A record field of 90 competitors turned out at the first Riyadh Triathletes event of the season at the weekend. Twenty four different nationalities were represented including 77 adults and 13 children between the ages of 7 and 65.

The first event, a biathlon, in perfect conditions was a 350m swim followed by a 3km run. Riyadh newcomers Ben Psaila (16mins 23 secs) and Rosie Wilde (20mins 40 secs) took overall victory for the men’s and ladies categories. Fastest split times for the swim and run go to Luca Giorgini (4mins 55 secs) and Mo Foustok (10mins 47 secs) respectively. First Junior Girls was Harriet Townhill with a very respectable time of 25mins 11 secs – a fantastic start to the season. A special mention to the first male junior Cameron Ball in an awesome time of 17mins 36 seconds and a fourth place overall. This is the first time Cameron has beaten his father Martin, the current club champion who could only manage fifth place overall after coming back from illness.

Many newcomers to the sport of triathlon enjoyed inspirational performances hopefully to be repeated throughout the season. The season runs on most weekends until the final event on Oct. 4 and includes three types of race namely biathlon (swim-run), duathlon (run-bike-run) and of course the full event of triathlon (swim-bike-run).

Participants may take part in one or more disciplines and if the full event is too long they can enter in a lesser distance. Juniors are especially encouraged no matter how young or how short a distance may be achieved. RTC ethos is very much inclusion for all.

Riyadh Triathletes would like to thank all those who played their own part in organizing, spectating and taking part in this excellent first event of the season. Thanks also to the main sponsors Airbus Defense and Space and Carrefour @5 Le Mall for their support this season. For further information about RTC please visit the website at http://www.riyadhtriathletes.com/.

Results:

Ben Psaila 0:16:23, Mo Foustok 17:30, Antonio Castellanos 17:36, Cameron Ball 17:36, Martin Ball 17:40, Luca Giorgini 18:01, Petr Pospisil 0:18:50, Kris Ahlin 19:05, Kelvin Bowers19:37, Nasser AlMutrad 20:16, Erik Iliff

20:33, Alistair McDermott0:20:34, Stuart Gillespie 20:35, David Townhill 20:37, Rosie Wild 20:40, Sarah Townhill20:50, Adelfo Paredes20:56, Stephen Doherty21:31, Chris Nixon21:34, Michal Provaznik21:40, Anne Morrissey21:58, Daren Bennellick22:09, Omar AlMarri22:35, Edoardo Lando22:41, Marie Kalmanova22:48, Paul McParland23:09, Alasdair Wild23:33, Deborah Karakesisoglu23:53, Jana Jaruskova24:05, Rupert Joel24:07, Thomas Brackmann24:09, Reiner Gocian24:12, Katerina Holeckova24:22, Feras AlHamoud24:46, Dragan Petkovski24:49, Gerrit Scharke24:54, Harriet Townhill25:11, Norman Bain25:16, Fiona Nichol25:20, Jeff Austin25:23, Chantal Bourque25:36, Vinnie Gillespie26:07, Ziyad Almasri26:46, Robert Kew26:50, Jamie Wild27:12, Cameron McDermott27:21, Larry Duffy27:30, Jesus Valverde27:46, William Ahlin28:07, Anton Markovic28:10, Rami Beylouni

28:22, Emma Gillespie28:38, Abdulmajeed AlMnaygil30:04, Jean-Pierre Legadec31:46, Leanne Mills31:56, Amr Moemen32:09, Kousaday Hammoudeh32:11, Geron Guanlao32:12, Raul Romani32:47, Mohammed AlMarri33:18, Musaad AlTuraif35:15, Herbert Bagolbagol36:23, Andrew Turton37:02, Paul Cullinan37:34, Abdulrahman Alufa38:20, Santiago Romani39:09, Abdulhakim Alsohaibano39:50, Cornelio Gamilo40:32, Ahmad AlShami43:23, Malek Chalita44:25, non-standard distance finishers; Sandra Fletcher, Teddy Eleosida, Anabel Townhill, Ashlyn Townhill, Stella Gillespie, Lea Ahlin, Claes Spang, Jeric Torre, Abdullah Al Marri, Dick Ella, Alan Garcia, Soledad Torre Turton, Rodel Flores, Bodour AlTuraif, Mohamed ElAhmed, Jihan Amin, Theresa Flores, Ahmed ElAhmed, Nichole Kard