EARLY-SEASON Ironman races have featured some notable performances by Farnham Triathlon Club members.

The club’s count of finishers of the ultimate triathlon distances of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile cycle and 26.2-mile run has now rolled past the 300 mark.

Ideal conditions and a lightning fast course in Woodlands, Texas for the North American Championships drew more than 2,500 athletes representing 50 USA states and 53 countries, including Farnham Tri members George Gray and Barnaby Gray (no relation).

With minimal elevation on both bike and run sections, times were expected to be quick, but George Gray, in his seventh race over the distance, showed a remarkable combination of speed and endurance to take over an hour off his previous best to finish in an overall 9hrs 1min 29secs, almost 30 minutes quicker than the club record.

He completed the point-to-point swim in the Lake Woodlands Waterway in 57mins 24secs, taking to the bike 15th in a competitive 35-39 age-group. His strongest discipline was completed in an impressive 4hrs 28mins 38secs before finishing off the race with an improved marathon split of 3-28-54 to take 103rd overall and 20th in age category.

Barnaby Gray improved his personal best by over an hour, clocking 10-42-09 for 73rd M45-49 with a 1-15-36 swim, 5-09-50 cycle and 4-06-22 run.

The overall race winner was Matt Hanson of the USA in a new world record time of 7hrs 39mins 25secs.

With a mass-start swim in the Atlantic, a total bike elevation of over 2,500 metres, including the mountain passes of Haria and Mirador del Rio, unrelenting 20mph cross-winds and an unsheltered hot and humid marathon, Ironman Lanzarote has never been considered a fast course, but remains one of the iconic long-distance triathlon destinations, particularly for the British who this year represented nearly a third of a 1,600 strong field.

Four experienced long-distance triathletes from the Farnham club made the journey to the Canary Islands for the 27th edition of this event and despite recording nowhere near record times, Nick Holmes, Chris Taylor-Firth, Andrew Robertson and Iain Wheatley were all happy to once again tick the finisher’s box after a long hot day of racing.

First home for FTC was Holmes in 12hrs 53mins 14secs for fifth M60-64, coincidentally giving him the honour of being the club’s 300th all-time iron distance triathlon finisher.

The race was won by Italy’s Alessandro De Gasperi in 8-52-16. Britain’s Lucy Gossage regained her 2014 women’s crown in 9-49-26.

FTC results: Nick Holmes, Pos 728, Cat pos 5 M60-64, Swim 1-11-31, Bike 6-57-45, Run 4-30-02, Overall 12-53-14; Chris Taylor-Firth, 875, 36 M55-59, 1-16-40, 7-15-39, 4-31-16, 13-18-56; Andrew Robertson, 1095, 196 M45-49, 1-23-08, 7-17-27, 5-05-51, 13-59-17; Iain Wheatley, 1129, 201 M45-49, 1-26-04, 7-06-05, 5-18-15, 14-06-29.

Back in the UK, the Enduroman Festival of Ultra Events at Avon Tyrrell in the New Forest saw Farnham’s top ultra triathlete, Matt Winn-Smith, return to the course, this time taking on the ‘single enduroman’ distance race of 2.4-mile lake swim, 116-mile lapped cycle around the village of Burley and multi-lap off-road 26-mile run.

Winn-Smith was a clear winner of the event, completing the distance in virtual time-trial fashion in 11-08-18 with splits of swim 1-03-16, bike 6-08-33 and run 3-55-00.

On the domestic front, the Hart Triathlon always has a show of force from Farnham Tri as the first event in their season-long competition. This year was no exception, with 28 members at the new Hart Leisure Centre in Church Crookham for a 400m pool swim, 20km cycle and 5km run.

The most notable Farnham performance was Hannah Kitchen’s overall victory in the ladies’ race in 57mins 39secs. Dan Pearce (55-48) was first in for FTC in third place behind winner Andrew Glenville (54-33).

Age-group wins also went to Daniel Cooke (M Junior), Hannah Kitchen (F25), James Plummer (M25), Nigel Fisher (M50), Anna Bellamy (F45), Penny Abbott (F50) and Sue Graves (F65).

FTC results:

Pos 3, Daniel Pearce, Cat pos 2 (M) 40-44, 55-48; 4, Daniel Cooke, 1 (M) Junior 17-18, 55-55; 8, Hannah Kitchen, 1 (F) 25-29, 57-39; 9, James Plummer, 1 (M) 25-29, 58-32; 10, Leo Maliphant, 2 (M) 25-29, 58-33; 13, Michael Rix, 2 (M) 45-49, 1-00-02; 19, Jaime Pearce, 5 (M) 40-44, 1-01-26; 24, Nigel Fisher, 1 (M) 50-54, 1-02-47; 27, Anna Bellamy, 1 (F) 40-44, 1-02-58; 38, Simon Fletcher, 8 (M) 45-49, 1-04-27; 116, Karl Jackson, 26 (M) 45-49, 1-12-16; 126, Steve Wallace, 14 (M) 50-54, 1-12-52; 131, Debbie Duncalf, 2 (F) 55-59, 1-13-05; 141, Stephen Barr, 15 (M) 50-54, 1-13-35; 146, Ozzy Djemal, 20 (M) 40-44, 1-13-56; 156, Gary Caswell, 18 (M) 50-54, 1-14-34; 157, Penny Abbott, 1 (F) 50-54, 1-14-36; 158, Kevin Abbott, 34 (M) 45-49, 1-14-42; 159, Guy Clayton, 19 (M) 50-54, 1-14-59; 164, Helen Collett, 3 (F) 55-59,01-15-26; 175, Samuel Polden, 4 (M) 20-24, 1-16-22; 177, Claire Jackson, 5 (F) 45-49, 1-16-32; 180, Darron Antill, 24 (M) 50-54, 1-16-49; 185, Andrew Pickup, 8, (M) 60-64, 1-17-21; 198, David Barrett, 10, (M) 60-64, 1-18-45; 199, Sue Graves, 1, (F) 65-69, 1-18-52; 208, Pip Barr, 12, (F) 40-44, 1-20-13; 254, John Bennison, 13, (M) 60-64, 1-24-22.