Celebrating the successful 40 years of PACTRAC, the leading local triathlon club

Here is the club’s statement which takes us through the club’s history…

‘PACTRAC were founded in February 1985, on the back of an Ironman-distance triathlon that duly took place at Ferry Meadows in Peterborough on 30/06/85.

‘Six members completed the full triathlon, while others took part in a shorter event, held at the same time, all organised by PACTRAC’s first chairman, Graeme McLeod.

‘Harold Frobisher joined and, fortunately for PACTRAC, he was the Master in charge of Oundle Swimming Pool, where PACTRAC still swim today, albeit in a brand new modern 50m/25m pool that opened 50 yards from the old pool in 2020.

‘Harold was already a veteran of the Hawaii Ironman and organised competitions between PACTRAC and the local Public School pupils at Oundle from 1985-87.

‘To give the school pupils a chance, a number of PACTRACers competed in the local Peterborough half-marathon on that Sunday morning in 1985. Chris Boon (Founder of TriUK) chose not to and duly won the afternoon’s race.

‘Steve Hope won the 1986 and 1987 editions and remained the Oundle Triathlon Champion until ‘Active Training World’ organised an event there in 2022. In 2024, Steve completed 20 triathlons in his 40th year in triathlon. Other founding members still in the club include Paul Gallagher and Steve Small.

‘A number of ‘proving’ triathlons were held at the local Lido, as well as an Inter-club competition with Cambridge, Leicester and Bedford Triathlon Clubs.

‘Open Triathlons were organised from Peterborough Regional Pool in both 1986 and 1987 by the new Chairman, Laurie Miles.

‘Over the years we have organised Junior Triathlons at both Thrapston and Stanground, as well as Duathlons from Castor and Quadrathlons from Tansor; and club off-road triathlons at Harringworth.

‘We have a thriving junior section that train out of Stanground Academy. This was set up by Wendy Gooding and Dave Patmore-Hill before Sam Fielding took over (Sam can still be found officiating at various triathlons for the BTF).

‘Since covid, Simon Hoppe has been in charge – an experienced athlete who has represented GB on 33 occasions. Over the years, we have produced some top juniors, 4 of whom (Josh Daniels, Matt Gunby, Nathan Tweedie and Jonathan Oakey) have gone on to train full-time with the GB Elite Squads in Loughborough and Leeds.

‘The Senior Section has a well-established series of club events which this year included an Aquathlon, Duathlon, Sprint Triathlon and Standard Distance Triathlon, as well as our infamous Wednesday night summer Mini-Series Triathlons over the distances of 400m, 9-miles and 3.1 miles.

‘We are very lucky and almost unique in having a bike course with all left-hand turns, right by the pool. The course record of 44:54 is held by Paul Lunn who is a current age group 70.3 World Champion (2022 and 2023).

‘Other World and European Champions from the club include Georgina Jennings, Roger Canham, Wendy Gooding and George Prodrick.

‘2024 is PACTRAC’s 40th year of providing multi-sport in the Peterborough and Oundle area. A dozen chairmen as well as many aspiring triathletes have passed through our ranks and 2025 will be a year of celebration.

‘Members regularly compete in World and European Championships as well as Ironman-distance events around the world, but it is back in Oundle with the Mini-Series, and regular swims supervised by Lead Coach Rob Head and his team, where things tick.

‘In 2023 Adam Clark won 4 local triathlons outright, and this year he was the only athlete to compete in all 10 club events. Adam is a worthy club champion and he and other members will collect one of over 20 trophies to be awarded at the Gala Dinner in December.

‘The club also won the local Frostbite Winter Running League in both 1996/7 and 1997/8 competing against other Peterborough and Huntingdon based running clubs.’