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CLUB FOCUS : KINGSWOOD TRI CLUB

 

Kingswood Tri Club are a large group of enthusiastic amateur athletes based in and around Kingswood in Bristol.  The club was formed in 1982 and has grown from strength to strength, now boasting over 80 members.

The club encompasses a wide range of abilities from Novices to Age Groupers with a wealth of knowledge and experience. 

Training consists of weekly pool sessions at Kingswood Leisure Centre on a Thursday night from 8:30, led by various BTA/STA coaches. Longer bike and run sessions and general training support take place over the weekend.  Coaching and motivation is supplied by the club Chair, Richard James, whose house acts as the key rendezvous point for many activities, both pre- and post-training. In the spring and summer some of the club cycle 40 miles to a South Cerney for a 1 hr open water secession, then cycle back followed by up to a 20 mile run along the Bristol to Bath cycle path. This cycle path contributes a major part of our training both running and biking and not forgetting our joint Christmas Fun run with Bitton Road Runners. Previously it has been home to the run route of our triathlon and duathlons.  We endeavor to keep fit during the winter competing in multi terrain run and mountain bike events such as Sodbury Slog, Dursley Dozen, Salisbury Challenge and Polaris.

 The founding name of the club was Kingswood International Tri Club (KIT), because four of the members emigrated to New Zealand, Australia, States, and France and still compete under the club name.  Some club members also race abroad. Ken McClarens membership application is still being reviewed (10 years later) because we don’t actually believe that he has emigrated, various sightings over the years on the Bristol to Bath cycle path and at Ironbridge.

The KIT kit is a rather fetching yellow and black number with numerous stylish garments available for all three disciplines.  Apparently previous seasons’ styles are still available on the tri and used black market!  Club members can be seen at numerous local, national and international events proudly sporting their distinctive yellow and black cycle tops and tri-suits.

Kingswood triathletes past and present have strongly supported the 220 series from the early 1990’s.  The Kingswood Triathlon was one of the main South West events for over 10 years until the route was ‘carved up’ by the Avon Ring road in 1997.  Former Club Chairman, Kes Aleknavicius and wife Carol, with the help of Rich and Alex James kept the Kingswood Duathlon series going until the late 1990’s.  The Longest Day event by Black Country Tri has always been a club focus with up to 6 athletes competing in this grueling event.  However, more locally to Bristol, club members can be seen at Burnham Triathlon, the fantastic Castle Combe Duathlon Series and Bath Triathlon organised by Michael Sidey of Bath Amphibians and the BTA South West Series.  This year 8 members traveled up to Llanberis to take part in the Half Ironman.

The club has many Ironmen within the club, here are some of them, Kes Aleknavicius(25+), Rich James(8), Barry Angel(3), Steve Penman (3), Simon Attwood (2), Chris Glover, Jeremy Dale, Kelly Monteith, Gordon Lovell, Steve Light, Phil Cutterham, Rob and Karen Maizarz, Ian Kettelwell, Paul Cann, Lee Francis, Eric 'the eel' Downey, Christian Burge, Andrew Bromley, Matthew Robinson, Phillipa Crocker, Derek Johnson and Mike Hodder as far as we can recall.   

However the majority of the club are happy competing in local Sprint, Olympic and middle distance triathlons, such as Springfield, Wansdyke, Weymouth and Langport. 

The group is kept up to date via the club website (www.kingswoodtri.co.uk) including race diary, race results, race reports and training details.  This site has had over 31,500 visitors since February 2002.  The site is regularly managed by Eric ‘the e-mail‘ Downey.

There is also a social side to the club where Allison Lucas and Lee Francis arrange Club dinners, discos and KiT Curry nights.