FARNHAM Triathlon Club again showed strength in depth as a squad of 35 came away from the Hart Leisure Triathlon with the men’s and women’s team prizes, along with several individual age-group awards.

The 22nd edition of the event, organised jointly by Hart District Council and Farnham Triathlon Club, attracted a field of over 300 to Hart Leisure Centre in Crookham Village for the 400m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run.

Comprising a 16-length pool swim, a rural cycle ride and a flat off-road run, it provides an ideal introduction for newcomers as well as an early-season test for experienced club triathletes.

A team competition was included for the first time and was hotly contested by the local clubs and also a strong team from Lollepotters in Belgium.

Charlotte Hanson’s rapid swim of 5mins 41secs was good enough for third overall and an early lead in the ladies’ race. She stayed in front until well into the run when a recent bout of flu took its toll and the Farnham member conceded victory to the faster-running Sue Parker (unattached). Hanson held on to second place in an overall 1hr 1min 57secs.

Deborah Pagan (2nd FV55) and Helen Collett (3rd FV55) were next home for FTC, giving them the ladies’ team prize ahead of Petersfield and Tri20 (Reading).

The men’s race was dominated by Hamish Shaw of Knutsford Tri in 52mins 42secs, while over two minutes back there was a fierce contest for the other podium places.

Just missing out in fourth was Farnham’s first finisher, Nic Harker, in 55-38 which secured the second MV40 award. Next home were Karl Chandler in seventh (1st M45) and Leo Maliphant 15th who made up the winning FTC team in a close-run thing from Tri20 and Lollepotters.

More age-group podium places for the Farnham club went to Sue Graves (1st FV65), Stuart Skingley (2nd MV45), Claudia Shand (2nd FV60), Iain Wheatley (3rd MV45), Ross Dunbar (3rd MV55), Rob Grande (3rd MV60) and Penny Abbott (3rd FV45).

Farnham TC results:

Pos 4, Nic Harker, Cat pos 2 M40, Total time 55-38; 7, Karl Chandler, 1 M45, 56-22; 15, Leo Maliphant, 5 M0, 59-00; 18, Paul Manning, 4 M35, 59-20; 34, Charlotte Hanson, 2 F0, 1-01-57; 40, Stuart Skingley, 2 M45, 1-03-16; 41, Iain Wheatley, 3 M45, 1-03-22; 42, Simon Fletcher, 4 M45, 1-03-37; 44, Christopher Taylor-Firth, 6 M50, 1-03-50; 49, Jason Twigg, 8 M40, 1-04-44; 52, Keith Conradi, 7 M50, 1-05-13; 58, Chris Cullen, 11 M40, 1-06-33; 66, Steve Wallace, 12 M45, 1-07-10; 85, Ross Dunbar, 3 M55, 1-08-44; 86, Ian Duncan, 12 M50, 1-08-55; 87, Jamie Larter, 12 M35, 1-08-56; 95, Rob Grande, 3 M60, 1-09-24; 112, Deborah Pagan, 2 F55, 1-11-40; 114, Stephen Barr, 18 M50, 1-11-51; 123, Christopher Ogilvie-Thompson, 9 M55, 1-13-12; 125, Helen Collett, 3 F55, 1-13-35; 129, Andrew Standen, 20 M45, 1-13-59; 150, Mel Pearce, 6 F35, 1-16-11; 155, Penny Abbott, 3 F45, 1-16-39; 161, Charlie Gray, 6 F40, 1-17-11; 165, Nicola Dennes, 12 F0, 1-17-21; 170, John Bennison, 4 M60, 1-17-53; 190, Gillian Barrett, 4 F55, 1-19-18; 191, Pip Henderson, 8 F40, 1-19-22; 198, David Barrett, 6 M60, 1-19-50; 244, Claudia Shand, 2 F60, 1-27-13; 245, Sue Graves, 1 F65, 1-27-17; 252, Kerstin Johnson, 14, F40, 1-28-25; 267, Estelle Lee, 7 F55, 1-35-28; 282, Jennifer Wheatley, 16 F45, 1-43-13.

Other Farnham TC successes have come in the Steyning Sprint Triathlon (400m swim, 20km bike, 5km run) where Mike Rix finished fourth overall (1st MV45) in 56-40 and in the Portsmouth Duathlon (10km run, 23km bike, 5km run) where there were age-group wins for Leo Maliphant (M20-29) in 1-41-01 and Bryony Cameron-Smith (F30-39) in 1-50-12.

A little further from home, in the European Sprint Duathlon Championships in Kalkar, Germany, Derek and Sue Graves competed in the MV70 and FV65 age-groups respectively. Over a 5km run, 20km cycle and 2.5km run, Derek finished sixth in 1hr 18mins 55secs, while Sue claimed another international medal with second place (1-31-06).

Mark Richardson continued his successful Ironman campaign by qualifying for the Hawaii World Championships for the third year running. He travelled to South Africa for the Southern Hemisphere qualifier, clocking 1hr 6mins 4secs for the 2.4-mile ocean swim, 5hr 15mins 45secs for the 112-mile cycle and 3hr 51mins 42 secs for the marathon run.

An overall 10-24-08 for fourth place in the M50-54 category ensured a return to the Big Island in October after missing out last year through injury.