ELY Tri Club held its sixth annual Triathlon and Aquathlon event at The King’s School in Ely on Sunday, with record numbers of competitors turning out to take part.

Organisers doubled the number of entries this year with dozens of new teams competing for the first time.

The Triathlon involved a 400m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run and was won by Iain Gillam, closely followed in second place by Ely Tri Club’s very own Andy Sole. Winners of the female race were Maxine Burgess (Newmarket Cycling & Triathlon Club) and Julia Jepson (West Suffolk Wheelers & Tri Club).

Race organisers from Ely Tri Club said: “We were delighted to see a lot of new faces attempting the course. The course is flat but challenging and we hope to continue to attract new comers to the sport as well as experienced triathletes who have our event firmly in their calendar now. Ely has a lot of very talented kids and we hope to see them continue to take part and eventually move on to the triathlon in future years.”

Finishing from Ely Tri Club in the event were Andy Sole (1hr 3mins 54secs); John McAndrew (1hr 4mins 33secs); Graham Chapman (1hr 8mins 9secs); Paul Heselwood (1hr 8mins 26secs); Jay Woods (1hr 9mins 20secs); Sam Hatch (1hr 10mins 42secs); Chris Fulford (1hr 12mins 6secs); Brian Emerson (1hr 12mins 32secs); Robert Golding (1hr 12mins 43secs); Neil Griffiths (1hr 21mins 2secs); Kat Mercer (1hr 28mins 20secs); Helen Melville (1hr 28mins 49secs); Zelda Putter (1hr 30mins 56secs) and Steve Ball (1hr 43mins 52secs).

Ely Tri Club’s ladies team, Michelle Chalmers, Amy Richardson and Schuyler Newstead, came home fourth in the team event in 1hr 16mins 40secs.

Children aged from nine to 16 took part in their own Aquathlon event - a swim of 100m followed by a run around the King’s School playing field of a little more than 800m. The children were divided into three age groups to win medals and every child taking part received a commemorative T-shirt. Ely Swimming Club coach Elaine Hill and family were instrumental in organising the event.

Winners of the Aquathon were: Boys aged 9-10 George Sporle; Boys aged 11-13 James Austin; Boys aged 14-16 Ben Nichols.

Girls aged 9-10 Rebecca Daniel; Girls aged 11-13 Gemma Dyer.

Ely Rotary Club and Specsavers in Ely continued to be the main sponsors, providing T-shirts, medals and trophies. Ely Rotary Club were also very involved on the day. T-shirts for the Triathlon were sponsored by Littleport Rotary Club. Tesco provided the essential bottled water, bananas and energy bars for all competitors, officials and marshals. Official race photographer for the day was http://www.ian-greenphotography.co.uk.