A LARGE contingent of Salisbury Tri Club athletes competing in what is their local event, the Durrington Triathlon, writes ALAN BAYLISS.

The race has additional significance as local bragging rights are at stake, in the form of the Battle of the Tri Clubs trophy, with competition between Salisbury Tri Club, Stonehenge Triathlon and Road, and Andover Tri Club.

After narrowly losing last year, Salisbury were determined to retake the cup.

The competition included a 400 metre swim, 18 kilometre bike ride and 5 kilometre run to finish with.

Salisbury triumphed with Paddy Traylor finishing fastest in a time of 1:00:26, nearly half a minute clear of second place.

Pete Newman finished in fourth in a time of 1:02:15, just off the podium, but second in the veterans’ category.

Not to be outdone, the ladies made a clean sweep of both their overall and veterans’ podiums, with Hani Milstein finishing first in 1:09:00, Jo Bissett second in 1:10:49 and Sue Dowding in 1:17:08.

Other members of the victorious Salisbury Tri team (in finishing order) were Chris Collett 14th, Phil Beaven 16th, Sam Summers,20th, John Stringer 22nd, Chris Woodcock 23rd, Geordie Gray 30th, Rhys Edwards 31st, Emily Guy 42nd, Giles Graves 45th and Simon Burley 58th.

A special mention should be given to Sam Summers, Rhys Edwards, Emily Guy and Simon Burley who have only just started on their triathlon journey as participants in Salisbury Tri Club’s 2019 Intro To Tri course.