Sunday, 5 June 2016:  The sun shone on the Montrose Triathlon today, and produced yet another fantastic triathlon event! Over 200 triathletes took to the swimming pool, roads and pavements in and around Montrose this sunny Sunday afternoon.

The event, which was organised by social enterprise Tri Angus Limited on Sunday, 5 June, is now in its third year, offered participants of all ages and abilities a great sporting challenge in the fantastic setting Montrose has to offer.

The event which has again received much needed support from a number of local businesses including, Park and Links Hotels, Agrii, Arbikie Highland Estates, Angus Bike Chain, Blooming Bee’s, Carnoustie Creative, Scotmid, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Specsavers Montrose, Natures Garden, Greggs and Sweatshop, was full to capacity within four days of opening entries in January and saw over 300 participants register to take up the challenge.

The sprint event put some of the more experienced participants through their paces and it was a clean sweep of the men’s podium for The M3 Triathlon Club from Monifieth. Robert Harrison (Blairgowrie) who posted the fasted time of the day however to clinch the 1st male title and Mhairi Boyle from Kinross was the winner of the 1st female title in the sprint event.

The event attracted a huge number of people inspired to try the sport, with almost half of the entrants making their triathlon debut at the Tri Angus event. The winner of the female novice race was local lass Jenny Warden, racing for Montrose Triathlon Club, who also clinched the Veteran Female title too. Sixteen year old Ross Brown (Forfar) upgraded his 2nd place result from 2015 and outperformed all the men, taking home the Novice Male title – an impressive feat for his age!

In the veteran category, Mark Briggs (Edinburgh) clinched the Novice Veteran title in the male event and in the Sprint event Robert Harrison (Blairgowrie) and Sylvia Cranston (Montrose) took Sprint veteran titles.

Other notable achievements went to Niamh Baillie (15, Carnoustie) who won the female novice youth category and Gordon Simpson (16, Brechin) who won the male sprint youth category.

The 2016 Montrose Triathlon also welcomed its first participant with a visual impairment. Norma Davidson (Menmuir, by Brechin) took to this years triathlon with guide Mary Anderson and had a ball! After a solid swim, her ‘twin powered’ bike blasted them up the hill, through Ferryden before they tackled the run.

The event enjoyed some of the fine weather Angus has had recently which added to the success and enjoyment for everyone from the participants, the volunteers and the crowds of supporters and spectators. The event attracted about 50 volunteers on the day, all of whom contributed to the success of the event.

Maggie Lawrie, Tri Angus Director, was delighted with the success of Sunday’s event and is looking forward to next year already.
“It has been a fantastic event and after all the hard work of organising everything it was great to see everyone really enjoying themselves and feeling proud of their achievements at the finish line” commented Maggie.

“The event has received great support from a number of local businesses and without them this event just wouldn’t be possible. The same goes for the number of volunteers who turned up to help with a whole host of different tasks. I have been overwhelmed by the response and would like to say a huge thank you to everyone.

Full Results – click here