A huge congratulations to our Sports Centre Manager, Martin Rogers, for his terrific performance at the World Triathlon Championships in Hamburg this July. Martin took part in the 55-59 Male AG Sprint and achieved a phenomenal position of 16th place overall, and 1st out of the British athletes. Here is how Martin summarised his experience:
"I recently travelled to Hamburg in Germany to take part in the World Triathlon Championships. To qualify to take part, I had to race in one of the 3 qualifying races in the UK and finish in the top 4 of my age category (mine being 55 – 59!). The sprint distance consists of a 750m open water swim, 20km cycle followed by a 5k run. It is one of the shortest distance races in Triathlon but that makes it very fast.
The Hamburg event proved to be a great venue racing around the city streets and pathways and weather stayed dry and warm. The field in my category consisted of 90 athletes from around the world and included the top 16 athletes from Great Britain. The mass start swim was hectic but a solid start. I came out in around 30th position. The 20k cycle went really well bringing me up to 15th place before setting out on the run. I had a solid run but lost just one place in the last 400m to give my overall position of 16th place in a time of 1 hour 10 mins. This also gave me the position of being the 1st British athlete home.
Since returning from Hamburg, I have been in light training for a few weeks. My next and final race of the season is in Mid-September taking part in a Triathlon in London. This means, I will now start to pick up the training and hope to finish the season on a high."
Alongside Martin's international achievements in Triathlon, he also uses his elite experience to run regular triathlon events, called Splash & Dash, at Sidcot School for children aged 7 to 12. Splash & Dash is a fantastic introduction to the world of Triathlon with an emphasis on fun! At Sidcot, we are fortunate to have the perfect setting for budding triathletes with a beautiful 25 metre indoor pool and 150 acres of surrounding countryside. Find out more about our Splash & Dash events, including when the next event will be held and how to secure your place, here.