Thorpe 4, Viceroys Club Championships race was a challenge before competitors even hit the water: the event was a sell out, which meant many club members were still tucked up in bed as 14 eager Viceroys forced the 5.45am wake up to get to Thorpe.

Trevor, Alan Clarke, Alan Harris, Mark, Conor, Adel, Pete, James, Carl, Simon Colvan, Andy Tugwell, Jon all eyed each other up nervously in transition and race briefing, as Viceroy prepared to race against Viceroy for the trophies and prizes sponsored by Hartley’s Menswear. Viceroy ladies were a little more relaxed, Fab freely admitting to having had one too many Malibu and cokes the night before: only 2 Viceroy females had managed to secure a race place on time and Fab was a faster runner, swimmer and cyclist than Kate and there were 2 prizes up for grabs for the female category.

As the men began to race, there were no surprises as Mark ‘the shark’ Yeoman exited the water first, but hot on his heals were Alan Harris and James. Mark bemoaned that after a week away in France he had no bike training or swim speed and was concerned that Alan Harris (aka the racing snake) or Andy Tugwell would profit, but his solid swim set him up with a 90 second lead.

As Viceroys moved to their bikes, Andy Tugwell (who had only previously raced at Dorney), was loving the hills and came away 4^th fastest Viceroy (after Yeoman, Harris, Clarkie). The course is great for seeing where your competition is and this was a highlight for many Viceroys, Carl echoed the thoughts of many: ‘The best bit for me was racing with fellow Viceroys, particularly Mr T (Trevor) on the bike, exchanging passing moves for a couple of kilometres, although he got the better of me!’ After T1 there was a train of 5 Viceroys in pink kit on the bike leg one after the other!  The best bit of the race for Clarkie, was trying to keep up with Alan Harris who ‘gradually got smaller as he moved away from me’.

The run was probably the most challenging discipline for the club, as Adel twisted his ankle on the uneven ground and Andy ‘found the first 2k of the run a bit tricky as the track was all over the place’ and Clarkie too ‘enjoyed the first 100m of the run and then realised I should have bought my wellies to get round the next couple of K.’ One Viceroy who did enjoy the run was Pete, as he caught up with James, patting him on the back and telling him he needs to learn to run as he swept past! Carl too had a great run, battling to keep up with Conor meant he did a 5k pb –  sub 23 mins.

Trevor managed to knock 3 minutes off last year’s time and four minutes off the year before. Most of the improvement came on the bike probably due to chasing Fab and Conor up Box Hill so many times this summer. His run was quicker than usual but not enough to hold off Conor and Carl who reeled him in fairly soon after the bike. Jon was delighted to take 2 minutes off his previous Thorpe time. Carl says he will be back next year to see if he can beat Trevor on the bike or Conor on the run….or both.

As Viceroys reached the finish line, Alan Harris even celebrated his win (open/male) by throwing up. Other winners: Yeoman (Club Champion); Clarkie (1^st Vet); Pete (2^nd Vet); Alan Harris (1^st open); Fab Marcarian (1^st Female) celebrated in a more conventional style by heading to The Swan for a well deserved social.

And finally, a word from our sponsor:

‘With regard to sponsoring the Viceroys event, I was really pleased to see just about everyone that raced came to the Swan afterwards for the prize giving and a few drinks along with lots of others that weren’t racing.

Special mention should go to both Alan Harris and Alan Clark who both managed to finish in the top ten, both of whom are in their forties. Also worth a mention are Conor and Carl who finished only four seconds apart! Also Andy Tugwell who has gone from a “splasher” to an extremely good swimmer in less than a year!’