FVS TRI s dynamic duo of Mark Racher and Marc Trussell travelled to Nice to compete in the 2008 Ironman France Championships. Top club swimmer Racher was an incredible 14th out of the swim from a mass start of 2000 competitors completing the 3.8k sea swim

FVS TRI's dynamic duo of Mark Racher and Marc Trussell travelled to Nice to compete in the 2008 Ironman France Championships.

Top club swimmer Racher was an incredible 14th out of the swim from a mass start of 2000 competitors completing the 3.8k sea swim in 50:26, the mountainous 180k bike leg in 5-42:44 and a 3-59:06 marathon to finish in a total time of 10-43:18 and 229th overall.

Trussell was 1090th overall with a 1-10:20 swim, 6-30:09 bike and 4-44 marathon to finish in 12-46:04 which is an impressive time for such a difficult course.

Will Long completed his first standard distance or Olympic triathlon at Rutland Water in the Dambuster event finishing 300th overall in 2-45:04 completing the 1500m swim in 29:05, 42k bike in 1-24:31 and the 10k run in 47:51. Gerry Corrance was 340th in 2-50:12 (35:09 swim, 1-27:14 bike and 45:09 run).

Rob Bester and Graham Perry completed the Saffron Walden Sprint Triathlon with times of 1-33:10 and 1-46:06 for the 750m pool swim, 28k bike, and 5k run.

Stewart Kay raced the Mid Sussex Sprint Triathlon and finished 60th overall in 1-16:13 for the 400m swim, 25k bike and 5k run.

Mark Robertson was third overall in 24:06 for the St Albans Midsummer Aquathlon based on a 500m pool swim and 5k run. Suzy Hawkins was 29th in 29:51 and Ian Hobbs was 32nd in 30:22 with a three-minute personal best improvement on her 2005 performance.

Vicki Goulding had to retire after a collision in the swim, but she enjoyed the post-race breakfast which sort of made up for the early 5.30am race start!

Lynn and Richard Allen ran the Colworth 8.1 mile Trail Run in difficult wet and muddy conditions finishing in 1-14:35 and 1-06:15.

Ryan Johnson made his debut in the Stevenage Wednesday night TT in blustery conditions and was pleased with his 32:01. Rob Wilson was first home for FVS TRI in 25:25 with Tim Smith improving to 26:09 and Suzy Hawkins 27:14.

Gary Cook and Chris Priestley of the North Herts Road Runners took part in the Last Friday of the Month 5k in Hyde Park.

June's running of the monthly event was in fact inappropriately named given that the race had to be moved from the real final Friday to make way for Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday celebrations.

Gary completed the course in 17:33 to finish in ninth place and Chris was 81st in 21:29.

The Marston 5k also took place on Friday and was held in the Bedfordshire village of Marston on a pleasant evening.

Eight Road Runners took part in the event including three members of the Harbon family. Helen Harbon was third in the under-17 category finishing in 27:14 while Richard Harbon was first to finish for the club in 48th place and 19:12.

Their ladies scooped the team prize with some impressive performances. Natasha Pitman took fourth place in the ladies' race in 19:23 with Paula Adams following in fifth in 19:23. Jo Harbon crossed the line in 22:51.

Martyn Annetts was 57th overall in 19:41 with Linda Aird finishing in 24:33. Rachel Annetts came home in a time of 24:52.

Michael Mello travelled to Colworth on Sunday to take part in the town's half-marathon and he finished the hilly, multi-terrain in 1-50:37.

Fairlands Valley Spartans' David Bowker was runner-up in the senior men's Herts county 3,000m championship at Hemel Hempstead with a time of 10:08.

Five Spartans were also in Belgium for the Night of Flanders events on Friday.

The full marathon is a popular event in Torhout, Belgium, starting in the town square at 8pm!

Good weather conditions and a flat course helped make it a night for good times.

Roger Biggs ran his fastest marathon for more than two years with a time of 3-26:45 - a London Marathon qualifying time for his age group. Mark Sanders finished in 4-30:42.

In the Night of Flanders 10k, Phil Gale finished in 42:11, Dave Farthing 53:28 and Michaela Sanders 59:59.

Chris Leigh competed in the Marston Vale 5k on Friday evening.

This was on a lovely circuit around the Marston Vale Park near Ampthill using a mixture of the trails and road within the park and he finished in 22:21.

Jim Brown achieved his best overall race position for many years when he came 20th in Sunday's windy and warm Borehamwood Half Marathon. He was second Vet 50 in a time of 1-32:30.

On Friday, Jim moved up to second place in the Serpentine 5k race series with a time of 20:37. He was 60th out of 172 finishers.

Three Spartans were at the Watford track last Wednesday for the open graded 1500m races.

Phil Gale won his race in a new personal best of 4:57.80. In their race, Roger Biggs and Paul Holgate ran 5:43.60 and 6:18.05 respectively.

Sara O'Callaghan and Andrew Hull ran the Colworth Half Marathon on Sunday. This was an off-road multi-terrain event consisting of footpaths, bridal ways and woodlands tracks. Sara finished in 1-52:50 and Andrew in 2-01:20.