TWO members of the NiceTri Triathlon Club of St Neots tasted success at the European sprint triathlon trials in Newcastle.

Despite six-foot sea waves and winds gusting at more than 80 miles per hour, Keith Ritchie and Marcus Wale won places in the Great Britain triathlon squad when they both achieved the requisite qualifying times.

The pair will now have the winter to prepare before heading to Isreal to compete in the European Sprint Triathlon Championships in April next year.

Meanwhile, the NiceTri club put in a strong end-of-season showing at the USN Dorney Lake Triathlon with 20 members competing over the Olympic, Sprint and Super Sprint distances.

With 370 people finishing the Sprint distance the club had five in the top 30 with the club’s youngest member Tom Stead finishing fourth overall and first in his age group.

Chris Ritchie finished in eighth and third in his age category, while Keith Ritchie finished 15th and second and Keith Pritchard – in only his second triathlon – finished first in his age group.

The first club lady was Ruth Chamberlain who was the 14th female home and second in her age group. Sam Ritchie, Emma Ritchie, Dave Stead, Julia Stead, Lucy Boothby and Karl Hiner all successfully completed their first ever triathlons.

The club is approaching its first anniversary and this event was a brilliant way to finish a successful first season. NiceTri now boasts membership of nearly 60 people who competes across all levels of triathlon.

The triathlon section of the BRJ Road Running club ended its season in style too with members competing in a number of competitions in the past few weeks.

The Dorney Lakes event attracted six club members with Amy Hughes completing her debut triathlon in the super sprint finishing in a time of 55:27.

Andy Matson was first in for the club over the sprint distance and came second in his age category and he kept good company with Ryan Woolf, Bren Vaughan and Deborah Rostant, who came third in her age group, all competing.

Gilles Corby chose to compete in the longer Olympic distance. On the same day Jackie Wren put her hard training to the test and completed The Full Boar middle distance triathlon which is made up of a 1,900km swim, 84km cycle and 21km run. She finished in an excellent time of 5:01:08.

Paul Jenner finished the season with a sprint distance triathlon and knocked four minutes of the previous year’s time at the Hever Triathlon held at Hever Castle in Kent.

Alan Hannibal and Paul Fullalove both completed the tough Tour of Britain Pro Ride cycle event held in Stoke-on-Trent. The pair finished the 140km race together.