Lakesman 2022

This weekend saw the annual athlete gathering in Keswick for the Lakesman 70 .3 and 140.6 triathlons.

This event has been running since 2016 and has grown from around 300 athletes in its first year to around 1300 this year, and is the most friendly and athlete focused event that I have ever attended.

The fun started this year on Friday evening with the inaugural Lakes Swim Event giving Lakesman athletes, their families and local residents the opportunity to swim in an organised and chip-timed 500m / 1000m or 1900m event. For some this was a bit of fun, for others, a great opportunity to swim the course they would be swimming on race day.

Saturday saw a significant take-over of the Keswick Park Run, followed by kids races on the Rugby Club and the Lakesman version of the Kona Underpant run – the budgie run on Saturday afternoon – featuring a number of athletes running from the shores of Derwent Water to the race finish line at the Rugby Club in some very scary looking budgie smuggler costumes!

Race day starts at 06:00 for the 70.3 and 06:20 for the 140.6, and SEC had a healthy representation in both races:

70.3 140.6

Danny Bluff Richard Benson

Ben Hale Vernon Anderson

Mark Colman Alan Cornthwaite

Chris McKee Paul Sellars

Helen Pickett Dave Hodkinson

Barry Ryan Mark Taylor

Louise Ireland Mark Bedford

Holly Heslop Lindsay Straughton

Tom Lawson Saul Jeffries

Jayne Jeffries David Perry

The usual “weather watch” had been going on for several days, which to be honest in Keswick is pointless, as it quite often rains on one part of the transition area and not the other – it’s that unpredictable!! The skies were overcast when the swim started and after about 20 mins of the 140.6 swim, the heavens opened for about 10 minutes….thankfully that was all the rain we saw all day!

All of athletes negotiated the swim successfully, and were out on the bike in good time. The wind was coming from an unusual direction this year, presenting a headwind out to, and along the coastal section on the 140.6 course, which was different – but it does seem that whichever area of the country you have lived in this year, most of your training has involved crazy wind, so that wasn’t too much of an issue!!

The run course at the Lakesman is a 5 lap course which features a spectator hotspot at the Rugby Club that is visited twice on each lap, and houses the finishing chute, and the rest of each lap constitutes a mixture of scenery including several lengths of the now infamous “Highway To Hell” – a 1km stretch of closed “A” road that you go up and down a number of times.

Of the 20 SEC athletes that started the race, 19 completed it. We had 1 DNF, which is a learning for everyone that has SRAM Etap gears – there is a lithium battery in the headset that gives no warning of failure…..until it fails, and leaves you stuck in your biggest gear!!

Here are the team’s results, race reports will go on the website soon

70.3 AG Time AG Position Comments

Danny Bluff M25-29 04:44 6/29 Injured and jogged the run

Ben Hale M35-39 04:37 2/38

Mark Colman M45-49 05:00 13/77

Chris McKee M40-44 04:53 4/69

Barry Ryan M50-54 05:24 15/65

Louise Ireland F40-44 05:45 11/38 1st 70.3

Holly Helsop F20-24 06:18 2/7 1st Triathlon

Tom Lawson M45-49 07:21 73/77

Jayne Jeffries F40-44 06:37 30/38 1st Triathlon

140.6 AG Time AG Position Comments

Richard Benson M35-39 09:46 6/25 10th Male Overall

Vernon Anderson M45-49 10:47 8/40

Alan Cornthwaite M45-49 10:19 3/40

Paul Sellars M50-54 10:26 1/45

Dave Hodkinson M50-54 11:04 3/45

Mark Taylor M45-49 0.7319 6/40

Mark Bedford M45-49 11:48 14/40 40 minute 140.6 PB

Lindsay Straughton F40-44 12:07 1/4 6th Lady Overall, 1st 140.6

Saul Jeffries M40-44 11:55 13/32 1st Triathlon

David Perry M30-34 13:23 24.27 1st 140.6

An absolutely tremendous day out for the team, celebrated on Monday with a team breakfast (featuring some fantastic pastries from the local bakeries) and a great turnout at the awards ceremony to collect some “top 3” pieces of slate!