Ironman Triathlons consist of a 2.4-mile swim,112-mile cycle and finally a marathon run (26.2 miles). Ironman races are staged all over the world with the UK event held in Bolton, Lancashire.

All Ironman courses vary in the nature of their challenge, but the Bolton course is amongst the toughest on the calendar with around 5,500 feet of climbing on the bike and over 1,000 feet of climb on the run.

Northleigh resident and N1 Tri Club member John Lynch became the 35th member of the club to carry its colours over the finishing line of an Ironman race in an outstanding time of 11 hours 44 minutes 58 seconds.

John is a superb athlete, and, as a former Royal Marine officer, certainly knows how to prepare and overcome a significant challenge.

John had nothing, but praise for the race organisation and the huge crowds that lined the route and urged him on.

John’s outstanding performance was part of an excellent weekend for the N1 Tri Club for another member, Helen Jones, was in action at a middle distance event at Weymouth where she took first place in a superb time of 5:04:45.

Meanwhile, at Dorchester, Ellie Dominey won a triathlon event for the first time. Competing in the Dorchester Dash Sprint triathlon, she was first home in a time of 1:14:09.

The Lezyne Arundel Standard Distance triathlon is one of the qualifying events for this seasons ITU World Championships in Rotterdam, and, qualifying to wear the GB vest at the event, was Vanessa Glyn Jones who won her age category (70-74) in a time of 3:17:07.

A large team of N1 racers will be competing this year in Ironman Copenhagen on August 20.

Amongst them will be Lisa Braunton. She confirmed her fitness for the event by wiping a whopping 22 minutes off her time of last year at the Dorney Lake Eton Standard distance race, finishing the 2017 event in 2:51:22.