iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's Christmaaas

Saturday was the day that all the talk has been about lately, the North Devon Tri Christmas Party and Presentation.

To warm up for it there was a small Duathlon training session on Braunton Burrows which was attended by a hardcore of seven club members (Phill, Jan, Sally, Dave, Iain, Dick & Steve). This consisted of a 5mile trail & beach run, a 10.5mile bike ride and another 3mile trail run to finish with. Recent downpours had turned some of the trails into lakes and navigating your way around without getting soaked was a real challenge. Thankfully though the rain stopped and for the session itself the weather was gorgeous, if a bit on the chilly side.

The big night itself was soon upon us and 56 triathletes & significant others piled into Cedars to fill our faces, dance and find out whos strict training regime affected their drinking ability the most. Of course there was also the all important presentation along with a fine raffle with many prizes sourced by James, Alan and Michelle.

So to the winners :-

Most improved Swimmer - Steve Ditchburn
What can we say about Steve. This time last year he did a damn good impression of a brick when he swam. Now the brick goes across the water rather than heading straight to the bottom.

Most improved Cyclist - Sally Pope (who hid from the camera)
For constantly improving her performances and showing the rest of the club that there's no excuse for not getting out on your bike.
Most improved Runner - Phill Miles
Mostly awarded because Mark made him look good by failing miserably to run him down at Dorney Lake Relays this year. Ok ok, so he's worked (quite) hard at improving this year too.

Male Triathlete of the year - James Marshall
Surely there hasn't been a more blatent results fiddle since Blue Peter named their cat 'Socks'

Female Triathlete of the year - Helen Banbury
In her first full season of Tri she's taken the South West by storm and things can only get better in 2009 Performance of the year - Paul Bitmead
For a storming performance at his first open water event (Bude Tri) when he was out there so long that the timekeepers had gone home. How they failed to notice him when he got by far the biggest cheer of the day is still a mystery. The Infamous Chicken Helmet - Paul Bitmead
Where do we start.............. Well I'll keep it clean and just mention his walking the dogs over Braunton Burrows at 7pm one evening and not finding his car again until 11:30pm. I'll leave the tale about him trapping his testes in his trisuit for your imagination. His performance later at the party has already made him a front runner for next years award.

There were further suprise presentations for various random reasons (ego massage) to Alan Ward, Peggy Crome, Iain Hindes and Michelle Williams.

After the presentation Club Chairman James announced to the club that the lovely Stephanie who puts up with him and all his rubbish was expecting their first child.

There's obviously been something in the Devon water during 2008 because joining in the clubs baby boom are Nicky and Gary (left) along with Jo and Damian (right).

Congratulations to James, Nicky and Damian. We all look forward to the new arrivals in 2009.

After the awards everybody partied away as if there was no tomorrow. There was certainly no training tomorrow for most of them.