The brand new Llandudno Sea Triathlon took place on 12th July 2009 and attracted over 200 competitors, including a number of elite triathletes, to the Victorian seaside town. The general impression of the event from the field of competitors was 'awesome'! The race consisted of a 1500m sea swim, 38km bike ride and a 10km run. On the day, the sun shone on this glorious location and the swim was in choppy, but relatively warm conditions, with a tide of around 0.5knots assisting the swimmers. The bike ride was around the impressive Great Orme, overlooking the town and the North Wales coast. On mainly closed roads, the cycle route provided some tough uphill and some equally technically demanding downhill sections. Competitors informed the organisers soon after that the bike was 'tougher than Wakefield' (currently dubbed the Standard Distance triathlon with the most challenging cycle section), and the overall venue felt 'just like Nice' (in France), where an Ironman event is held. Finally the flat run was along the town's seafront Promenade. Throughout the event, competitors were cheered on by 100's of spectators at the busy resort.
In an impressive time of 02:04:48, the winning male was James Ratcliffe of Ceepo TFN RT, who was over five minutes ahead of second placed male, Mark Roberts of Manchester Triathlon Club (02:10:00). Ratcliffe was not only the quickest swimmer, and cyclist, but he also clocked the fastest combined transition times for an individual competitor (56sec for T1 and T2).
The battle for first woman was a different story with a close duel between two Great Britain triathletes - local Rhian Roxburgh, of TriCentral.com and Jacqui Slack of netcentral.co.uk. Roxburgh was 26 seconds ahead after the swim, but this gap had narrowed to just 13seconds after the cycle section. The excitement continued on the run, when Slack took the lead, and eventually beat her rival by over 3 minutes in an overall time of 02.18.37.
The event started with two swim waves, and the first wave included Maggie Bowes, a visually impaired triathlete who took part in the Vancouver Triathlon World Championships in 2008. Other athletes had come from as far afield as Norway and Florida, USA.
11th July 2010 has already been pencilled in as the date for the event next year.
All competitors received a T-shirt and goody bag, and winners received various prizes from sponsors including Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative, Nokia, Zoot, Zoggs, TriCentral, Sweatshop, Techniq Sport Therapy, For Goodness Shakes!, Pure Blue and Jointace. Marshals at the event included local groups Llandudno Sailing Club, Colwyn Bay Canoe Club, Kaleiodoscope Theatre Group, Llandudno Army Cadet Force, Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue and Carneddau Triathlon Club.