Thorold flies the PACTRAC flag with great pride in Florida

Last week they had athletes racing in Hawaii, Turkey and Majorca - this week the far-off destination was Miami.

Dave Thorold was the man who made the trip to Florida to compete in the gruelling Miami 70.3 Half-Ironman Triathlon.

That involved a 1.2-mile swim in the sea, a 56-mile bike ride and a 13.1-mile run. And as if that’s not tough enough, the swim is non-wetsuit, the bike course is always very windy and the run is in 30-degree heat and 80% humidity.

Thorold gained a great result by finishing 105th overall out of a field of 1,893 (only 1,706 finished) and he placed fifth in his age group with a time of 4:57:40.

Closer to home three PACTRACers competed in the BRJ Laragh Homes Alconbury Duathlon on Sunday and they all fared well.

Paul Jephcott won his age group in the standard distance race while Jo Chapman was fourth lady finisher and runner-up in her age group in the sprint.

It was Chapman’s first ever multi-discipline race and she competed in the event with husband Andrew.

PACTRAC results:

Sprint (run 3 miles, bike 12.5 miles, run 1.5 miles): 4 Jo Chapman 1:32:27 (age group 2nd); 25 Andrew Chapman 1:32:28 (age group 6th .

Standard (run 6.25 miles, bike 25 miles, run 3 miles): 19 Paul Jephcott 2:42:30 (age group 1st).

PACTRACer Wendy Gooding competed in the RTTC National Closed Circuit Cycle Time Trial Championships on the Thruxton Motor Circuit and came home in 20th place in a time of 28:23.

The 1distance was 1.8 miles and Gooding averaged very nearly 25mph.