Sunday 17th June saw the 2nd running of the wonderful setting that is the UK Half Ironman based at Wimbleball reservoir. The race saw a host of established and up and coming elite triathletes plus four local athletes from Somerset RC Tri most stepping up to this challenging distance for the first time.

Ed Paull, Duncan Bawler, Bill Daughtrey & Joy Rowe all set off for the event at the crack of dawn with the racing starting at 6am. Each having their own personal goal to either be competitive and compete against last year’s club results or just to get round the course still standing..

Bawler had the best 1900 metre swim by some way and impressively bounded up the sharp 800metre climb to transition to find his bike amongst 900 others…..in it self quite a task. Next came Daughtrey with a strong 33:54 minute swim. Paull was a minute back in 35:03 perhaps regretting not spending more time in the pool before the race. Rowe was further back in 56:53 just ducking under the cut off time when the event organisers don’t allow you to finish the race, a fantastic achievement for her first open water swim.

Bawler had no luck with repeated mechanical problems soon after Paull had caught and passed him on the extremely hilly and tough 56 mile bike course and had to retire from the race. After just over halfway, a sickening experience considering the training athletes do for this distance and the cost of the race as well. Paull went on to set the 77th quickest bike split with a 3 hour: 5 minutes clocking putting him in the top 100 entering the bike/run transition. Daughtrey was only 14 minutes back and no doubt surpassing his pre-race hopes as he too finished his bike with a spilt of 3:21:05. Rowe also surprised by nicking under the 4 hour mark for her bike making the completion of the hardest sporting challenge of her life amazingly in her first year at the sport.

With a Half Marathon still to run up, down & around the shores of Wimbleball lake the effects of 4 plus hours racing were starting to take their toll, despite this Paull maintained his fine effort by completing his run in a solid 1 hour 48 minutes to put him 108th overall and 21st in his age group, this being the most competitive of all ages. His finishing time 5:36 a tribute to the toughness of the course….but comparing to last year’s results a fantastic effort.

Daughtrey also managed to hold together his effort and finished with a 1:58 run taking his overall time to exactly 6 hours, placing 232nd for a very impressive 13th in his age. Rowe’s race took to it’s 7th gruelling hour as she crossed the line 735th in 7:24 but a very creditable 22nd for her age, a totally inspiring effort which in terms of time out on the course doesn’t get much harder.