This was the third year the Rubicon Triathlon has been run at Newby Hall, near Ripon in North Yorkshire. The event continues to grow year on year, with 400 athletes registered to race this time including a number of elite athletes, both male and female. The weather was perfect with low winds and beautiful sunny skies. Many choose to race this event as it is flat and fast and the conditions on Sunday just added to the potential for personal bests and course records.
The race starts with the now customary walk upstream to the swim start where a “Yorkshire Piper” greets the athletes as they enter the river. Jay Lingwood was the first athlete out of the water to run up now legendary swim exit at Newby Hall with a time of 26:59, closely followed by Rich Howarth and Elite Triathlete Joe Skipper. Other favourites for the male race, Andrew Greenleaf, Sam Baxter, Sam Village and Brian Fogarty were close behind trailing by just under a minute.
After the first 40km of the bike course Joe Skipper had taken the lead closely followed by Sam Baxter. By the second 40km lap Joe stamped his dominance, putting considerable time into the chasing pack of three to four riders. However this lead did not necessarily guarantee a victory with Andrew Greenleaf’s running reputation. After the final 10km lap of the bike course Joe Skipper entered transition with almost an eight minute lead from chasing riders including Andrew Greenleaf and Sam Village. Andrew Greenleaf later commented that he knew he had some work to do so pushed very hard from the start of the run. He made up time posting a blistering half marathon time of 1:13:50, finishing just 3:30 behind Joe Skipper with an overall time of 3:51:42. Sam Village finished third with a time of 3:58:51, hot on his heels was Sam Baxter with a sub-4 hour time. The champion Joe Skipper finished in an astonishing time 3:48:03 and a new course record. Joe commented after the race, “this was the strongest field I have had to race against this year excluding my Ironman events. I knew I was going to have to race hard to win here today. It’s a great venue, the perfect course for a PB and the atmosphere is so friendly. I’m definitely coming back next year to defend my title”. Joe races at Challenge Weymouth in two weeks time where he hopes he will back up his great result at Ironman UK and finish on the podium.
The first lady out of the water was Army triathlete Lucy Powell with a time of 29:02, closely followed by Amy Forshaw and Sonja Nuessli. However Amy Forshaw proved just too strong on the bike and took the lead during the first lap posting an overall bike time of 2:21:50. Sonja Nuessli posted a bike time of 2:26:12 coming through T2 in second place with Lucy Powell not far behind. Amy set out on the run still suffering slightly from a niggle, but this did not stop her running a sub 1.30 half marathon to smash the female course record with an overall time of 1:41:52, becoming Rubicon champion for 2014. Sonja posted a solid run time of 1:41:57 to guarantee her send place on the podium with Lucy securing her third place slot with a run time of 1:40:21. Amy commented after the race that she thoroughly enjoyed the venue and was really pleased with her performance which bodes well for Ironman Wales in a couple of weeks time.
The prize giving provided entertainment for everyone. Joe Skipper had promised before the event to wear a dress on the podium if he was beaten by anyone including relay teams. Unfortunately for Joe, Team Performance Sports Consultants managed just that. Demonstrating his sense of humour Joe stuck to his word and wore a beautiful pink dress as he took to the podium in front of the stunning Newby Hall.
This event is quickly becoming a firm fixture on many race calendars, providing family friendly fun all day and a super slick race for athletes of all abilities. After this year’s success it promises to be even more popular next year amongst pros and novices alike so enter early to avoid disappointment. Dates for next years Rubicon, Trident and children’s triathlon will be online at www.functionalfitnessevents.co.uk very soon.