articles and updates from the votwo-USN race team

Race Team Roundup 13

Tue, 08 May 2012 12:58:00 GMT

Votwo/USN Race Team Report April

Votwo / USN elite athlete Adam Holland finished 12^th at the ONER! The ‘Oner’ is votwo’s toughest event in the calendar, a jaw dropping 78.6miles non-stop on the rolling Jurassic coastal path.

Sean Frost finished fifth at round 1 of the expert class of the British XC championships at Sherwood pines. After a week of being ill and unable to train Frosty was unsure about what shape he would be in. The usual rapid start left him going backwards though the pack. He had left himself a lot of work to do but one by one he climbed back through the pack even passing some of the slower elite riders, which had set of 1 minute in front. More recently Frosty has progressed further up the ranks finishing 3^rd expert rider at the second round of the British championships in Dalby forest. Round 3 we’re looking for a win………..

On the road Sean has also been climbing up the ranks and has achieved his 3^rd Cat license after winning 4^th cat class and finishing 6^th overall at the 52mile Newquay Road Race. It won’t be long until he’s a 1^st cat……….triathlon is but a distant memory!

Ute Baird, pushing the pain barrier!

Ute finished the 80km Paris Ecotrail in 8:23:15 7^th woman 4^th V1 and 146 overall out of 2047 runners. A really tough race that finished with running up the Eifel Tower. Ute found the final climb tough “My legs felt like jelly and I was more wobbling up then jogging”

Before this race Ute decided to ‘push the pain barrier’ and see what she could really achieve. Now she knows what it means to push! Once Ute made the conscious decision to push and to suffer, the splits between stages got faster and faster!

Ute is looking forward to this season and to see what times she can achieve

Race Team Roundup 12

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 11:49:00 GMT

Votwo/USN Race Report March

March has seen the votwo race team strip off their winter clothing and start racing.

Eliot Challifour raced the Bath half marathon and set a PB time of 1h 15min 52sec

but only to be beaten by Adam Holland who ran a 1h 14min 17sec half marathon out in sunny Lanzarote!

Sean Frost kicked off his first year of full time mountain bike racing with an outstanding

victory in the elite/expert class of the south west series. Rd 1 was at Woodbury common and

after heavy rain the day/night before it left the track in a very rutty, difficult condition.

Ute Baird raced the Ashby 20mile road race which is almost a sprint for Ute!
Ute’s time was 2h30min34sec, 6th in her age group and 21st female overall.
A PB by 3min which is promising for the 2012 race season.

Nigel Ashman, who was one of votwo’s very first clients raced the WTTA Hardriders 23 Mile TT Sunday 18th March, he finished in 1h01min34sec with even a sprint to the finish just failing to catch his 2nd rider. Nigel finished in 28th position out of 61 riders, which was a satisfactory result that left him tired but smiling!

Race Team Roundup 11

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:31:00 GMT

Welcome to the February Votwo/USN race team blog.

Anja Heinjen has been preparing for her triathlon season with some running races this winter.

Performances this month included 4th at Longleat 10k

and 3rd at Winchester 10k in a time of 40:25 on a hilly course.

Shaun Benfield is a new votwo race team member for 2012 and he starts racing March

This month Shaun has been training hard and posing for votwo!

Well done to votwo athlete Ute Baird for finishing 1st female vet at the

50mile Thames Trot in 7h49min.

An excellent result.

Race Team Roundup 10

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:52:00 GMT

January votwo / USN race team blog

Eliot Challifour and Andy Blow competed in the trail plus adventure race on Sunday 22nd Jan. Andy was using the race as preparation for competing in New Zealand Coast to Coast in February. The guys were not officially in the race as they were competing as a team of 2 rather than 3. However they managed to win by a good margin. Eliot punished Andy on the bike however the kicking was given back to Eliot on the run! All in all a good thrashing!

After a night of heavy rain and a serious consideration of not racing the Phuket half Ironman due to the scarily steep and slippery bike course Anja Heijnen eventually made it to the starting line (thanks Andy!). Half way through the bike the heavens opened and the steep descents were a real challenge for her. Having vertigo and a fear of falling off the bike does not help!
Anja finished 4th in her age group. A solid race considering there were many strong athletes fighting for a Kona slot. Anja also competed in the Somerley multi-terrain 10k on the 2nd Jan. Anja ran as fast as she could and came 2nd female in a time of 42:23. A happy start to the year for Anja!

Steve Osbourne is back racing and winning! On the 8th of January he raced the Axmouth challenge. A 10 mile multi terrain, very hilly cliff side run race. Steve is very race rusty, so he decided to go for the "go out hard and hold on" approach [Eliot’s favorite strategy too!]. Steve won the race and set a new course record. A great start to the year with hopefully more to come, just need a few more post race lunches!

Adam Holland was looking forward to his first race of the year, the January Jaunt 10k on Sunday the 8th Jan. Adam was very happy to have finish 2nd, good start to the year. Big thanks to Maurice and Marie for driving him to the races. Money raised at the event was going to Plymouth Round Table.

Race Team Round Up 9

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 10:57:00 GMT

Votwo / USN race team blog, December 2011

December was a quiet month for the Votwo/USN Race Team and not many are thrashing themselves to the limit, however a few have still been out there setting the pace! See below for this months round up:

Andy Blow makes front cover of a magazine for his Nokia Coast to Coast win back in September!

Nikki Atkin finished 3rd British female, 28th female overall at Firenze Marathon. After coming down with a viral infection leading up to the race, it was touch and go whether Nikki would make it to the start line. However with a bit of R&R Nikki came out fighting with an excellent result and is now pushing on hard for London Marthon 2012.

Adam Holland has been out running more marathons than any other human on the planet!

Recent achievements have included:

30th Sept – 2nd Oct 2011 Adam was the first runner back every day at our own votwo

Atlantic Coast Challenge. He completed the coastal marathon stages in an impressive 3h49min30sec day 1, 3h54min35sec day 2 and 5h06min28sec day 3. Day 3 of this event is probably the most challenging 26.2miles you’ll find in the UK.

Back on the tarmac earlier that same month Adam finished 2nd at the Robin Hood marathon and
set a new road PB of 2h41min25sec.

Ute Baird has finished her last race of the season with an amazing 2nd place at the Brecon Beacon Ultra 46miles running race.

The season’s figures are:
February: Thames Trott 50m 3rd
March: Ashby 20 28th (PB); Paris Ecotrail 80km 1500m+ 16th (400place better in overall classification then 2010)
April: Trans Aubrac `105km, 3500m+ 1st
June: Skogsmarathon 16th (PB)
July: Verbier 112km 7000m+ 7th
August: TDS 120km 7000m+ 8th
October: Tanworth 10k 5th (PB); Birmingham Halfmarathon 86th (PB)
November: Brecon Beacon 46m +1700 2nd

An impressive 3 podium places, 4 PBs! Well done to Ute.

Nigel and Alison have just got back from competing in the ITU World Long Distance Triathlon Championships in Las Vegas. Unfortunately due to cold weather and high winds the race got turned into a bike / run with a time trial format start!

Alison finished the 120km bike / 30km run in 7h49min, 2nd GBR and 22nd in the 50-54 Age Group, and Nigel finished in 6h30min 1st GBR and 10th in the 50-54 Age Group.

Race team round up 8

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 12:13:00 GMT

October was a quiet month for the votwo/USN race team - most recovering from a hard, hard season of racing!

Fortunately Ute Baird (pictured above) - our ever improving Ultra distance runner was on hand to roll out some PBs over 'short' distances though! Below are her thoughts on a couple of rather good results:

"Last week I ran the Tamworrth 10km, my first 10k race since 2003! I finished in 43.06 (2003: I did 48:50!).

My colleague at work offered his place in the Birmingham Great Run. I was not keen on it as I am preparing for the 45mile Breacon Beacon Ultra (19/11/11) and felt I need to do longer runs...however.....

My colleague was in the green pen 2-2.30 hour runners. I felt after 5km I was running in my zone. From 10km onwards I encountered traffic. Mile 8 onwards it became frustrating. There were a couple of uphills and people sarted to walk. I slowed right down at one stage but managed to put in a little surge to make up time. I finished in 1:37:43. I came 1080 out of 15,000 and 86 in the ladies including elite women. 2010 PB: 1:39:49; 1310 out of 12,000."

Nicki Aitkin (pic below) was also swapping her run shoes for some tri kit, and performing rather well for a 'novice'!:

Nicki: "I Entered the Warwickshire Triathlon last minute purely for fun so off no specific training - 2nd lady (154 in total), 1st in my age group in 1.14.25. Had the fastest run by 2 minutes and 6th fastest on the swim, just the bike I need to work on which is my weakest link...I did ride on my old bike though so that's worth a few minutes for starters!! Beaten only by Sara Burling, GB Gold medal winning triathlete so chuffed to bits. Rice pudding for breakfast and number 666 must be a lucky charm...."

This month we've got Anja Heijnen out in Phuket, Thailand for the Phuket triathlon, Nicki at the Florence marathon and Ute once again out in the 45 mile Breacon Beacon Ultra which will probably be the last 'proper' races for any of the team this year.

We'll be finalising team members for 2012 shortly and will post some updates on any other winter training results, races and news as it occurs......watch this space.....

Race Team Round up 7

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:45:00 GMT

September has been a very busy and successful month for the votwo/USN racing team.....

We took 1st -Andy Blow and joint 3rd Dave Blow (pictured left) and Anthony Foy in the Expert class at the Nokia Coast to Coast Race - a 100 mile Run / Bike / Kayak / Bike / Run race from Nairn to Glen Coe. The guys dominated in the Loch Ness paddle section taking the 3 fastest splits of the day in surf skis......

Right: Anthony / Andy and Dave at the rather wet and dark 6:15am startline in Nairn.

The race started with a 7 mile trail run, then 35mile road cycle, an 11 mile kayak on Loch Ness, a 35 mile off/on road cycle and then a killer 16 mile mountain run, followed by a 1 mile kayak across Loch Leven to finish.

Andy at the finish in Glen Coe - after 9hrs and 39min of hard work!

Just 1 week before C2C Eliot Challfour and Sean Frost competed in a highly competitive field at Ironman Wales in challenging, windy conditions.

Eliot (Right) was 4th Brit home, 32nd overall in 10hr 06min (his best is sub 9hr so shows how hard the course and weather were!) with Frosty not too far behind in 62nd overall. A little miffed with his result Frosty had the following to say:

"Ironman was a tad disapointing but here's how it went: tough swim, with some big rolling waves out the back and onto the bike which was very very windy and lumpy to say the least! Lack of self control cost me here as i went to hard and died badly on the run, i'll learn one day!! 62nd place. 7th 25-29AG. finish time of 10hrs 28mins. Massive well done to Eliot who took me down big style! Cheers!"

Frosty (left) also competed in the Circus of Dirt MTB race earlier in the month. He bagged 3rd place in the race and 3rd in the South West series with the result despite 'One of my biggest crashes ever on an MTB...' And anyone who knows Frosty will know that must have been a BIG off to get such a comment!

And just in case he was not tired enough Sean popped up again to get 8th in the National Triathlon Cross Champs - securing 4th in the series there too! He has been a racing machine for votwo/USN in 2011 and is now rightly having a few weeks off to drink some of his favourite West Country Cider and re-charge his batteries for 2012.........

And in from the ladies.....

Alison Vuagniaux (left) took the Women's SV title in the Castle Combe Duathlon series, racing in 3 out of the 4 race series.

And our super fast runner Nicki Aitkin took second at the Windsor Half marathon and had these words to say about her performance (used as preparation for the Florence marathon soon):

"...managed to clinch 2nd place was very tough going in the heat/strong wind but over the moon with the placing even if the time was not anywhere near my best. Pre race rice pudding and apple struddle mule bars rock as a practice for Florence due to lack of porridge making facilities when I get to Italy, still they make great post race ice cream :-)"

And last but definitely not least........

Mel Varvel took a hugely impressive Silver Medal at the World Duathlon Championships in Gijon, Spain in 2 hr 11min. Unfortunately votwo team mate Anja Heijen who was hoping to challenge Mel in the medals had to pull out 8km into the run due to injury.....Get well soon Anja!

<<<<<<<AND STOP PRESS>>>>>>

News in that Adam Holland won our very own Atlantic Coast Challenge with the fastest time on each of the marathon stages from Padstow to Lands End! More information and results to follow......

Race team round up 6

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 15:28:00 GMT

Happy August!

Adam Holland doesn't seem to need any recovery and achieved the following impressive results:

1st Cornwood 10k
1st The Less Than 10k
1st Sidmouth 10k
2nd Peter Tavy Plod 5 miles
3rd Totnes 10k

Also BIG congratulations to Adam for his nomination to be a London 2012 Olympic Torchbearer through their 'Moment to Shine' campaign. They will be looking for 2,012 individuals with the most inspirational stories of personal achievement and /or contributions to the local community. Well, if we had a say....

Hockey, football (picture) and rock and roll are just a few further activities.

Ute Baird went to Chamonix to race (non stop, 2 feet!) the 120km TDS (Traces des Ducs de Savoie) trail run crossing the Mont Blanc, Beaufort, Tarentaise and Aosta valley countryside.
Ute finished 8th woman, her best result ever in Chamonix, in 23hr 25min 56sec after having conquered 7100 metres of uphill elevation. There are a few short videos here.

     Ute finishing the next morning (120km, 23hr 25min 56sec inc 1 night and 7100 metres uphill and some scary
    downhills later!) looking fresher, faster and much more awake than the average 'normal' person at that time of day.

Eliot Challifour ran, pedalled and ran again fast to come 3rd at the August Castle Combe Duathlon.

Votwo had 2 teams in the Torq in your sleep 12 hour mountain bike enduro on 28th August. It was a multi-lap event on an 8 mile circuit for teams of 3,4 pairs or mad solo riders. It started at 12 noon and finished at midnight so the final 4 hours were in the dark.
Andy Blow raced with Paul Wellicombe in the male pairs category, finishing 2nd overall and Dave Blow and Anthony Foy also raced in the pairs finishing close behing (on the same lap!) in 7th.
It was a great but challenging event and good preparation for Andy, Dave and Anthony before taking on Scotland Coast to Coast next month. Results here.

                                Andy (left yellow lenses and no mobile) and Dave (right with mobile and yellow socks)

Mel Varvel and Neil Lewis went to France to enjoy the Alpe d'Huez long course triathlon - 2.2km swim (bit chilly), 115km bike (bit hilly!) and 22km run (also a bit hilly).
Mel reports the following...
Alpe d'Huez. It promised to be hard. It promised to be hilly. It didn't promise to rain cats and dogs from start to finish. The whole day was, in fact, full of ups and downs. The good news was that my bike was not the only one left in transition when I emerged from the chilly waters of the Lac du Verney. The bad news was that I sighted so well I hit my head on one of the turning buos (a small sailing boat). More good news- I had decided to wear a waterproof for the bike. The bad news was that it rained so hard and so consistently that I'd have been better off racing in my Birthday suit (better for me, that is). More bad news- it was cold as well as wet. But the good news? It was so hilly I barely noticed. The good news is the 21 bends of Alpe d'Huez were not as bad as they had looked. But that was partly because the visibility was so poor that I couldn't see them. More good news awaited me at the summit- my supporter in chief was pleased to inform me that "It's clearing up". The bad news was that she was lying. Yet more bad news. There were very few toilets in T2. The good news? It was raining so hard no one noticed that I 'visited the ladies room' whilst sat on the floor changing my shoes for the run. The bad news was that the run was hilly too; but the good news was that by that point I didn't care. Best news of all, I clearly looked so young and so fresh-faced that the organisers put me in the 30-34 age-group. The bad news was that it was the same category as Catriona Morrison....

          Mel having a nice day out and despite her young and           Neil also having a nice day out although a little shorter
fresh-faced look finishing 1st in her FV1 age group.            by finishing 5 minutes ahead of Mel.

Race shorts...

Steve Osborne had to stop racing this year due to too many health problems. We wish him a good recovery and we are sure.... Steveo will be back!

Alison and Nigel Vuagniaux have been racing pretty consistently this season. Alison won the Supervet category in Portishead Triathlon and Nigel won the same category in the Bath Triathlon, add to that a 22:37 10 mile time trial PB and 4:24 100 mile PB. The Winter's hard work on the turbo has paid off!

Anja Heijnen is leading the men/women Amsterdam David Lloyd gym bike competition. There may not be an awareness by the other 'competitors' though that a league exists! Due to work no time trials this year but gym bike league!

Race team round up 5

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 07:07:00 GMT

Sunny (or rainy?) July!

Andy Blow did the gruelling Are Extreme Challenge in Sweden. 21km kayak, 15km mountain goat run and 35km mountain bike. Andy finised 15th from about 200 competitos in 5:14. Although he was glad when it was over he seemed to enjoy it!

Andy enjoying the beautiful course and keeping the other competitor busy eating his dust.

Gruelling and extreme...????

Eliot Challifour finished 4th in the Castle Combe Monster Duathlon in July pounding out a solid race in a July summers evening of wind and rain!

Ute Baird competed in Trail Verbier St-Bernard 110km trail run. It didn't all go as hoped for, her left heel became increasingly sore and there was nothing left in the tank after 98km with still 1100m to go up in the last 12km. The poles were used like crutchets. She still came 7th female in 25:30.

Who is capable of running 110 km??

Now add:

- off road
- mountains
- the 'sound' of the night..

Still anyone left??

Sean Frost and Steve Osborne (aka Frosty and Steveo) raced at the Durty Triathlon in Scotland for round 3 of the Scott Xtri series. Frosty was glad just to finish as he really rang his bell well with a big crash on the first lap of the bike. Steveo, who does dread mtb riding, did amazing with a 6th place.

Apparently they were clear winners in the drinking competition after with plenty of Ceilidh dancing!!

Frosty also came 3rd at the Circus of Dirt mtb race and yes... it included another crash as well.

A fearless Frosty

Adam Holland has been running fast and achieved the following results:

- 1st Bovey Tracey Half Marathon
- 1s Duckpond 7k (that seems a big Duckpond?!)
- 1st Tavistock 5 miles
- 9th Brooks Summer Turkey Tort 4 miles
- 1st Tavistock Town Relays
- 2nd Chudleigh Carnival Road Race
- 3rd Tamar Trotter's Magnificent Seven race (former international marathon runner Dave Buzza finished 5th)

Adam dugging deep on the line at the Tavistock Town Relays. Tavistock won the 4 x 1 mile by one second.

Adam's sister Angel did 1.1 mile in 16 minutes and 23 seconds. She is only just 3 (THREE!) years old. Watch this space!

James Crask completed the Marmotte 170km route in around 7.5 hours, albeit with a numb wrist, well within the "gold" standard time. A great result especially considering a broken wrist following an altercation with a white van in the Surrey lanes 5 weeks ago. It included 5,000 metres of climbing over 4 categorised Cols, including a finish on Alpe D'Huez.

Starting out at 7.30am James was able to push his way to the front and enjoy the first 15kms with a Police escort.

James enjoying the scenery while climbing one of the Cols.

Eliot Challifour finished 3rd at the votwo/USN Dorney Lake triathlon in 2h01min. It was a strong performance which is encouraging for his return to Ironman later this year in Wales.

Eliot looking as fresh as a daisy after the race.

Race team round up 4

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 19:06:00 GMT

Happy June!

A big highlight was the USN South Cerney Triathlon where the majority of the team participated either solo or as part of the Votwo/USN relay team.

In the mens...

From the left to the right:
Adam Holland
Relay team - 1st and fastest run

Steve Osborne
Solo - 4th but prefers going looooong

Ian Hobley
Team cyclist

Andy Blow
Relay team - 1st and swam like a fish

Eliot Challifour
Solo - 2nd but prefers to win

Sean Frost
Solo - took a wrong turn on bike and did not finish...doh!

Anja Heijnen made up the lost time on the swim (swimming is for fishes!) and won the ladies.

A happy Anja receiving lots of prizes from happy coach Andy Blow.

Nicky Aitken ran another PB, by a minute! She did this at the Wargrave 10km
where she became 1st lady and Berkshire County Champ in 37.17 - excellent result in cross country like conditions.
She will be on the Elite start line for the Florence Marathon in November - very exciting! Run Nicky run!

Sean and Eliot raced at Consiton round 2 of the Scott Xtri series. Sean came 3rd and Eliot 5th. This time Sean did not forget to put his bike shoes in transition nor did he take a wrong turn (both happened at South Cerney tri). Well done Frosty! Results can be found here.

From the left to the right:

Eliot - 5th

Jasper - disqualified

Sean - 3rd

Andy, Dave and Anthony Foy went to Saunton on June 19th to race the Gold Coast surf ski race. Raging surf meant a flat water alternative venue and Dave just beat brother Andy with them both in the top 15 of the open event. Click here for the results.

Andy looking for his camera

Ute Baird took part in the off road Skogsmaraton north of Oslo. Ute achieved in tricky conditions her objective to run for the first time under 4 hours and she did! She finished in 3.51.56, 8th in her age group and 16th female. Great result as there were a lot of fit people from the local cross country skiing clubs. It was a bit too short though but in July she will be like a fish in the water competing in Verbier, 110km and 7000m up! That's more like it for Ute!

Race team round up 3

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:04:00 GMT

What May we've had!

A sunny welcome back to Votwo to Jon Rainford!

We have a BIG winner!!

Frosty (Sean Frost) won the Tour of Wessex and did so in a course record time despite some horrid weather! A total of 329 miles needed to be pedalled in 3 stages over 3 days. Frosty completed it (solo!) in 16 hours and 44 minutes. Ironman Wales here you come!

Andy and Dave Blow recently went off to sunny Spain for the
Eurochallenge 25km ocean surf ski race. In a hot international field Andy managed to get into the top 60 overall and top 30 in Senior mens singles category and on the day Dave made it home in the top 100 despite being very ill the night before! The video of the race gives a great idea of what surf ski racing is all about and results can be seen here.

Andy giving a bit of skin to the race - augghh!! We forgive him for not having had a shower for some time!
Dave (left with paddle) and Andy (right with cap)

Frosty and Eliot Challifour raced round 1 of the Xtri Series, Mud & Mayhem. Frosty finished 6th and with the top 6 seperated by a minute and half it was close racing! Eliot finished 9th and is looking forward to the re-match at the South Cerney tri in a few weeks time.... Results can be found here. Eliot (picture right) also recently finished 54th out of a 1000 competitors in the Yorkshire 3 peaks fell race. This is one of the UK's classic fell races with 3 x 700m climbs and 24 miles of racing. Not for the feint hearted!

Frosty (left with side number) and Eliot right (number 52!)

Adam Holland hasn't sat still.
He competed in the royal Berkshire Marathon, a track marathon of 105 laps and finished 2nd in 2:38:31.

Two weeks later Adam achieved, despite a cold, 4 medals at the Devon County Champs Track & Field:
Gold Triple Jump 12.11m, Gold 3000m 9:40:03, Silver 5000m 16:26:03 and Silver 3000m Steeplechase 10:46:05.

A week later Adam ran a road PB in 2:45:03 in the Edinburgh marathon, his 109th one. He finished 31st out of 9727 runners.

And... he did some more running. What's next Adam??

Votwo supported USN at the Body Power show. Frosty and Ben Mason felt a little 'undergunned' but had a great time!

Finally, spotted in Nepal...

Race team round up 2

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 20:50:00 GMT

It's only April but things are very sunny... many first and second places this month.

Welcome to the team!
First of all a very warm welcome to 4 new Votwo members James Crask, Nigel and Alison Vuagniaux and Stephen Homewood (welcome back Stephen after a few years away from votwo!). We hope that you will wear the Votwo colours with pride.
Nigel and Alison turned 50 last year and as a challenge they decided to enter Ironman Austria. They both raced extremely well and as a result qualified for the 2011 ITU Long Distance Champs in Las Vegas this year. More challenges to come!
Go new Votwo team members!

Ladies first!

Anja Heijnen had her best race so far at the European Duathlon championships in Limerick, Ireland. She won her age group by 3.5 minutes beating both the golden girls of the 2008 and 2010 World championships Doerte Siebke from Germany and Christine Howard.
She pedalled the fastest bike time of all female age groupers on the flat but technical course. "It's just a matter of following coach Andy Blow's magic programmes and Bob is your uncle."


                                                                                           What's wrong with the flag?

Ute Baird ran the Trans Aubrac 105km, 3700m climbs in the Pyrenees. A very tough course over a lot of loose stones. It even included an ice cold river crossing.
Ute won with a huge 40 minute margin in 14 hours and 42 minutes. Her first (but probably not last) win!

The prize was a gigantic regional speciality cake and a large trophy.

Both Mel Varvel and Adam Holland came 2nd at Votwo's Jurassic Coast Challenge; 3 off road hilly marathons in 3 days on 2 feet. Mel reached the finish line in 13:41:28, 8 (EIGHT!) seconds behind winner Helen Bennett. Adam finished in 11:22:33.

Pam Blow and Helen Hall joined on the hilliest day, day 3 and, although finishing last but before dark, we are proud! There are rumours about their next challenge.... a triathlon! We will follow them closely!

Adam also made a guest appearance with Mike Bushell on BBC TV! Click here to see that again....

                                                                                           Adam having fun

              Mel's toe nails after 3 marathons

Nicki Aitken is running faster and faster.
She won the ladies at the F3 Dorney 10km in 38:16 (a PB by over 40 seconds!) and was only 16 seconds behind the lead man - he won't escape next year!
Nicki came 5th at the popular Maidenhead 10mile in 63:15, also a PB (2 minutes!). This gets her a top 30 UK placing.

The men!

Eliot Challifour went to Spain to race the Somozas Extreme adventure race. His team finished 2nd Elite class out of 65 teams - that is extreme! And especially impressive as the airline lost their bikes, shoes and other kit on the way so they had to race on borrowed kit......

Almost finally, Frosty (Sean Frost) raced round 1 of the Circus of Dirt cross country race. He came 2nd. Great result especially considering it included a trip over the handle bars in front of the marshall point.

Finally, we are finishing on a little low... Daniel Corner made a little splat on tarmac whilst doing the Milton Keynes Sportive. A friend decided to crash on a manhole cover. Daniel had nowhere to go but full bore into his ribs. He flew over the top and that resulted in a broken collar bone with shard of bone in his shoulder. An operation is needed. We wish him a super speedy recovery.

Race team round up

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 19:10:00 GMT

A quick update on what various members of the votwo/USN race team have been getting up to in the last few weeks.......

First up; Andy, Eliot, Frosty and Steveo got a sudden rush of motivation on receiving their brand new race team kit and met up in Bath to do the famous '5 hills' bike ride. Click here to see the route. Rumor has it that Frosty handed it to the rest of the lads on every hill with Andy lagging off the back, obviously saving energy for later in the season! A few more images of the lads looking very smart in the new kit can be seen here.

Adam runs more than most people drive.
On 23 January 2011 Adam took part in the Shell Four Villages Half Marathon, also called the Helsby Half and smashed his half marathon PB by finishing the hilly course in 1:14:45 (photo).
The Tavistock Times reported that in the weekend of 19 February he chose to do a marathon, a hockey match, a 10 mile race and a 7 a-side football match! By the way he lost the football match.
In March Adam went to Lanzarote for a week to....yep run! He ran about 120 miles with Liz Yelling (Olympic marathon runner and Commonwealth Bronze medallist) and Richard Whitehead (GB Paralympian, 200m World Champion and Marathon World Record holder).

Frosty experienced that starting cider hydrated after a late night birthday party was the right preparation for the Soggy Bottom XC Race as he came away with the win!

Macca got off to a start this year with a cheeky little mixed pairs action with Clair in the Peaks at an Open5 Adventure race. They managed 2nd at the 2hr running and 3 hr biking event, clearing all the controls on the bike course and getting back with just 8 seconds to spare. The picture shows Macca taking a short cut which, luckily for him, did go unnoticed!

Steveo's legs are showing good signs for the season to come as he came 2nd at the New Forest Heartbreak half marathon. His Ironman loooong endurance legs couldn't outsprint winner Nick Buis who beat Steveo by 7 seconds!
Neil Lewis came in 10th overall and 3rd Vet. Great start!

Eliot went for his first fast and furious multi-sport race for quite some time, the Asics Ice Man (10km run, 18km mtb, 5km run).
He finished 7th after trottering around the second run with very heavy legs. Nice return to fast racing, which has blown out the cob webs ready for some speed training to get fully firing for his next race!

Last best............ The Ladies!!

Anja went to Worksop for the British Age Group Duathlon Championships. She finished 8th overall and 2nd in her age group. The Golden girl from the World Championships beat her by less than 30 seconds. Clumsy transition as usual!

Ute Baird took part in the Tames Trot, a 50 mile race (running!) from Ifley to Henley on Thames. She finished 3rd in 7 hours and 48 minutes, less than 8 minutes from the winning time and 1 hour and 50 minutes faster than last year!

Nicky Aitken - running, showing her UKA London Marathon Team Gold Champion 2010 medal. She is hoping that coaching/cycing combo will see her smash her marathon PB (and others!) this year. We are watching this space!
The lady in green is Rosie Swale-Pope, adventurer who has run (yes run!) around the world.

Welcome!

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:28:00 GMT

Welcome to Votwo’s blog!

Here we go, a new web-site, a new blog! The blog is going to include our race team members' race reports and any other exciting news which may be of interest to you. We are going to try to keep things short, sharp and fun!

First of all a HUGE thank you to our sponsors for 2011.
We are very grateful to have USN (Ultimate Sports Nutrition), Muc-Off (enough said – super clean bikes!) and Fusion (cool quality gear!) on board. Without you we wouldn’t go as fast and strong, look as cool and cycle so effortlessly.

Next up…. The Race Team!

Steve Osborne – Triathlon.
10th pro Ironman France 2010, 8 Ironmans in total.
More Ironmans to come for Steve in 2011 and the 10th one is on the radar!

Eliot Challifour – Adventure Racing and Triathlon
77th Marathon Des Sables 2010, winner Spanish Adventure Race National Champoinships 2010, sub-9 hour Ironman 2002.
Eliot can just do anything although not always without clear signs as I seem to remember following him around in circles in the New Forest!

Ian Hobley – Triathlon and Time Trialling
9x Ironman, 25 mile time trial 55:13, 50 mile time trial 1:54:12.
Ironman Canada 2011 should make it 10!

Nigel Leighton – Running
21st London Marathon 2:18:21 2006.
We are burning giant candles so that injuries stay far away as Nigel is looking forward to a venture into his first ultra!

Daniel Corner – Adventure Racing and Triathlon.
Elite World Quadrathlon Champion 2009.
Daniel has planned to do Nokia Coast to Coast Adventure Race this year. It is going to be an interesting battle between Daniel, Tim and Andy!

Adam Holland – Running
Holder of 3 World Records; i) 10 marathons in 10 days in 30:20:54 2009, ii) youngest person to have done 100 marathons by the age of 23yrs-7months-5days 2010, iii) part of greatest distance run of 539.86 miles by a team of twelve in 48 hours on a treadmill.
Adam has also won various awards and has been featured by the BBC recently!

Tim McDowell – Adventure Racing and Triathlon
1st Nokia Coast to Coast Adventure Race 2010, 12th Elite European Cross Triathlon Championships 2010.
It is going to be a ‘looong’ year for Tim as he has planned to race this year the World Cross Triathlon Championships, Mallorca 70.3, solo 24hr MTB Race, UK Double Ironman and Germany Harz Pro 50hr Adventure Race. Ah, he is also going to try to defend his Nokia Coast to Coast title!

Andy Blow – Multi Sport and Surfski Racing
Xterra World Champion 20-24 2000, Ironman UK top 10 pro finishes 2005 and 2006.
Andy has planned not to damage his boat this year and to stay ‘dry’! We are having high expectations!

Sean Frost – Triathlon.
12th Elite Antwerp 70.3 2010, 25th Elite Ironman debut Florida 9:37 2010.
Sean’s goal for 2011 is to become a better swimmer so that his missus cannot beat him up in the pool anymore!

Anja Heijnen – Triathlon and Duathlon
Silver World Championships Duathlon 40-44 2010, 2nd female Abu Dhabi International Triathlon ‘short’ course 2010.
Anja maintains the blog and apologises in advance for getting things lost in translation now and then. She hopes to perform closer to a fish than a sea slug this year!

These are just a few bits and bobs about the team members. I probably could write a book but I also would like to keep you awake! We have more beautiful people racing for Votwo. I am sure you will hear from them over the next few months.

Enjoy!
Anja
Ps I am always happy to hear feedback, any kind!