A Year with EUTriC
The club has gone from strength to strength this year with membership topping 75 Athletes and this was reflected in the growing profile of the club, our Facebook page surpassed 500 likes. Members have been active in both training and competition throughout the year. Here are a few of the highlights.
September
Freshers Week
The year was kicked off with the club running eight taster sessions over the course of fresher’s week as well as the committee’s relentless harassing of students on forum hill. However, this paid off at the freshers fair where over 45 new members signed up. This was followed up by a memorable night arranged by our fantastic social secs, Quang Tran and Ellen P-k.
October
Great West Run
The club fielded 8 participants in the Great West Run who all put in great efforts round the half marathon distance. Special mention goes to former men’s captain, Ollie Thorogood who finished 8th overall in 1:17:25.
November
BUCS Duathlon
We had 22 athletes competing in the BUCS duathlon at Castle Combe Circuit. Congratulations to all athletes who braved the cold and raced fantastically. We had some brilliant times across the board. For the boys Jack Bond (24), Captain, Harry Preston (56) and Vice-Captain, Alex Foyn (73) all finished in the top 100 of their category!
And for the girls Social Sec, Ellen P-K (65), Publicity Sec, Alice Carr (76) and Events Sec, Lizzie Hobbs (86) all obtained top 100 places as well. In what was a competitive field, all athletes put in strong performances especially those doing a Duathlon for the first time.
December
Christmas Dinner
Our annual Christmas Dinner was another fantastic success with 34 members enjoying an evening at Harry’s followed up by the night in Unit 1. We owe a special thanks to Ellen and Quang who put in so much effort to make it a fantastic night.
Festive Bike Ride
The last Sunday ride of term had a festive theme with those that braved the cold being treated to Vice-Captain, Alex Foyn, dressed in full Father Christmas attire. A memorable sight for both our members, and the walkers out that Sunday on the Exe Estuary Trail who we treated to EUTriC’s rendition of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas” as they passed.
January
Fresher’s 2017
2017 was kicked off to a flying start with great turnouts for our refreshers events.
Beach Boot Camp
On an unseasonably warm Saturday morning, 20 members took the train to Dawlish Warren to take part in our first Beach Boot Camp Session. This was a major success with the session consisting of circuits and shuttle runs. Big thanks to Ellen P-K for her fantastic coaching and keeping us motivated!
February
Dawlish Aquathlon
The Dawlish Aquathlon Kicked of the 2017 race calendar and the aquathlon series. 7 athletes from the club competed in what were rather chilly conditions. For many, this was their first ever aquathlon and was a great race for them to get a feel for multi-discipline events. Congratulations to all athletes who completed the 600m swim and 5k run. Special mentions go to Tim Gordon who won his category and Emily Burnell who was our first girl home.
Float Fit
The club was treated to a float fit taster with 20 members taking part in a 2 half hour session which involved a mixture of body weight exercises on floats. Great fun was had by all but there was a consensus that we are best sticking to triathlons!
Exeter Half Marathon
Congratulations goes to Katie Lambert, Grace Jessett, Lizzie Hobbs and Tim Gordon who braved snow and freezing temperatures to complete the Exeter half marathon on Saturday and Sunday morning. For Grace, it was her first ever half which she completed in an impressive 1 hour 38 minutes. Tim was also happy with his performance obtaining a new PB in a time of 1 hour 17 minutes. Well done all!
Swimming Varsity
Six of our athletes went rouge to fill in for the swimming team to take part in the university swimming varsity. A special mention goes to Quang Tran who took one for the team to race the 100m fly.
March
AGM
March was kicked off by our annual general meeting. Congratulations to all the incoming committee with Ellen P-K taking up the Captaincy role and Grace Jessett her Vice-Captain. Jenny Withers was elected Treasurer; Alex Foyn as Publicity Secretary; Finn Arentz as Events Secretary; Brian Tai as Stash Secretary; Harry Preston as Alumni Officer and our two new Social Secs were Molly Perkins and Allan Truman.
Sidmouth Aquathlon
We had 20 athletes take part in the Sidmouth Aquathlon. The girls put in some strong performances with solid times across the board. Ellen P-K was our first girl home in a time 32:03 and Molly Perkins also performing fantastically coming second in her age group at what was her first ever aquathlon. The boys competed equally well with Finn Arentz coming 2nd place in his age group in a time of 28:26. Ollie Thorogood, the aquathlon superstar as always, performed well, coming 3rd overall in a time of 26:00.
April
Majorca Training Camp 2017
9 of our athletes travelled to Majorca for a week of training in the sun. The groups motto; “train, sunbathe, eat, repeat!’ Across the week the group covered over 300km on the bike. Amongst the many rides, they scaled Sa Calobra, one of the biggest climbs in Majorca and regarded as a Mecca for cyclists. Training also included running sessions and open water swimming along the Majorcan coastline, thanks goes to coach Kevin for organising the trip and making the whole thing a tremendous success.
London Marathon
Rob Mann finished in an epic time of 2:32:32! Not too far behind was Finn Arentz who finished in a time of 2:59 under his target of 3hrs.
May
BUCS Sprint Triathlon
We took 20 athletes to Calne for BUCS sprint triathlon, for many it was their first Triathlon. After an early start and some creative tent construction, racing was underway. The girls did brilliantly, special mention goes to Ellen P-K who finished in 1:24:51, placing her 50th overall! Emily Brunel was happy to get a pb in a time of 1:28:37, closely followed by third fasted girl Isabel Cole in 1:29:56. On the boy’s side, Morgan Freeman matched his fiancé, Emily, by also achieving a PB. Tim Gordon was our fastest male, coming 62nd in a time of 1:11:10. Captain, Harry Preston was our second fastest male finishing in 1:13:25, he was followed by Finn Arentz in 1:16:23 who edged out Alex Foyn with 1:16:32. A fantastic day was had by all and special mentions go to coach, Kevin for supporting.
Donut Duathlon
Tim Gordon took part in the Donut Duathlon in Torbay, consisting of a 5k run, 15k bike ride and then another 2.5k run. Tim raced fantastically, finishing in a time of 50:49 and coming winning the event overall!
Exeter University Aquathlon
Ollie Thorogood was our only member to take part in the last in the Exeter aquathlon series, due to its clash with BUCS. Ollie put in a strong performance, placing 3rd overall in a time of 25:24. This was enough for Ollie to win the overall title of the series for the second year running!
Exe Valley Triathlon
Due to the immense popularity of this event and places filling up in record time, EUTriC did not have as many members racing at the Exe Valley Triathlon as previous years, however we were still represented by Pierre Terlinden-Ruhl, Tim Gordon and alumni, Jack Bristow who finished second overall in a time of 1:02:00! He edged out Tim Gordon in a time of 1:04:28, placing 3rd.
Run Exe Relays 2017
We had 3 teams participating, two boys teams and a girls team. The teams were as follows:
EUTriC 1 – Ollie Thorogood – Callum Aldous – Tim Gordon – Finn Arentz
EUTriC 2 – Morgan Freeman – Quang Tran – Allan Truman – Pierre Terlinden Ruhl
EUTriC Girls – Grace Jesset – Chantal D’Arcy – Katie Lambert – Molly Perkins
A very strong opening from Ollie put EUTriC 1 in 1st place with the other two teams not far behind. The teams kept up the pace doing great jobs holding their positions. Tim running third leg for EUTriC 1, brought the team back into first place, running the 2nd fastest time of the evening. EUTriC 1 came home in 3rd place overall. They were followed by EUTriC 2 and EUTriC Girls shortly after in 20th and 46th respectively with the girls also finishing as the 8th overall female team. Overall, it was a fantastic evening for the club with some outstanding performances against some really strong teams from all over the southwest.
Taunton Triathlon
Ellen P-k, Simon Jones, Quang Tran and Becca Locke all took part in the Sprint Distance triathlon and did the club proud. A huge congratulations goes to Ellen P-K who was the fastest female of the day finishing in an amazing time of 1:23:55! Becca Locke also did well, finishing 4th in the senior women’s category in a time of 1:32:25. Simon Jones finished in a time of 1:24:15 and 4th in the senior men’s category with Quang Tran following in a very respectable 9th in his age group. It was fantastic to have such great performances helping EUTriC to continue to make our mark in the South West.
June
End of Season Dinner
We rounded off a fantastic season with our end of season dinner at the Water Front. A massive thank you goes to Ellen and Quang once again for organising everything and making the evening an enormous success! Prizes were supplied by a number of our sponsors; the club would like to thank Hammer Sports, SIS, Yellow Jersey Cycling Insurance and CurraNZ sport. Prizes were awarded to Female Triathlete of the Year (Ellen P-K), Male Triathlete of the Year (Finn Arentz), Most Improved Triathlete (Simon Jones) and The Captain’s Triathlete of the Year (Alice Carr).
Farewell to Kevin
It’s with much regret that Kevin will be leaving us after 3 years coaching the club. We can’t thank him enough for the fantastic contribution he has made to the club which has really grown since he joined! From everyone at EUTriC we wish him the best of for the future!