and, of course, first in her age group.

In spite of all this, asked for her opinion of the day, she said, 'Brilliant - can't wait to do the next one'!

The kids then helped out as marshalls while Frank [McShane] completed the course - alas, don't have his results!!