First up on a wet and chilly Saturday morning was seven-year old Cameron Stott who was racing in the boys' Scootathlon (400m run, 300m scoot, 200m run).

Cameron was in second place in the boy's race after the first run but got overtaken in the first transition.

A strong performance on his scooter kept him in touch and he was able to retake second position in the second transition, which he was able to hold onto as he crossed the finishing line.

Next up were Aoife Allison (13) and Ryan Coupland (10) who were racing in the Children's Triathlon, which comprised a 50m open water swim, 3k cycle and a 1500m run.

This race combined all the age groups in one race, so Aoife and Ryan were racing against competitors from eight to 15 years of age.

Out of a total field of 107 Aoife took third place in her age group (32nd overall) and Ryan took a top 16 place in his age group.

Making her racing debut was Claire Allison, racing in the Women's Only Super Sprint Triathlon (200m open water swim, 10k cycle, 4k run).

By the time Claire took to the start line the weather had improved considerably.

Before the race she had set a target of completing the race in under an hour and strong performances in both the bike and run legs saw her dip well inside this with a finish time of 57:53.

This was enough to give Claire a top 40 finish overall and fifth in her age group.

Sunday morning featured club members racing in both the Sprint (750m open water swim, 25k bike, 5k run) and Standard (1500m open water swim, 44k bike, 10k run) races and for both events the bike course took racers out onto the open roads of South Yorkshire.

The bike course this year was particularly tough as it was both longer and more hilly than in 2008. Pride of place in the Sprint event went to Sarah Hutchinson who took fourth place in her age group (F 30 – 34) with a time of 1:36:31.

Making their open water race debuts were Conrad Watson and Craig Jeacock and returning from last year was Hugh Barnett. Watson finished in 1:41:26 and Jeacock completed his race in 1:55:32.

Not only was this Jeacock's first open water race, but his first ever triathlon and it sets a good benchmark.

Racing in the Standard distance event was club chairman, Steve Melhuish and he completed his race in 2:20:33, giving him fifth place in his age group (M 45-49).Raising money for Bowel Cancer UK, and in memory of her late father, Sally Hughes made her middle-distance debut at the Bala Triathlon in North Wales.

This race comprised a 1900m swim, 90k bike and 21k run and was also the British Triathlon Middle Distance National Championships.
Sally completed the race in 5:20:09 and raised over £550 for her efforts. Sally's swim time was 46:39, and the 90k bike leg was completed in 2:52:34.

Her time for the concluding half-marathon run was 1:37:25, an average speed of nearly 13km/hour. Sally's web-site is still accepting donations at www.justgiving.com/tribala

Also racing at Bala was Deborah Hudson who finished in 6:41:56.
Rutland Water saw the annual Dambuster race. This is run over the Standard distance and has in previous years been a qualifying event for world championships.

This year saw three Mansfield Triathlon Club members competing - Ian Conn, Pete Orme and Sarah Hutchinson.

Stepping up from her performance at Rother Valley and making her debut at this distance, Hutchinson completed the race in 2:42:11 giving her 15th place in her age group out of a field of 52.

Conn completed his race in 2:22:55 with Orme finishing in 2:29:11, giving Orme sixth place in his age group.

Racing in the National Age Group Championships (Standard distance) at Druridge Bay, Northumberland were Hannah Mulcaster and Chris Shooter. Mulcaster missed out on a podium finish by a mere 14 seconds finishing fourth in her age group in 2:17:59. Shooter finished in 2:20:09, which gave him 14th in his age group.