THE fact that less than a minute covered the first three finishers of last Sunday?s Okehampton triathlon showed what a keenly contested event it was.

Twenty one hardy souls took up the challenge of swimming 300 metres, cycling 14 miles and running six miles, and for some this was their first taste of triathlon.

After swimming the 12 lengths at Okehampton pool the competitors made their way quickly across the park to the transition area at the Mill Road college entrance for the change-over to bike. The bike route was to Whiddon Down and back.

The run route started from the college to the pool, turning left taking the track to Ball Hill, up Tramlines to the station then along Parklands and up to Klondyke corner before following the path back down to the A30 walk bridge, back along Parklands again before crossing Tors Road, down through the woods to the river, up past the castle before turning right into New Road and returning to the finish at the College.

The fastest individual time for the three disciplines was Chris Hodgson with 1.37.13, closely followed in second place by Jacky Rice on 1.37.20. Mike Rice came third with 1.38.07.

After exiting the swim with 13 seconds between them Jacky really put herself in contention on the bike leg with the fastest bike split of 45.27, which gave her a three minutes lead over Chris going into the run.. With running being his strongest event Chris pegged back Jacky eventually, to catch and pass her close to the finish and took the win with 7 seconds to spare.

The team prize went to the trio of Stephanie Worth, John Dowman and Gary Herbert who covered the distance in 1.34.21.

A special mention must be made of junior competitors Johnny Grayling and Matthew Westlake, who both attend the college. Johnny, who took part in last year?s event and started well, only just failed to complete the course this year. Matthew, who entered the event for the first time at short notice, finished in a commendable 2.2.20 and took the junior prize.

Event organiser Ben Stevens at the post-race lunch congratulated everyone who took part. He gave special thanks to Dick Chambers, his small team of marshals, and anyone else who had turned up on the day and who was involved in making the event such a success.