PRACTISE has made perfect for a group of novice triathletes.

Under the guidance of JBR Run & Tri Club coaches, more than 20 people completed a 10 week training programme before taking part in a testing triathlon event at the weekend.

And lead coach Jon Brown was delighted with the outcome.

“It’s been another great year doing the course and everyone has done really well to finish the triathlon at the end of it,” said Brown.

“It’s very rewarding to see how far everyone has progressed during the 10 weeks and it’s a great way to get people with an interest in triathlon involved in the sport.

“During the 10 weeks we’ve covered all three aspects of triathlon in quite a lot of depth and obviously the transitions between them as well.

Echo:

Splash hit - Joe Kane leads the way in the swimming pool

“Everyone had their own goals and we didn’t treat the final event as a race.

“People started at different times in the pool and we treated it as their graduation to put into practise everything they had learned during the 10 weeks.

“Everyone deserves to be praised for how well they’ve done and I would also like to say a massive thank you to all the coaches who gave up their time every Sunday morning to help out and also to everyone at David Lloyd for the use of their facilities.”

The triathletes completed their course in testing wet and windy conditions on Sunday.

Those taking part swam 300 metres before cycling 10 miles and finishing off with a 5k run.

Echo:

Making good progress - Sharon Johnson

>For more details on taking up triathlon visit www.runandtriclub.com

ECHOSPORT JOINS IN WITH TRIATHLON FUN

I HAVE often toyed with the idea of trying out triathlon.

But the idea of having to swim for any considerable amount of time or being seen in public wearing a skin-tight costume have often put me off!

However, an invitation from the JBR Run and Tri Club saw me confront those fears and attend the 10 week long beginners course for triathlon.

Sadly, my new regime did not get off to the best of starts when someone stole the wheels off my bike outside my flat in Southend before my swimming shorts - which I had not worn for quite some time - seemed unable to stay up.

But once I found another bike I could use and a pair of law-abiding shorts I began to make some small improvements.

Swimming is certainly not something that comes easily to me and, to be entirely honest, it is probably among my least favourite things to do!

In truth, I’m Southend’s version of Eric the Eel and feel far from at home in the water.

But, as the weeks progressed, I was able to become slightly more confident in the pool and was at least able to get up to the required distance which - at first - had been quite a concern.

During the 10 weeks we also learnt about what we needed to do during the transition progress and in what order things must be done to avoid disqualification.

We all met VERY early every Sunday morning at David Lloyd to be put through our paces before putting everything we learnt into practise in Sunday’s race.

One way or another I made it round, rather slowly, but the whole process was far tougher than I originally anticipated.

Despite that, I would like to continue and improve my new found skills, just probably without the swimming!

CHRIS PHILLIPS