Charlotte Chapman takes on Ironman test
Last weekend, Newport & District Running Club’s Charlotte Chapman took on the Staffs Ironman 70.3, a half-ironman distance triathlon which takes place over a vast area of central Staffordshire, starting at Chasewater reservoir and finishing in Stafford town centre.
The swim is nearly 2km long, taking in a lap of the reservoir at Chasewater, before the cycle section - a monster ride of over 90km, which takes riders on a tour of central Staffordshire, passing through places such as Cannock Wood, Yoxall, Kings Bromley and Marchington, before crossing Blithfield Reservoir and entering Stafford via a lollipop section over Cannock Chase and ending the ride through Tixall.
After such a punishing day in the water and on the saddle, the run section to finish is a half marathon, which takes place over an undulating 2-lap course through Stafford and visits Stafford Castle twice, as well as lapping the town centre and surrounding roads, before finishing in the market square.
Charlotte completed the swim section in 40 minutes, 41 seconds, exiting the water in 588th position overall, before her cycle section of 3 hours, 3 minutes 45 seconds moved her up the order to 557th.
In the run, Charlotte made massive gains through the field, moving herself up to a finishing position of 432nd overall with a half marathon time of 1:49:36.
This gave her a total finishing time (including transitions) of 5 hours, 46 minutes, 59 seconds, which also confirmed her as 48th female finisher and 10th in her division.
