Hemel Hempstead Sprint Tri

Wight Tri member, Steve Dines took on his final triathlon of the season, his 10th for the year. At the beginning of the year, Steve had chosen to complete 10 triathlons in 2019, as a tribute to his late dad and to raise money for Dementia, which his dad died of last year. His main goal was to complete 10 triathlons and finish no lower than 10th in his age group.
Steve started his triathlon journey in April at Southampton in the rain and finished in the rain at Hemel Hempstead. In memory of his dad, Steve had named his camper-van ‘Geoff’ and has a personalised number plate in his dad’s name, and Steve has carried his memory with him throughout his 10 Tri Challenge!
“ My Camper-van is named Geoff so he has travelled to every Event with me! “

At his final event, at the Hemel Hempstead Sprint Triathlon, Steve finished in style. The event started with a 400m snake swim in an outdoor ‘Non Heated’ pool, followed by a 2 lap hilly and undulating 20km bike course, finishing with an out and back 5km run course, with a long ascent to the turnaround, followed by the descent back to the finish.

The conditions were wet and windy which was interesting in the exposed sections of the bike course, which was mostly around a built up area with a few country lanes thrown in.

Although it was a long way to travel for his final event, it was well worth it for Steve, who finished 1st vet 60-64 and 32nd overall from 115 overall.