FARNHAM Triathlon Club had five representatives at the ITU Triathlon World Championships in Cozumel, Mexico.

Heat and humidity was a feature of the event, most publicly demonstrated by the collapse of Jonny Brownlee while leading the men’s elite race before being helped over the finish line by brother Alistair.

No such misfortune befell the Farnham contingent who had all gained qualification for their respective races from domestic competitions earlier in the season.

Oscar Coggins was representing his previous nation of Hong Kong in the junior men’s elite race over the sprint distance of 750m swim, 20km draft-legal cycle and 5km run.

The non-wetsuit swim saw Coggins exit the sea on the heels of the leaders after recording 9mins 13secs, with less than a minute separating the leading 75 athletes which subsequently formed a large pack for most of the four-lap cycle.

How competitors coped with the sweltering conditions on the closing two-lap run would prove vital and a solid time of 17-54 saw Coggins take 23rd place in 56mins 7secs, just two minutes behind winner Austin Hindman of the USA.

The sprint distance age-group championship races also took place on a draft-legal basis and the three FTC members in action were Lynda Coggins in the women’s 50-54 category, Gillian Barrett (55-59) and Sue Graves (65-69).

Coggins led her wave out of the swim and cycle transitions before being overhauled on the run, but still finished an excellent sixth overall in 1hr 14mins 14secs. Barrett paced consistently throughout to record 1-35-47 for 28th in her age-group, while Graves added her growing world championship finishers’ medal collection with eighth place in 2-00-08.

Farnham results:

Lynda Coggins, cat pos 6 F50-54, Swim 11:37, Bike 33:31, Run 25:26, Overall 1:14:14; Gillian Barrett, 28 F55-59, 22:53, 38:35, 28:55, 1:35:47; Sue Graves, 8 F65-69, 38:16, 43:28, 32:17, 2:00:08.

Richard Brooke was the club’s sole representative in the standard-distance event which comprised a 1500m swim, 40km cycle and 10km run.

Racing in the men’s 45-49 category, Brooke backed up an 18-48 swim to move into medal contention with the second fastest cycle of 59-35 before the heat took its toll on the 10km run which he completed in 48-07 to finish 16th (2-10-43) behind a large contingent of more acclimatised Mexican athletes.

Brooke had also competed in the aquathlon championships, consisting of a 1000m swim sandwiched between two 2.5km runs, just four days previously where he finished an excellent seventh M45 in 38-36.

Another recent triathlon world championship event was the Ironman 70.3 which took place on Australia’s sunshine coast of Mooloolaba in Queensland.

Mark Richardson of Farnham Tri had qualified for this one and was delighted to record a personal best 4hrs 50mins 17secs for the traditional half-Ironman distances of 1.2-mile sea swim, 56-mile cycle and 13.1-mile run.

Richardson, who is in full training to compete at the full -distance version in Hawaii in October, placed 32nd (1st Brit) in the 50-54 age group with splits of 28-44 (swim), 2-32-06 bike and 1-37-55 run.

Three club members took on Ironman Vichy in France. Mike Pounds and Chris Waters completed it for the first time and Katherine Howells improved on her previous time by over 90 minutes.

Results:

Mike Pounds, 769, 162 M40-44, 1:13:40, 5:17:11, 4:52:15, 11:41:52; Katherine Howells, 1421, 30 F35-39, 1:32:25, 6:39:55, 5:39:21, 14:07:09; Chris Waters, 1535, 234 M45-49, 1:49:21, 6:46:28, 6:37:02, 15:31:28.

On the domestic front, Ironman Weymouth and 70.3 is a new addition to the calendar and saw six Farnham members travel to Dorset keen to test the waters.

David Arthur took on the full distances of 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile cycle and 26.2-mile run and joined the club’s rapidly lengthening list of Ironman finishers with an overall time of 13hrs 58mins 21secs (1:24:34, 7:19:37, 4:54:29) for 53rd M50.

In the half-distance version, pride of place went to Jo Wright who took first overall in the F18-24 age-group to add another win to her impressive fledgling triathlon CV.

Wright clocked 5-23-50, a full half-hour ahead of the next finisher.

First in for Farnham was Mark Tomlinson in 5hrs 20mins 25secs.

Results:

Mark Tomlinson, 188, 26 M30-34, 37:29, 2:54:51, 1:39:05, 5:20:25; Jo Wright, 222, 1 F18-24, 36:04, 2:55:18, 1:43:43, 5:23:50; James Plummer, 298, 34 M25-29, 32:32, 3:03:14, 1:46:16, 5:32:59; Keith Conradi, 424, 28 M50-54, 37:40, 3:04:25, 1:54:04, 5:45:01; Charles Miller, 943, 69 M50-54, 34:55, 3:36:13, 2:08:48, 6:35:38.

Another popular end-of-season middle-distance triathlon is the Vitruvian (1900m swim, 85km bike, 21km run) which takes place at Rutland Water in Leicestershire.

This year, the event incorporated the Triathlon England Age-Group Championships and of the five FTC representatives, Claudia Shand was the most successful, coming away with the winner’s medal in the F60-64 category.

Results:

Nicola Ferguson, 461, 10 (F) 30-34, 48:33, 2:54:02, 1:45:02, 5:35:41; Rosalind Hook, 617, 20 (F) 40-44, 42:21, 3:07:23, 2:07:12, 6:03:45; Martin Jackson, 623, 115 (M) 40-44, 46:17, 3:02:35, 2:10:22, 6:05:00; Stephen Barr, 721, 72 (M) 50-54, 41:09, 3:21:36, 2:25:47, 6:36:28; Claudia Shand, 763, 1 (F) 60-64, 45:41, 3:33:27, 2:47:08, 7:16:31.