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National Relays 02 August 08East
Essex proudly sent 8 teams into battle at the National Relays in The
morning session saw the ladies take to the water with a 9am start. Team
"Oh Yah!" leading the way with a strong swim, cycle and run to
finish in 23rd place in the Female section. The "Essex Bunnies"
were not too far behind in 45th place and the "Blues and Twos"
(including Dave knight in the first of his two races for the day!) finishing
in 56th place. The
afternoon session saw the remaining 5 EETC teams take to the water against
over 200 other teams. The Male Junior team showed just how strong our junior
section are by finishing as second male junior team and 27th Male team
overall. The other 4 teams had their own mini competition and it was nip and
tuck right up to the end. The "Crash Matts"
were first out of the water followed by the "Bobby Charltons",
the "Budgie Smugglers" and the "Hairy Six Pack". By the
end of the bike leg the "Budgie Smugglers" had gained back two
places to lead the others by over 2 minutes, with 10 seconds seperating the "Crash Matts"
and "Bobby Charltons". It was
nail biting stuff as everyone waited in the run transition area for the first
runner to round the corner. Graham Shaddock from the "Bobby Charltons" had a very strong run and managed to claw
his team back into the lead. This lead changed hands again by the time the
second runners returned to transition as young Matt Brown gave the
"Crash Matts" the lead again. Tom Giggins kept the lead for the Matts
while Charlie Baynes fought his way back into seond place for the Budgies. It was
all down to the last runners and the excitement built - would Richard catch
Matt Pickett? The answer was a resounding ‘No’ as Matt came
steaming down the final stretch to a deafening sound from the EETC fans,
followed 30 seconds later by the club chairman - suitably wearing a pair of
briefs outside his tri suit. Zena Shean, in her second race of the day, brought the
"Bobby Charltons" home followed by Steve
Fisher for the "Hairy Six Pack" - accompanied by the EETC kids and
a standing ovation from the crowd. |
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