Live it for Lee Triathlon

 

The 4 hardcore harriers doing the full triathlon

Saturday morning was the day of the Live it for Lee triathlon, a fun triathlon that Jim Holmes organises with his sister to raise money for the Live it for Lee/Blood Cancer charity.

Once again Jim, Elizabeth-Anne and her team did a fantastic job of organising this event.

We had 4 harriers entered to do the full event and several more making up relay teams. Julia Pechlof was concentrating on her marathon training this weekend and the 50 mile round Strathaven cycle on the Sunday so had entered her body double – identical twin sister Luca  instead.

The triathlon started with a 750m swim which is 42 lengths of the Crutherland Pool. As with the laid back nature of this event, you get in the pool when suits you and time yourself for the 42 lengths. Jim Holmes who was forming part of the relay team ‘The Young Pretenders’ was first out the pool in a time of 13:26. Julia Whittle, who had entered the full event was enjoying the swim so much she did a couple of extra lengths and wasn’t far behind Jim Holmes after taking the time off for the extra 2 lengths with a time of 13:42. Julias sister Luca had a great swim at 16:05 as did her Partner Ciaran who finished in 14:11. Andy Buchanan our sole male harrier to do the full event swam a brilliant 16:33. Lisa Greer and Alison Lessells were the other harriers taking on the full event and their times were 19:18 and 23:10 respectively. Jim Mearns’ daughter Emma was forming part of Kennys relay team and she swam a fantastic 19:56. Billy Buchanan forming part of the ‘Supersonic Seventies’ team swimming 21:00. The waiting relay members did a brilliant job of cheering us all on from the sidelines.

Supersonic Seventies

After everyone had gotten changed and got their bikes we cycled from the Crutherland across the road to the road where we sometimes start our harriers training efforts from. The cycle leg is approximately 23.6km and follows this road round up the hill and then on to Leaburn road, turn left to go up toward the wind farm where we had Emma and Jim Mearns doing a fantastic job of cheering everyone on and directing them along the road past the fishery, then towards Auldhouse and past Langlands and Park farm to do the same loop again and after the 2^nd loop you head back to where you start.

The young pretenders team had drafted in Seonaid Morton to do their cycling leg as unfortunately Julie Thomson had to pull out with a sore back. Before the start we were in no doubt who was going to be first back from the cycle and it proved to be the case with Seonaid first back in 47:43. Next in was Gerry Connelly who was part of Emma and Kennys team, in 51:46, Andy Buchanan was pretty close behind in 52:15, then there was a bit of a gap to the next harrier Bill Sturrock part of the Supersonic Seventies team who finished in 60;32. Bill was pleased to get round after crashing out on this course last year. Alison Lessells was next harrier back in 63:54, followed by Julia Whittle in 72:45 and Lisa Greer in 77:43.

Next we were on to the running leg. This was an out and back with everyone running along the road then turning right at the top of the hill to the turning point and back again, however we were all agreed that the car marking the turning point was parked in one layby further up the road than last year meaning the run was about 5.6k instead of 5k. We had Lorraine and Charlotte Buchanan as marshals at the turning point cheering us on up the hill, which was very welcome when your legs were feeling like a mixture of lead and jelly at the same time.

Eddie Reid took over from Seonaid to run strongly on this hilly course to finish in 23:33, with the young pretenders taking the relay title. Andrew Buchanan was next back with a strong run finishing in 25:40 (including transition time) to take the individual male title.

Kenny Leinster was next harrier home, after taking over from Gerry finishing in 29:40. Alison Lessells was next harrier home to take the female title, overtaking David Searil in the final few metres to finish in 27:26 (including transition time).  Much to everyone’s disappointment I did remember to take my helmet off this year before starting the run! David Searil was close behind finishing in 30:50. Julia Whittle was next harrier back with a run (plus transition) time of 31:55 and then Lisa Greer with a run plus transition time of 36:39.

After the event we headed back to the Crutherland to get showered/changed and have lunch (included in the entry) and attend the prizeging and raffle.

If anyone fancies doing a triathlon then I would definitely recommend giving this a go next year as it is a fun, friendly event with your entry fee raising money for a great cause.

Full results are in the photo below:

Event Results