SOUTHAMPTON Running Club made a brilliant debut at the Asics National Triathlon Relays.

But they will be looking at the narrow margin that netted them silver in the veterans' championship and wondering what could have been if they had found an extra ten seconds on the course.

After over three hours of racing around the National Watersports Centre at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham, and a head-to-head battle over the final 5k run, the SRC foursome of Martin Nobbs, Shaun Tew, Kevin Royle and Rob Vaune finished just ten seconds adrift of the winning Army Triathlon team. Their finishing time of 3 hours 18min 28 secs for the four 500mm swims, 15k cycles and 5k runs would have won them the 1998 veterans' title by a massive six minutes.

Southampton Tri Club's last-minute entry almost joined SRC on the podium: Brian Greensmith, Penny Gorton, Paul Bailey and Katherine Willoughby eventually finished fourth in the mixed-team category, in 3:18:39. That placed them 16th out of a record 120 teams in the main "club" race (missing only the national elite teams) - one place behind SRC.

Hardly Tri - probably the smallest club competing at these national championships - finished a creditable 33rd, with a strong all-round performance from new club sprint champion Paul Ransome and a rapid bike leg from Neil Lewis.

Top Southampton triathlete Julian Jenkinson was another late entrant - helping his new club Tri UK Inc to fourth place in the national elite race. Tri UK clocked 3:05 - but the winners, by over three minutes, were London-based Sigma Sport Tri in a rapid 2:54:04.

l Not content with one race in a weekend, SRC's medal winning foursome, plus Hardley's Ian Smith, were all back in action the next day at the Hampshire Tennis Club triathlon - staged with the help of firemen from Redbridge.

Team Hargroves competitor Ian White romped to victory in 53 minutes and six seconds to create a new course record and finish just two minutes ahead of teammate Wes Lewis.

The women's event was won by Ann Buckley in 60.32 with Victoria Edwards second at 61.30.

Both Hardley and SRC will also be presented at next Sunday's Longest Day event in Wolverhampton - when over 200 athletes will tackle Britain's leading Ironman triathlon, over a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile marathon run.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.