In what were the best conditions in the seven year history of the race, a field of nine loonies entered the balmy 6 degree water of Brighton marina. All were fully dressed in wetsuits, gloves, rubber shoes or fins and at least two swim caps. First away (returning after a six year absence) was the former golden boy of triathlon, Tracy Harris. Behind came the rest, but after only 100 meters or so, the cold seemed to get to Tracy. The king of the cold water swim, Mike Russell, sailed past and extended his lead to a final 1 minute 30 after 500 meters. Tracey followed and then a gap of around a minute and a quarter saw Andy Field arrive, closely followed by Roy Beeley. The rest of the field followed within a couple of minutes.
Onto the run and here we saw Tracy catch Mike just before the steep run up the cliffs. He then started to build a gap which Mike held to come in three minutes down. Andy came in third, 1 min 22 down, followed by Mike Porteous a further 1 minute and 42 seconds down. Mike Harris, Charles and Roy Beeley followed in quick succession, but by now, Tracy and Mike had got away completely on the bike, out of sight of the field but keeping contact with each other until the second climb to the top of the road to the racecourse.
The final climb did the damage for Mike as Tracy powered away to finish 5 minutes ahead, with Andy coming home in third at a further 8 minutes 13 behind. Over the following couple of minutes, the remainder of the field appeared, unusually hot after such a superb race.
Once again, bringing up the rear was race organiser Sam Lambourne who put on yet another enjoyable race. Many thanks to Sam from all the competitors. To all the spectators and missing so-called "triathletes", come and have a go. Surely you can do it if the old men of triathlon can. Congrats to Tracy, Mike, Andy, Mike P, Roy, Mike H, Charles, Alan and Sam.
| Pos | Name | Swim | Pos | Bike | Pos | Run | Pos | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tracy Harris | 8.55 | 2 | 19.52 | 1 | 25.38 | 1 | 54.25 |
| 2 | Mike Russell | 7.5 | 1 | 23 | 2 | 28.59 | 2 | 59.49 |
| 3 | Andy Field | 10.14 | 3 | 24.22 | 3 | 33.36 | 7 | 68.12 |
| 4 | Mike Porteous | 11.17 | 7 | 26.04 | 4 | 31.15 | 4 | 68.36 |
| 5 | Roy Beeley | 10.38 | 5 | 27.43 | 6 | 31.12 | 3 | 69.33 |
| 6 | Mike Harris | 10.53 | 6 | 27.1 | 5 | 33.18 | 6 | 70.21 |
| 7 | Charles | 10.2 | 4 | 28.09 | 7 | 31.58 | 5 | 70.27 |
| 8 | Alan Laid | 12.46 | 9 | 29.42 | 8 | 34.15 | 8 | 76.43 |
| 9 | Sam Lambourne | 11.51 | 8 | 32.36 | 9 | 37.08 | 9 | 81.35 |