Sutton pair complete Barcelona grueller

Sarah Hutchinson and Tony Goodyear from Sutton Harriers Running Club are back home after completing the gruelling Barcelona Ironman Triathlon.

In the end Sarah finished fourth in her age group and just missed out on a world championship slot in Hawaii by one place.

After travelling to Calella on Thursday to register early and prepare for the race on Sunday, Sarah and Tony were listening to the weather forecast for race day which it was predicted to be 20c with thunderstorms and heavy showers.

Race day arrived and the weathermen got it spot on with the sky being lit up with fork lightning and rain so heavy the roads were flooding as they walked to the transition area.

The change tents were left in darkness as the electrics were tripping out, so the only lights to check their bags and bikes were their mobile phones.

With the dangers of lightning and roughness of the water a delay was made by the organisers for the start of the swim in the sea.

To everyone’s relief the storm passed and the decision was made to start the race at 9am and the cut off time extended to 1am Monday morning, allowing 16 hours to complete the event.

With the swim starting in two minute intervals, Sarah started with all the other females and completed her 3.8km swim in 1hr 07min 14secs and Tony started with the age group 40-44 and completed in 1hr 09min 37secs.

Next was a quick 200m run up the beach into the change tents, remove their wetsuits, put on bike shoes and helmets, before another run to collect their bikes and onto the 180k bike course, which was two laps of 78km and then a shorter lap of 24km.

The first 3k was through the narrow winding streets of the town, but once out of the town and onto the main coastal road, the course was flat and fast with both Sarah and Tony pushing through the field.

Sarah completed the bike route in 5hrs 27mins 08secs, averaging 20.5mph, and Tony finished in 4hrs 56min 13secs averaging 22.6mph.

After racking the bikes and swapping bike shoes for running trainers, Sarah and Tony started on their marathon run, which was four laps of 10.5km around the town of Calella along a mixture of concrete paths, roads and paths.

Sarah completed her marathon in 3hrs 46mins 02secs, running down to the finish in a total time of 10hrs 30mins 08secs.

Tony finished the marathon in 3hrs 24mins 31secs, giving him a total time of 9hrs 39mins 08secs.

After the doom and gloom of the weather in the morning the pair really enjoyed the race and hit their targets of sub 11hrs and 10hrs respectively and the whole race was well supported by the town who cheered on every athlete.

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