English National Relays 2025
So the day started very early for me…4am. A couple of coffees & I was on my way to Nottingham to meet up with the advance party from Friday night.
A lovely traffic free journey & I arrived at Holme Pierrepont to unload all the gubbins that comes with our lovely sport!
Both gazebos up & welcoming at 7am & who should arrive at the other end of the tent when I got there? Jacqui Burke & Grace Hoo-Quartey! Obviously early risers…
The weather was warming up, our team mates arriving in fits & starts and the Captains organising their teams, dishing out t-shirts, tags, swim caps & stickers….and the obligatory tactics!
Let’s go to Swim start & look at where would be best to wait for baton handover! What signals would we use? What should I shout? Are those Rascal jams that Jason Taylor is wearing really Team GB issue?
Before the races kicked off, there was a chance to browse the HUUB discount pop ups & try to scout some bargains – which a few of our number did!
With a few relay Newbs, the nerves were starting once the size of the field was established. Some old heads soon got the nerves out of the way & The Bell Stars (Andrew Bell) decided on our wait positions & settled on the good old ‘Name, Hillingdon!’ shout at decibels hitherto unheard of!
And I’m pleased to announce that it worked like a charm, every handover was slick.
Unlike the poor sod from Grimsby Tri club (why is it always Grimsby?) whose handover partner was nowhere to be seen, rendering all his aquatic efforts useless. A few minutes passed & after what seemed an eternity, his baton partner arrived & off they went.
Swimmer number one from Grimsby trudged off to lick his wounds.
As the batons were passed from Hilly to Hilly, it was nice to see all teams taking part in the same session, due to us not taking as many teams as previously. We had 4 Championship Teams & 2 Open Teams. Small in numbers but big in quality.
Handovers to the bike & the usual racking dilemmas surfaced: When do I go? Where do I put it? Can I wear trainers? Why is the guy from Grimsby blocking my access to the hay-bale? (Why is it always Grimsby?)
3 times round the lake, the near side having a tail wind that made you feel like Bradley Wiggins, the off side a headwind that made you feel like Chris Biggins!
And the customary ‘missing partners’ for other Teams at the hay-bale handover – it really is crazy how often it happens, for the sake of a bit of organisation in advance!
And onto the run – as always runner 1 has a slightly shorter distance to cover due to the multiple transitions, but it still is a hard effort – the longer lengths of the lake never seem to end, the distance never closes. But our out section was wind assisted, so small mercies.
Of course that meant that the home straight was all in your face, just when you could do with a helping hand. If it was easy, everyone would do it.
Another hay-bale, another wrist, another handover but this time your work was done! You had completed the Relays.
It was now just a case of waiting for your ‘4’ so that you could all run down Victory Lane together & await the results.
Our Illustrious Chair had a treat up her lycra sleeve – ICE CREAMS!
Hands up who wants an ICE CREAM!!!
The van was overrun with red, black & white Tri kits, Kenny Burton put his Crocs to Sport Mode & JT set his camera to Selfie – expect a Facebook dump imminently!
And so to the business end – the results! As mentioned we had 6 teams, 4 of which were eligible for Championship placings & 4 of which HIT THE PODIUM! Two thirds of the teams we entered placed – I told you there was quality….
Junior - Gold (Finley Pickthorne, Michael Knight, Filip Kunecki, Zachary Pickthorne)
V40 Women - Gold (Kate Conibere, Boo Smith, Jacqui Burke, Grace Hoo-Quartey)
V50 Men - Silver (Adrian Toland, David Edward Knight, Jason Taylor, Mark Scott)
V40 Men - Silver (Tony Jackson, Ash Trowe, Jeff Shotton, Marcin Kunecki)
Open Teams
The Bell Stars - (Andrew Bell, Amber Williams, Tom Howells, Ju Mills)
Krull's Crushers - (Mark Krull, Kenny Burton, Emma Burton, Molly Jackson)
And as you can see, it’s a very proud Treble-Day in the Knight, Pickthorne & Kunecki households as Dave (Silver) & Michael (Gold), Zachary & Finley (Gold) & Marcin (Silver) & Filip (Gold) all medalled in their categories!
(Don’t mention the kids outdid their Dads…ahem)
It was also a great day for the Open Teams with a few Relay Newbs, but as always they were led by fantastic captains who organised everything to allay the fears.
Medals collected, gazebo’s deconstructed & ice cream scoffed, it was time for the traditional Club photo.
With a difference…..
Two time Olympic champion & all round Triathlon LEGEND Alistair Brownlee joined the greatest club in England for a photo bomb and how welcome he was.
But I did I have to refuse his audition for a place on the Honey Badgers Team – we’ve already done the Clean Sweep on the Aquathlons this year & no one can ride the coattails of their success….
Finally, a massive respect to all the Hillies that made the journey to Nottingham to make this a fantastic Relays, to John Levison for organising us all & to Jacqui & Martin for running the best club in the UK. Fact.