Tribourne Festival of Endurance 2025 / Chi Tri Club Champs – Race report
21 July 2025
Tribourne Festival of Endurance 2025 / Chi Tri Club Champs – Race report by Shaun Dowling.
What a weekend for the Tribourne Festival of Endurance which, for the Middle Distance race, also served as our 4th 70.3 Club Championships.
Conditions on Saturday for racking were calm, warm and sunny (pic below) but thunder storms were forecast for the following morning.
Already there were discussions about bikes, tyres, clothing and whether or not the famous pier jump entry would make what was scheduled to be its final appearance. Not everyone, however, was there for the 70.3 as the weekend also hosted marathon runs and swims as well as the full IM distance triathlon. Nervous energy abounded!
The 4.30am text confirmed that there would be no pier jump.
The speed and regularity of the waves were too risky so the swim was adjusted to be a beach entry. Whilst the thunder never materialised, the winds most certainly did!
The sea was rough, with the new 950m loop needing to be completed 4 times for the marathon swim and IM athletes…nobody looked like that was in any way appealing!
Even Kerrin Cruttenden’s eyebrows were raised at the thought of it – and he is a swim God!
I know that the swim was super-tough as everyone’s times were around 15 minutes slower than usual…& I had a good view of their struggles and effort as I had copped a wave at the first turn, swallowed most of it, threw it back up and had to scramble to the shore to retch the rest. Apologies if you are eating reading this!
For the next 20 minutes around 30 of us watched the swim conditions deteriorate further as we waited to be allowed back out for the bike and run sections.
Everyone else, however, got extra kudos for completing at least two laps, with swim God surviving all four.
To show how challenging the swim was, swim God Kerrin’s time was exactly the same as my last IM swim section at 1.15. He would normally expect to comfortably beat me by around 25mins!
Swim caps are doffed to everyone but especially to Emily Heron for conquering her doubts and getting round twice and Emma Green for whom this was her first triathlon. What a baptism!
The ride progressed from fast and flat, through lumpy and onto two proper climbs, including the finale up Beachy Head.
This mostly took place in persistent rain, strong winds (see flag picture to give you an idea) and chillier-than-expected temperatures. Benjamin David Newman joined the number of people unlucky to get a puncture (and he doubled his bad luck by getting a second one) whilst I had the pleasure, having been allowed to continue with the bike and run by the brilliant race organisers, to watch in awe as Seb Hadnett flew past me.
I’m pretty sure the bike course is going to change in future editions and I think that could really enhance this race further.
The run was an out-and-back westerly 2km run followed by an easterly 8km out-and -back which was all then repeated. Lovely and flat but of course windy as heck. The various smells of the fresh fish and dodgy tobacco certainly added to the experience!
Megs was running really strongly as were Jo, Ben Weymouth, Ben N and Emma (I didn’t see Chris) but again it was Seb who was tearing up the course looking like Thor as he steamrollered through the other athletes.
Adam McCulloch and Ben W’s parents gave great support throughout and I am grateful to them, Emily’s mum & our other athletes for most of the photos below.
We will announce all of the club champions at the end of season bash (still working on one or two age cats) but CTC can be very proud of all of our athletes who braved the conditions to achieve some stunning personal achievements and race outcomes.
These include:
1. Megan Mcculloch winning her AG!!
2. Seb Hadnett coming 3rd in AG and a remarkable 27th overall for this novice athlete
3. Emma, in her debut triathlon, coming 3rd in her AG, and
4. Kerrin coming 2nd in his AG in the swim.
I don’t think we have had four podium places before – what a great day for the club!
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