Report 2006

More than 1000 competitors were joined by Olympians Stephen Parry, Steve Smith, and Steve Cummings to raise more than £25,000 for charity and make this year’s Sefton Triathlon the biggest yet.

Parry kicked off proceedings in the pool, swimming 150m including a lap with his bronze medal winning butterfly stroke, before setting off on the 5km bike ride and 2.5km run along the Crosby Coastline.

With the boiling conditions of the previous week relenting, conditions were just about perfect for competitors. Steve Cummings also gave everyone a thrilling glimpse of why he won Olympic cycling’s silver medal, completing the tricky course in 8mins 29 secs.

Last year’s winner Phil Ellison again won the individual male category. His time of 23 mins 18 secs an improvement of over 2 minutes while this years top placed female was Celia- Anne Whelan, finishing in 25 mins 42 secs.

Leon Szymanski lead the veterans home, finishing in 25 mins 13 secs with Karen Dalby the leading female veteran with a time of 29 mins 59 secs.

For the youngsters the winners included: Erica Sanders and Lewis Daly (Year 4): Olivia Metcalf (Year 5), Charlotte Sinclair and Andrew Keat (Year 6): Christina Coll and Michael Smith (Year 7) Sophie Kelly and Mark Loveridge (Year 8)Jodie Taylor and Louis Syzmanski (Year 9) and Amy Wood and Martin Cooke (Year 10+)

Stockport Grammar won the Junior School Girls award, with the Boys award going to Bolton Boys, while the Senior School Girls award went to St Mary’s College, with Sacred Heart School winning the Senior School Boys award.

In the Corporate Challenge, the Mersey Tri team of Niall Meehan, Dave Hutchinson and Paul Gautkin won the male category, with Sarah Powell, Jane Hollows and Lily Lam-Hayes of Pennt Lane Striders winning the female category.

The Liverpool team of Sarah Jackson, Karen Dalby and Alan Ashton won the mixed award. After completing the race in 28 mins 40 secs, finishing in 17 th place, Steve parry said:” I haven ’t enjoyed myself so much at a sporting event for a long time” Organiser John Moran who praised the Community spirit the event helped to encourage said” it was brilliant - it went really well all round and everyone had such a great day. It was a big success and we had a record number of entrants with over 1000 competitors.

We also managed to raise more than £25000 for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. It’s the epitome of a community event now. It was made special by the people who supported the event, the volunteers and the people who provided services.

Everything was done by local people and members of the Crosby Community. It’s a great example of what a community can do when they pull together. Even the three Olympians stayed on after they had finished the race because they enjoyed it so much and wanted to help out.

It was the biggest community triathlon in Europe last year and it just got bigger.