As the British summer draws to a close we look back at September’s fantastic race results, which yet again exceeded our expectations. This month we would like to recognise the huge efforts that has gone into this season. At Team Dillon we appreciate the commitment to the grind and the support from family and loved ones that have helped achieve these results too. We shall now look back at what excellent endeavours were made from our athletes this month.
We kick this month off with David Inglis completing the 120km bike race up in Scotland. Inglis attacked the race hard and earnt fantastic miles in the bank. Anne Clarke and Steve Clarke added Luana Bardi to their fabulous partnership to make up a brilliant team relay performance at the Cotswold Triathlon. Meanwhile Brusk Korkmaz and Nick Pitt smashed the course round the Swindon Half Marathon to post 2 personal bests for our dynamic duo. Brusk raced his way to a 1:39.09, getting stronger all the time and Nick to a 1:26.58.
The teamwork continued with Johan Moolman competing at the Cascais 70.3 in Portugal. Johan clocked a fantastic time of 5hours 31sec . Johan has really improved this season under the guidance of Team Dillon and we are really proud of his results. Kirsty Middlemist was also competing this weekend at the Bala Olympic distance where again she posted a great performance finishing in a time of 3.02. Alex Lake was in good company competing at another qualifying event and placed a solid 27th place at Bala.
Our youngest athlete, Alex Deans took the win at Reading triathlon by 2 minutes. Alex has been very unfortunate with injuries this year, however he has battled through and remained strong and it’s great to see all his hard work paying off. This result comes for Alex just one week after a great placing at the British Triathlon U20 festival. Kirsty Middlemist raced to a superb PB by over 1 hour 15 minutes at the Woburn middle distance triathlon. Kirsty clocked a tremendous 7:04.26 and came 3rd in her age group. Adrian Collyer also rose to the occasion, raced the Woking triathlon and came 16th in his age group with a 1 minute personal best over the sprint distance.
Jamie Chatfield was competing at World 70.3 in Chattanooga after qualifying earlier this year. Jamie has had an incredible season so far, however in the lead up Jamie had some injuries and was unlucky to catch a cold the week before the race. However Jamie still posted an awesome time of 4.59, after such a challenging lead up. This was an incredible performance from Jamie. David Inglis was again out tackling the muddy miles in Scotland, this time running a hilly 10km. Nick Herbert and Lori Westcott faced the coastal conditions of Weymouth 70.3. The swim was choppy, the bike rolling and the run far from relieving! Lori backed up her win in Lanzarote just two weeks ago with a fantastic 5th place in a stacked field. Nick also hit his target with a superb top 20 finish, placing 19th in a very strong age group. Lisa Roberts who was coached 7 years ago by Michelle Dillon, came back to TDC for coaching towards Weymouth 70.3. Lisa won her age group beating her nearest rival by 31minutes. Lisa clocked an incredible time of 5.14.50.
Next we had some brilliant individual performances and efforts from other members of our team. Anne Clarke completed the 100 mile New Forest sportive in a great time of 7 hours 27mins. Unfortunately our TDC gazelle Louise Croxson came down with a vomiting bug 24 hours before her World Championship race. Louise still turned up and this shows her tough determination that will keep her fighting for more. Toby Cole raced at the Richmond Park Sprint Duathlon. Toby finished 12th in his age group clocking a great time of 40.17. Guy Gillon was racing in Weymouth 70.3. Guy put in a great performance to finish in a time 5.16.03.
It was then time for the first of the Super League races for the females. Emma Pallant was out competing against Olympic champions and some of the fastest women in the sport. Emma showed excellent speed in the legs and got through the first two rounds. Pallant just missed the cut off by 90 seconds, which meant her and other big names were to sit out for the last race. This race was incredibly exciting, and Emma will be back to give even more at the next event. Alex Lake was out competing the same weekend at Hever Castle in the elite field. Alex earnt a 5minute pb from last year in his first ever elite competition. This was an excellent result for the developing athlete. Steven Honeymoon also had cause for celebration after clocking a fantastic time of 36 minutes and 2 seconds in the Helix duathlon.
As the final summer month came to a close TDC finished it off in style. Jon Baguley smashed his personal best at Ealing half marathon. He reached a scorching 1 hour 20 minute time for this distance. A fantastic performance for a hugely determined Team Dillon athlete we are fortunate to see progress week after week.
As we can see even when the season begins to close out TDC athletes are still out their fighting every weekend. We are truly thrilled with this months results, personal bests and commitment to training. This month we saw a result that kept us all fighting for glory. This result was achieved by a special and spectacular performance from Emma Pallant. It was important we highlight the exceptional result for Emma. At the World 70.3 Championships in Chattanooga, Emma took the silver medal in the best field of females in middle distance racing. This is a career highlight for the young female and her coach Michelle Dillon. We would like to congratulate Emma on all the effort she put into this as the medal tells the story. We hope this motivates you to achieve more.
To conclude, we shall finish with comments from Head Coach Michelle Dillon on this month’s highlights.
“As we are starting to wind down with most of our A races completed, there are still goals and targets being set by our athletes. Our athletes are showing us they are not finished yet! There are some exciting races round the corner and as always we are super proud of everyone. We want to wish you the best of luck, finish off the season strong and remember the team are right behind you!”
Thanks for reading,
The TDC Team
Written by Michelle Dillon & Caitlin Bradley
