report on the 2013 triathlon CLICK HERE FOR THE RESULTS
The inaugural ORC triathlon has now finished and what an event it was!! There were over 80 competitors who took part, with a large section of first time triatheletes. We would like to thank all the athletes whose participation was both inspiring and heart warming. It is with great pleasure to let you know that the event raised over £4,410.63 for Great Ormond Street. You should all be very proud of yourselves. Whilst the two centres provide a bit of a logistical challenge for the organisers, it was very well run and no one had any difficulties. Lots have said that a well as it being professional, it was the most sociable, and we have certainly never seen so many people finish a triathlon and stay for a few beers and food afterwards. Please read Race Director Neal Turner's experience of the day below. See you in 2014 The ORC! |
Many thanks to all who entered the ORC triathlon on Sunday, hope you enjoyed yourselves it has been heart warming to have so many complimentary replies about the day. I was a bit fazed by it all by the end of the day, I blame the beer or the weather.
How it started
The seeds for the ORC where set when I attended a hair show last August and noticed a bike on one of the show stands and found out that it was a sponsored bike ride in Ibiza where you had to raise £1200 for Great Ormond Street to participate. It being such a vast sum I knew that my two hairdressing shops and all the lovely clients would be happy to sponsor me, I then thought about all my friends at our local pub the Chequers in Laddingford or HQ as it is known to the regulars; and thought why not organise a triathlon as a fundraiser?
My good friend and fellow Chequers Racer Colin miller designed and set up the ORC website, which I think looks great. The next step was meeting Mike Russell triathlon coach who, with his vast knowledge of organising triathlons and training people for such events, was willing to give his time to help set up the event. He suggested we contact Tonbridge school and spoke to Marnie Hadaway who very kindly gave us permission to use the pool.
We did a few hair evenings at the Bladerunners salons to raise money. My favourite was the Kids evening where we let them create and learn hair stuff; a big thanks to Wella hair for supplying stuff for the evenings goody bags.
My trip to Ibiza was superb, a combination of pedal power and fancy foot work at Pacha the club where all the cool people hang out - and me! I made a lot of new friends mainly from the hairdressing world and from the staff and fundraisers at Great Ormond street, I was there for 6 memorable days, returned to work for a week and was then off to Mallorca with our cycling club the Chequers Racers.
The Triathlon
The night before the triathlon I was out with Mike Russell in the wee small hours putting up directions for the course, this was probably even harder than the triathlon; Mike leaping about and falling in the bushes in the pear orchard with his unbounded enthuisiasm. Boy, I will have some of what he's on when I get to his age or even now come to think of it!
Met the race marshalls at 8am feeling a bit groggy but after being confronted by a group of Paddock Wood lionesses, after discovering that they did not know where to position themselves on the course (neither did I), all speaking at the same time, I soon felt a bit sick and wanted to lock myself in my car but, they all posed for a photo things got better - a smile always breaks the tension.
The swim was a blur of stopwatches and having a chat with the Red cross guys, I think I got on Mikes nerves because at one point I lost the stop watch but I found it later, much to his relief. I also went to the toilet about 5 times in this period; I noticed people looking at me thinking there he goes again. I then started my own triathlon as a competitor...
For me when I hit the water I felt a great relief, the organisation in the pool was amazing and I was soon being told that I had two lengths to go, I was pretty pleased with my swim and then got on the bike. Boy the bike course was windy, but a speedy flat 14 miles, great to get the encouragement from the race marshalls including the lionesses my new best friends. It was so well marshalled, I almost forgot there were other road users! Upon arrival at the pub, which was in full voice, I felt a bit emotional and felt like stopping for a pint and a pickled egg, but in true iron man style I headed into the transition area got my trainers on and plodded off on the run thinking about how fast I could do it to get the pickled egg and pint. The run led us round the country lanes of Laddingford and slightly off road round a beautiful pear orchard before winding back to the finish. On finishing I remember doing a Rocky style combination of punches but I was a bit dizzy at this point. The music and compare and singer Debbie Haze was fantastic she has a great voice and her encouragement of the triathletes as they finished gave a real lift to their spirits.
Afterwards I had a pint of water because I had a bit of a headache, so much for the pickled egg and pint, it was nice to embrace my mate Stan but I then thought about my wife Helen so I went and embraced her. My wife Helen unfortunately could not complete the run as her knee was sore (she had completed a half marathon the day before!) so our friend Caroline Miller stepped in for her, running in her jeans as she had not entered. That typifies the ORC spirit, she is a lovely lady who teaches Yoga locally; Yoga Nut.
Talking about the ORC spirit, Nick the taxi guy kindly donated his time 07811207584 to ferry the people back to the start at Tonbridge school. Alex who had entered the triathlon donated some money collected from his student friends and I felt really touched by this. So many others have kindly donated money for such a great cause, I am so grateful to you all. Also the British Red Cross who were very proffesional and helpful on the day.
I then had a massage with Barry Charlton who again donated his time for free, well done Barry, my calf felt a lot better.
After this I helped present the medals made by the kids at Laddingford school at Heavenly Glaze - well done to all the winners! Also the winners flowers looked beautiful, they were donated by Rebecca Bibby at Blooming Green who also competed in her first triathlon that day!
I am so proud of our pub The Chequers, as so many people said it was great to finish an event and socialise with so many friendly souls unlike other events where you finish and there is no camaraderie. The pub is a big part of the local community and there is always so much going on there, my favourite event is the flower and veg show if you have not been before; come along for a great day worm charming, baking a cake or enter in various obscure competitions. My special thanks goes to Charles & Tracey simply couldn't have done it without you.
We also have the ORC which are the Otters (swim) Racers (cycle) and Chasers (runners) which go out on various nights of the week; doing the Triathlon has encouraged us all to try a few different disciplines - please feel free to join us, we are a friendly bunch!
Final thanks to Waitrose for the goody bag which had a drink supplied by them, a t-shirt sponsored by the Chequers, Barrett Roofing, Gemma Griffiths for key rings and pens also Bladerunners Hair and Beauty (they are really good at hair!) East Peckham car sales and Finch cycles.
Will have a meeting to decide about where the ORC triathlon goes from here and hope that you can all join us next year, if anyone has any photos of the day please could they email them to me or any comments on the day.
Many thanks,
Neal Turner
Race Director
LONG LIVE THE ORC!
How it started
The seeds for the ORC where set when I attended a hair show last August and noticed a bike on one of the show stands and found out that it was a sponsored bike ride in Ibiza where you had to raise £1200 for Great Ormond Street to participate. It being such a vast sum I knew that my two hairdressing shops and all the lovely clients would be happy to sponsor me, I then thought about all my friends at our local pub the Chequers in Laddingford or HQ as it is known to the regulars; and thought why not organise a triathlon as a fundraiser?
My good friend and fellow Chequers Racer Colin miller designed and set up the ORC website, which I think looks great. The next step was meeting Mike Russell triathlon coach who, with his vast knowledge of organising triathlons and training people for such events, was willing to give his time to help set up the event. He suggested we contact Tonbridge school and spoke to Marnie Hadaway who very kindly gave us permission to use the pool.
We did a few hair evenings at the Bladerunners salons to raise money. My favourite was the Kids evening where we let them create and learn hair stuff; a big thanks to Wella hair for supplying stuff for the evenings goody bags.
My trip to Ibiza was superb, a combination of pedal power and fancy foot work at Pacha the club where all the cool people hang out - and me! I made a lot of new friends mainly from the hairdressing world and from the staff and fundraisers at Great Ormond street, I was there for 6 memorable days, returned to work for a week and was then off to Mallorca with our cycling club the Chequers Racers.
The Triathlon
The night before the triathlon I was out with Mike Russell in the wee small hours putting up directions for the course, this was probably even harder than the triathlon; Mike leaping about and falling in the bushes in the pear orchard with his unbounded enthuisiasm. Boy, I will have some of what he's on when I get to his age or even now come to think of it!
Met the race marshalls at 8am feeling a bit groggy but after being confronted by a group of Paddock Wood lionesses, after discovering that they did not know where to position themselves on the course (neither did I), all speaking at the same time, I soon felt a bit sick and wanted to lock myself in my car but, they all posed for a photo things got better - a smile always breaks the tension.
The swim was a blur of stopwatches and having a chat with the Red cross guys, I think I got on Mikes nerves because at one point I lost the stop watch but I found it later, much to his relief. I also went to the toilet about 5 times in this period; I noticed people looking at me thinking there he goes again. I then started my own triathlon as a competitor...
For me when I hit the water I felt a great relief, the organisation in the pool was amazing and I was soon being told that I had two lengths to go, I was pretty pleased with my swim and then got on the bike. Boy the bike course was windy, but a speedy flat 14 miles, great to get the encouragement from the race marshalls including the lionesses my new best friends. It was so well marshalled, I almost forgot there were other road users! Upon arrival at the pub, which was in full voice, I felt a bit emotional and felt like stopping for a pint and a pickled egg, but in true iron man style I headed into the transition area got my trainers on and plodded off on the run thinking about how fast I could do it to get the pickled egg and pint. The run led us round the country lanes of Laddingford and slightly off road round a beautiful pear orchard before winding back to the finish. On finishing I remember doing a Rocky style combination of punches but I was a bit dizzy at this point. The music and compare and singer Debbie Haze was fantastic she has a great voice and her encouragement of the triathletes as they finished gave a real lift to their spirits.
Afterwards I had a pint of water because I had a bit of a headache, so much for the pickled egg and pint, it was nice to embrace my mate Stan but I then thought about my wife Helen so I went and embraced her. My wife Helen unfortunately could not complete the run as her knee was sore (she had completed a half marathon the day before!) so our friend Caroline Miller stepped in for her, running in her jeans as she had not entered. That typifies the ORC spirit, she is a lovely lady who teaches Yoga locally; Yoga Nut.
Talking about the ORC spirit, Nick the taxi guy kindly donated his time 07811207584 to ferry the people back to the start at Tonbridge school. Alex who had entered the triathlon donated some money collected from his student friends and I felt really touched by this. So many others have kindly donated money for such a great cause, I am so grateful to you all. Also the British Red Cross who were very proffesional and helpful on the day.
I then had a massage with Barry Charlton who again donated his time for free, well done Barry, my calf felt a lot better.
After this I helped present the medals made by the kids at Laddingford school at Heavenly Glaze - well done to all the winners! Also the winners flowers looked beautiful, they were donated by Rebecca Bibby at Blooming Green who also competed in her first triathlon that day!
I am so proud of our pub The Chequers, as so many people said it was great to finish an event and socialise with so many friendly souls unlike other events where you finish and there is no camaraderie. The pub is a big part of the local community and there is always so much going on there, my favourite event is the flower and veg show if you have not been before; come along for a great day worm charming, baking a cake or enter in various obscure competitions. My special thanks goes to Charles & Tracey simply couldn't have done it without you.
We also have the ORC which are the Otters (swim) Racers (cycle) and Chasers (runners) which go out on various nights of the week; doing the Triathlon has encouraged us all to try a few different disciplines - please feel free to join us, we are a friendly bunch!
Final thanks to Waitrose for the goody bag which had a drink supplied by them, a t-shirt sponsored by the Chequers, Barrett Roofing, Gemma Griffiths for key rings and pens also Bladerunners Hair and Beauty (they are really good at hair!) East Peckham car sales and Finch cycles.
Will have a meeting to decide about where the ORC triathlon goes from here and hope that you can all join us next year, if anyone has any photos of the day please could they email them to me or any comments on the day.
Many thanks,
Neal Turner
Race Director
LONG LIVE THE ORC!