The 2012 UK 70.3 Iron man took place on Sunday the 17 of June at Wimbleball, Exmoor. The event incorporates a  1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run, it is not for the faint hearted. Laura Price and Rebecca Topham were the two Dursley Running Club Triathletes who made it down to Exmoor for what is reported to be the toughest 70.3 Ironman in the world, with both the cycling and running requiring the competitors to endure an inordinate amount of climbing. They were joined by Dursley Running Club member and Tri Team Gloucester Triathlete Garry Hughes.

Garry competing at this distance for the first time, made it to the finish some way ahead of Laura and Rebecca in a total time of 04:47:36 coming 2nd in his divsion and 17th overall. Garry beat a significant number of professionals with his effort.Back in the world of mere mortals Topham had gone south with the stated intention of treating the event as a training session, following a long lay off from swimming and cycling due to injury. This certainly took the pressure off her after being beaten by Price at their last outing, the SIS Cotswold Event.

Price as ever delivered an impressive swim, out of the water almost 6 and a half minutes ahead of Topham, two minutes faster that her 2011 swim, at a pace of 50m/minute (I am happy to do that for 50ms.Ed). Despite her lack of pool time Topham was also faster this year, with both quicker at transition 1, Price knocking almost 3 minutes off last years time, yet still losing a minute to Topham. Price again showed the progress she is making in the other disciplines holding on to Topham who was struggling to rekindle her 2011 form. This led to a very close finish for the two Dursley Athletes, who were split by a mere 1 minute and 26 seconds after over 7 hours of competition.        

Results             Pos         Swim      T1            Bike            T2         Run              Total

R Topham         1013        44:30      8:06        04:12:39       3:11     02:05:46        07:14:12   

L Price              1020       38:02      9:09         04:15:22       3:13     02:09:52        07:15:38

G Hughes          19          25:10      3:33         02:52:22       1:43      01:24:48         04:47:36