Hi All

I wonder if anybody could recommend a good sprint triathlon for a first attempt? I have only done the Todmorden Try a Tri so far and would like to do a sprint now. Skipton has been mentioned to me so far. Any suggestions appreciated!

Thanks

Louise (Heidi - in juniors' Mum)

shouldn"t you be in London smashing windows Robb ?

I hope Rob is joking at recommending Helvellyn - as a sprint - ha!

I've only been doing races for a bit more than a season and have done 4 local (ish) sprints. Skipton, Rother Valley, Leeds Xpress and Ilkley (of course). I'm sure more experienced competitors can give you other options.

Skipton is a good early season race (April) with a pool swim, undulating ride (which unfortunately goes across a busy roundabout on Skipton ringroad twice - which can be a bit of a lottery if unlucky), and a 2 lap run round the park. Lots of LBTers seem to do this, so might be a friednly one to start with. Entries are already open and quite a few entered already including LBT as you can see from the website...

Rother Valley is an open water swim, a bike ride with a couple of decent hills in it (but quiet roads) and a pan flat run round the lake. Professionally run and was a qualifier last year so busy with strong competitors.

Leeds Xpress (based at Leeds Grammar School) is very basic, seemed to be lots of novices using it as a first one (but not on till July/August). Pool swim, cycle along Harroagte Road towards Harrogate and back, and then run round school fields. Very laid back.

Ilkley is, of course, organised by LBT, and is therefore the best of all - but not till Sept.

Good luck.

David