Bassetlaw tri duo tackle the Belvoir Festival events

Looking over the battlements from the North Terrace, you can see for miles over the counties of Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire which were to be part of the weekends triathlon events.

Taking on the Sprint triathlon was Sharon Sutton from the Bassetlaw triathlon club. The sprint event comprising of a 750 metre swim in the estates lake followed by 20 km through the rolling hills around the estate.

The beautiful estate of Belvoir Castle was the setting for a multisport weekend event! with a one loop 5km run. On a warm and sunny day Sharon had a few hiccups early in the event, saying: “I've had a couple of setbacks over the past few weeks so wasn't surprised when my bag for life kitbag broke as I got it out of the car & then lost my timing chip off my ankle.

"A bit of extra running between 3 different marshalls to check I was ok to continue made for an entertaining and lengthy transition 1 but I got round the rest of the course with no more dramas.

“The swim was ziz-zaggy, the run from the lake to transition seemed quite long, really liked the bike & run routes & thought it was all pretty well organised. No official time but my watch said just under 1hr 58m so not quick by some people standards I guess but I'm happy enough with that.”

The following day had the Barnaby Grey also from Bassetlaw triathlon club entered The Gauntlet, a 70.3 triathlon event. This needed a 1.9km swim, 90 km bike ride and a 21km run. Coming back in a time of 5 hours and 40 minutes Barnaby commented “The plan was a steady dress rehearsal for my 13th Ironman in 3 weeks- Frankfurt European Championship Ironman. However, once the gun goes off…Tough 4 laps in the lake, followed by a long and treacherous run or walk to the bike. Fast two laps on the bike with just a few lumps and bumps before the extremely challenging half marathon. The run, usually my strength, really tested me and many competitors.

Congratulations to all competitors and especially the Castle Race Series for organising their first Belvoir Castle MultiSport weekend”.