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.