Viceroys Kate, Jon, Nicola and Lisa travelled to Blenheim Palace to take part in the nationwide ‘Swim Britain’, a series of team relays to encourage the nation to get swimming. The target was 4000m per team, with each team member swimming 4x250m legs.

After losing their weakest member Kate to (ex) Wimbledon Ladies RFC team and picking up a ringer from the crowd who had just come to support (a bridesmaid that photographer Jon had met at a wedding a couple of months previously), Viceroys were feeling confident and the race was on. Viceroys’ opposition however, included a swim coach, an ex GBR age group triathlete and another third swimmer who could match either of her team mates (and Kate).

Jon ‘zig-zag’ Tennant swam hard, trying to keep a straight line and even managed to lose his swim hat on one leg; he was soon shown up though by the Viceroy ladies, as Lisa ‘whippet’ Yeoman (fastest 250m at 05:10 and fastest 1000m at 21:17) and Nicola ‘mysmartcoach prodigy’ Jordan swam the team to a 2 minute victory over the Wimbledon Ladies RFC team. Go Viceroys!

The conditions on the day Saturday’s Bushy Park run were perfect: warm, dry and still. The enormous field, over 1000 runners consisted of four Viceroys competing for the inaugural club 5k running championship. After a season of coached track sessions and lake side runs, our 4 fastest: Alex Rothwell, Andrew Tugwell, Peter Bell and Tim Ferguson, took advantage of the conditions to all set new personal bests. 

Pete Bell had awoken that morning knowing victory was well nigh impossible – he woke up with a sore throat and aching muscles on Thursday and was still suffering… even his attempts to sabotage the event for his competitors had failed. Pete’s ally Anna (at his suggestion) had told competitors that the dress code was tri suits, helmets and flip flops – but alas, no-one fell for this. Continue reading →