The Owler Triathlon took place on Sunday 3rd August over in Ashford. The event is part of the Triathlon England Major Events support programme and a great days competition was had by all!

Hundreds of triathletes took part in the Owler Triathlons on Sunday 3rd August, with two extreme distance veterans taking on two full iron-distance events, having raced one event on Saturday before arriving to take their place in the Owler full iron-distance in Ashford on Sunday.

The weather was kind to competitors who took to the waters of Conningbrook Lake just after 7am to complete a 3.8K swim, followed by a challenging 180K bike ride that took them out through Wye and up towards Chilham and Charing on a two-loop course with around 900m of climbing on each loop. They then completed the epic event with a 42K full marathon run, which took them through the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Ashford in what is believed to be the first time a triathlon has traversed a shopping centre during live trade.

The Owler Full Tri winner was Pierre Godof who completed the entire course in an great time of 10.35.59, with Neil Strange of Tri Spirit Team taking second place in an impressive time of 11.00.19, beating his previous personal best by around 45 minutes. Third place went to Lee McAnulty who finished in 11.15.26.

The ladies’ full triathlon was won by Katie Sherwood in a brilliant 11.23.01, followed by Ocean Lake Tri’s Lucy Tomlinson in 12.46.25, and Gill Elstub in 13.17.12. The team event was won by Team Crosskeys who finished in 11.18.46.

Liz King, event director for Tri Spirit Events, said: “All of the triathletes did fantastically well on a hot day, and it was great to see so many smiling faces as they came across the line, realising the magnitude of what they had just achieved.

“The McArthurGlen Ashford Designer Outlet part of the run route was consistently mentioned as a highlight for the runners, and many of them even found themselves getting emotional as they went through the centre as a result of the huge support they received from the people of Ashford in there. So a big thank you to those people who offered their support and encouragement to the triathletes as they came through the town centre, and of course to the amazing staff at McArthurGlen.

Entries are already coming in for the Owler Triathlons 2015, and more information can be found at www.trispiritevents.com.