Wow! January was a long one wasn’t it! Anyone else feel like it was 300 hundred days long?! 😊
Well, we are now a week into February – the weather isn’t getting warmer just yet, but the sunset is getting slightly later each day, so hopefully we will soon have longer to get outside and train.
Member’s Night Review.
What a great evening!! I really hope you enjoyed the Run session and Pizza, beer and Q&A after with Kieran, what an inspiring chap he is. Can’t thank Craig enough for all the organising that went into arranging the venue, coordinating pizza deliveries (they were still hot when we got there) and having cold drinks on hand, it was a cold night so that part wasn’t too difficult…
30 members turned up for the track session and Kieran put everyone through their paces doing sprints down the straights and recoveries on the bends. I heard a great description of the session last night, “it was like everyone was on their best behaviour”, I have to say that made me laugh but in reality it’s brilliant, I really hope having someone like Kieran there to run a session for you, highlighted how close our club sets are to elite athletes sets but also gave you some inspiration from some of the things you heard him say and do.
For me, one thing he said that really resonated was the idea of being a 7/10 athlete, in terms of plan execution, but 10/10 in terms of doing what’s right for you on each day. Great food for thought, he was so generous with his advice and sharing his story so far.
Do let us know of any other guests you think we might be able to get along to run a session for us, I’m sure we could do another social to go with it to 👌
Club Series 2025.
I’m sure many of us are now thinking about races/events for the year (if not already planned) so it seems a good time for a reminder of the 2025 Club Series and new points system, along with race discounts. The Club Series is a great way to meet and compete with fellow club members, have a bit of a social after and earn points for participation/rankings with awards up for grabs at the End of Season Dinner. This year we have decided to go back to our usual awards categories of Male & Female: Senior, Vet 40+, and Super Vet 50+. Points system will be confirmed next month, but our chosen events for this year are as follows:
18th of May – Banbury Triathlon – 10% off
15th of June – The Oxfordshire Triathlon Series Sprint 10% off
July – BaRTT with Social, Lake Aquathlon + Burgers and Beers (TBC)
17th August – The Oxfordshire Triathlon Series Olympic 10% off
14th September – Reading Triathlon – 10% off entry
The codes are on the website, you just have to log in, go to account, then partners and discounts.
Kit update.
Following the approval of the Apex kit and designs at the Members evening, we are pleased to say that we have asked Apex to produce our Kit. The shop window IS OPEN (Monday 10th until Friday 21st) – all kit will then be produced and sent to you individually with around a 6-week turnaround. We will have a further 3 shop windows in 2025, possibly April, July and September. Please check sizing guides and information on production on our APEX Site.
We have asked for a couple of different levels of clothing, which should suit most people and their pockets!
For instance:
“The Team Tri Suit is without doubt the most popular garment worn by any triathlete. We combine a simple but effective panel cut with quality materials to create the best value custom Tri Suit on the market.”
“The PRO version of the Team Tri Suit incorporates all the features and fit of the TEAM version but is made using high quality Italian materials that are water repellent and offer better muscle compression.”
Please check out full descriptions on the Apex website.
We are also excited to announce that we will have the much loved Canterbury tracksuit bottoms and Hoodies back available by the end of February from BlueBlood Sport, our previous supplier – with a resized version (i.e. UK size) and done via a shop window like APEX so that we do not need to hold stock – we will keep you posted on this over the next few weeks.
There is still a bit of older stock to be shifted and I will post this over the weekend on Facebook etc – there are some heavily discounted NoPinz Tri suits in ladies version – a real top end suit at a bargain price – do not miss the last few available.
Contact Lee Merrett if you want to purchase any existing kit or have questions.
Meeting Minutes – February 2025.
As mentioned in January’s newsletter, we will be sharing our monthly Committee meeting minutes – these are draft minutes until approved at our next meeting. Please Log in to the website and find the committee then minutes tab.
Cross Country Round 4, Race Report – from Clive.
A glorious morning with sunshine, blue skies and a light wind greeted the Oxford Tri cross country team last Sunday at Adam Henson’s farm in the Cotswolds. Later in the morning Craig, while wearing only a club vest and shorts described it as a beautiful summer’s day. In Scotland maybe, but for us soft southerners it would have to be 20C warmer to be a summer’s day!
11 Club members lined up with more than 400 other runners at the start line and made their way around the 8km course.
Conditions were dry and firm as we made our way around the first short loop. The main part of the course consisted of a large loop taking us away from the start up a sloping field before negotiating a narrow path along the side of a hill and climbing steadily uphill past the start and around a lumpy field. One steep hill is never enough in the senior’s races so we went around the large loop again.
In almost perfect cross country running conditions the club runners gave everything they had, with Hannah finishing 6th, yours truly 11th and Peter 12th in their age groups.
Enormous thanks to Craig for driving, transporting the Club tent, as well as carrying it on his shoulders for more than 500m from the car park to the starting area.
The final round of the Oxfordshire Cross Country League will be at Henley Showground, Greenlands on 2nd March. Look out for lift sharing on the Oxford Tri Facebook page.
Hope to see you there.
May Open Water Familiarisation and Drills.
These sessions are now open for sign up and are a great opportunity for adults of all abilities to learn and brush up on the skills needed for Open Water Swimming. Please see the website for more details and to sign up: https://www.oxfordtri.uk/open-water-familiarisation-sessions/
Member Achievements.
We’d love to hear and celebrate your sporting achievements – anything from couch to 5k, to a marathon swim, everything in between, everything less and everything more. We are all on our own training/racing journeys and are here to help, encourage and support each other. Please send details to membership@oxfordtri.co.uk
Farewell to Katie McDonald.
We Will Miss You, Katie!
As many of you know, our kind, wonderful, quick-witted bundle of amazingness—the legend that is Katie McDonald—is soon heading off on a new adventure to the land of Oz with her fiancé, Dickie.
Words can’t quite express how much we will miss her—or, of course, her ability to find an innuendo for every occasion!
Katie has been a true heart of the club for the past five-ish years, always bringing her infectious energy, encouragement, and positive vibes. Whether serving on the committee, volunteering, organizing club dinners, or expertly cheesing burgers at lake socials, she has poured so much love and joy into this club. From Covid quiz nights to taking part in BaRTTs, & Headington Hill runs/pub nights, not forgetting cross-country races, Katie has been at the forefront, cheering everyone on and making the club a better place.
When it comes to her own triathlon career, she races with her heart on her sleeve—giving it her all, always with a smile (and maybe more than the occasional tear!). Of course, she does have a bit of a rebellious streak… rumour has it there’s a DQ to her name for ignoring the compulsory foot-down at Newbury Duathlon (hopefully she can laugh about that now!).
To Katie—thank you for being our biggest supporter, for all the laughs, and for everything you’ve given to the club. We will miss you dearly but wish you and Dickie all the love and happiness in this exciting new chapter. No doubt you’ll still be cheering us on, even from a different time zone!
P.S. We hope the OxfordTri big bobble hat makes it into your suitcase—though you might not need it where you’re going!
We think these photo’s sum Katie up so well! Good luck Katie and all the best for the future.
We’ve got such a busy spring schedule I really hope to see lots of you soon and hope you can get involved any way you can.
Come to sessions and socials – meet fellow members, check the calendar for venues, timings and sign-ups.
Become a coach or leader – speak to Sean Nicolle if you are interested leadcoach@oxfordtri.co.uk
Share planned runs/cycles on Facebook if you are happy for others to join you – https://www.facebook.com/groups/oxfordtri
Event volunteering – We’ve got three really exciting events happening and need help to make them run smoothly, I really hope you can help us out, but completely understand if not these events, there’s still safety support at the lake in the summer and help with other socials to.
- PreBlenheim Swims we’re hoping for a bumper attendance at our pre Blenheim swims, 3 Saturdays and two Wednesdays from 17th May to 31st May, this will require a small army of volunteers and coachers to continue the success we’ve had in previous years, we’ll come out with roles and sign up nearer the time.
- Blenheim Triathlon Volunteering – See Sean’s Facebook post about doing a days volunteering and getting a Free entry, either for our Sunday Oxford tri wave, or for next years event.
- The Ox Aquathlon – We’ve nearly got 50 juniors and adults signed up for the Aquathlon at Leys Leisure centre on 27th April, obviously we’ll need help to run it smoothly – If interested in volunteering, Please indicate via the following sign-up form – https://forms.gle/UGwgeXsQCcjJVqG1A