Tens of thousands raised at the Impetus-PEF Private Equity Triathlon

14th September 2015

Saturday saw the Impetus-PEF Private Equity Triathlon return to the Olympic rowing venue Dorney Lake for its second year, and this time it was bigger and better than ever.

A mild and calm morning greeted the 400 participants who were arriving, many of whom were nervous and eagerly anticipating taking on their first triathlon. Although rain was forecast, sunshine managed to break through the clouds and make it a largely bright and dry day; a fact which the first timers appreciated.

The day was kicked off with the Scootathlon which saw children from ages 4 to 8 scoot, bike and run with parents and spectators cheering them home. Following the Scootathlon there was a chance for the older children to join in the fun with the Kids’ Duathlon for 9 to 16 year olds. The kids ran 1km followed by a 3km bike and a final 1km run and it was won by Thomas Macdougall in a time of 19:35 while the first girl was Margaux Robineau who finished in 26:55.

Tens of thousands raised at the Impetus-PEF Private Equity Triathlon2

After all the fun filled kids racing, the adults were ready to take to the water for their share of the action and first off was the CVC Advanced Sprint Triathlon for those who could complete the sprint distance (750m swim, 21.2km bike and 5km run) in under 1 hour 30 mins. This offered the quickest participants of the day the chance to take on each other in a more competitive environment. For the second year in a row it was Richard Blackburn of race sponsor CVC who took the title in a time of 1:06:10 which was a couple of minutes slower than his winning time from 2014 (1:03:51). He overtook John Brame from RG Active on the run leg and despite John leading all the way until the run and clocking a finishing time of 1:06:35 (quicker than last year’s 1:08:30), he just missed out on first place. Third spot was taken by Matthew Woodgate from Grant Thornton in a time of 1:09:08 with last year’s third place finisher (Jan Timmermann of Alvarez & Marsal) coming fifth this time around.

Tens of thousands raised at the Impetus-PEF Private Equity Triathlon3

As for the women in this wave it was Claire Kybett from Aztec Group who came first in a winning time of 1:20:40. She was followed in by Lia Larson from Goldman Sachs International (1:26:16) and Katerina Labanicova from Marex Spectron (1:33:55) who came second on third respectively.

Following the CVC Advanced Sprint wave was the Mergermarket Group Sprint distance wave which contained the rest of the individual entrants taking on the Sprint distance. This a hotly contested wave with a mixture of experienced athletes right through to first timers making up what was the largest wave of the day. The winner was Emma Young from RG Active in a very impressive time of 1:15:32. She beat the second placed female Marsha El-Hage also of RG Active (1:19:37) who came storming across the line having worked hard to keep the fast finishing third placed female Kate Davies of Coller Capital (1:20:12) in third.

As for the men it was Johannes Greffe of Summit Partners who was first home in a time of 1:17:28. Second male was James Syrotiuk from BGF who posted the fastest Sprint distance swimming time of the day (a very impressive 11:40 for 750m) on his way to a finishing time of 1:19:08. He just pipped Mark Nielsen of Nomura who took third spot in a time of 1:19:20.

After the individuals had been set off it was the relay teams’ turn with the PwC Sprint Relay taking to the water. Posting not only the joint quickest 750m swim time of all the relay teams (12:06) but also the fastest 5km run time we’ve ever had in the two years of this event (17:24) meant Team BCP3 of BC Partners took the victory in a winning time of 1:08:13. Team Aztec Group were second in 1:09:55 thanks to an incredibly quick 21.2km bike time of 32:29 which was also the fastest bike split in the two years of this event. Third place went to Team RR Donnelley (who were the company from which las year’s winners came from) in a finishing time of 1:13:14 (just beating Team PwC1 from race sponsor PwC into fourth by just one second).

The final wave of the day was the short distance Impetus-PEF Board of Trustees SuperSprint distance which saw athletes take on a 400m swim, 10.6km bike and 2.5km run. The winner in this race was Freya Riddel of Alvarez & Marsal in a winning time of 42:53 largely because she had the quickest swim (6:41) and run (11:11) times of the day. Second female was Emily Goulborn of Impetus-PEF in a time of 46:39 an third went to Hannah Sharp also of Impetus-PEF in a time of 55:59.

Sean Donovan of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer was the fastest male in this distance finishing in 44:14. He beat Nicolas Dellachiesa of Citigroup into second who finished in a time of 53:00 while Michael Mosee was third male finishing in 54:14.

Every finisher received a medal, goodie bag and a well-earned ERDINGER Alkoholfrei recovery drink at the finish line, plus there was free energy gels available to try at registration.

All participants were asked to donate or fundraise £400 each to help fund the great work Impetus-PEF do transforming disadvantaged children and young people’s lives in the UK. Last year an amazing £146,000 was raised to support their work and this year that fantastic total is expected to be surpassed.

Tens of thousands raised at the Impetus-PEF Private Equity Triathlon4

 

Outside of the traditional triathlon racing, there was plenty going on in the event village with free massage available plus a free hog roast provided by Greenbrook on offer for all participants particular highlights. Also within the event village there were shopping opportunities at both Wiggle andblueseventy as well as bike hire available from British Bike Hire. Aside from the Scootathlon and Kids’ Duathlon there was also a bouncy castle and some free children’s cycling activities for all ages, including a fun smoothie bike which plenty of kids enjoyed.

More details regarding next year’s event are to be announced shortly, but don’t forget to get your fundraising/donations into Impetus-PEF for this year. You can donate to support Impetus-PEF’s participants here or can set up a fundraising page for yourself here.