THE first Monster Middle Distance Triathlon took place on Sunday, with more than 300 participants turning out to compete.

The event saw athletes take on a 1.9km swim along the River Great Ouse in Ely, through the city centre to the railway station, where competitors then embarked on a 93km bicycle race through the surrounding Fenland, finished off with a half-marathon run. The event’s overall winner in a time of 4hrs 2secs was Sam Gardner from the Snow & Rock club, the female winner was Lucy Gossage from TFN Tri Club.

Ely Tri Club was well represented for the inaugural event, with eight members choosing to tackle the tough circuit.

The club were led home by Graham Chapman who came first in the Mens 55-59 category and 56th overall with a brilliant time of 4hr 51mins 44secs. John McCandrew was next home in 88th place in a time 5hr 3mins 56secs. Paul Martin was third home for Ely Tri Club just slipping outside of the top 100 with a time of 5hrs 10mins 54secs, with Kevin Groom and Brian Emerson bringing home the mens’ 40-44 category with times of 5hrs 22mins 10secs and 5hrs 35mins 41secs respectively. Lou Barker, the club’s sole female competitor, finished with a brilliant time of 5hrs 36mins 24secs and finished a respectable 169th overall. The club’s youngest competitor Jotham Steed, 29, cruised home in 182nd with 5hrs 46mins 18secs and the club was brought home by Michael Butler in 6hrs 19mins 12secs.

A spokesperson for organisers Monster Racing said: “We have received extremely good feedback from competitors and supporters. We hope yesterday’s event has firmly placed us high up on the middle distance triathlon event calendar, for its organisation, its fast PB course and its beautiful setting. We hope to put Ely on the map, attracting people to the area who otherwise may never have visited. We were delighted to have so many big names at our first event.”

Monster Racing will be staging a Duathlon Day early next year as well as their Monster Middle again next August.