Newsletter February 2025

Newsletter February 2025

Upcoming Events

Check club Stack Team App for all upcoming events.

Tri2O Key Dates for the calendar:

• 8th March International Women’s Day Social Ride & Lake Dip from 8am
• 9th March Siren Craft Brew 10KM run at 11am
• 19th March online ‘Mind Set Win’ chat on mental health & performance with York-P. Klöppel (Head of Mental Performance at Red Bull athlete performance centre Austria) from 8pm
• 23rd March Reading Half Marathon
• 4th April Pizza evening social from 7pm
• 13 April Women’s only ride (time & place TBC)
• 26th April Tribute Audax: Tribute Audax – 50, 100 & 200km Cycling Events – Sat 26 Apr 2025 Tribute Audax – 50, 100 & 200km Cycling Events – Sat 26 Apr 2025
• 10th May Katie’s ride (Start Pangbourne with different distances and social
  meet after ride, more details to come)
• 21st June Fish & Chips ride (more details to come)

Club regular events:

• Monday – Strength and Conditioning online session
• Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday – coached swim sessions
• Monthly Social Parkrun – 1st Saturday of the month
• Monthly Social Tri2o lake swim – 3rd Saturday of the month (starting from 18
  March)

Coming soon:

• Mark Stoke’s memorial swim
• TVT/Tri2O Social Event (more details to come)

Club Awards and Club Championships

Entry to our 2025 Club Championships closes on 31st October 2025 – at any time between now and then please enter your race results into the Club Champs Spreadsheet.

You will need the name of the race, your time, your category group (e.g. Male 50-54 or Female 35-39) and the time for the winner in your category. If the race you competed in only specifies ages in 10 year blocks then this is what you need to use, please add a note in the comment to this effect (bottom of the form). The form automatically calculates your race time’s percentage in terms of the winner’s time – if you won you get 100%, if you ran 1 hour 10 minutes and 12 seconds (1:10:12) and the winner was 1 hour 5 minutes and 30 seconds (1:05:30) the percentage would be 110.1%. The winner of the award is the person with the lowest percentage score.

In 2025 we will be giving separate awards to the Male and Female winners in the following triathlon categories: Sprint, Standard, Middle and Long (Ironman) distances; and an award for the best multisport (duathlon, aquathlon, aquabike or swim-run) performance. So 10 awards in all.
Please see the list of races that count towards the Sprint and Standard categories. Middle distance, full distance and multisport can be any race in the 2025 season.

In addition to the Club Championship awards, we also hand out awards each year as follows – we will need your nominations, so please ‘clock’ any potential nominations during the season!!

Henderson Personality of the Year Award: This is awarded in memory of Katie Henderson, a club member who was tragically killed in a car crash on her way to a race in 2015. It is awarded to the most helpful, supportive, and enthusiastic club member who has inspired and motivated others. Previous winners of this award have been Peter Gough, Christina Demetriou, Sean Stewart, Georgia Jackson, Sunil Fernandes, Neil Harris and Clare Harris, and this year Mark Stokes.

Mark Stokes Against All the Odds: This is awarded in memory of Mark Stokes, a club member who tragically collapsed and died competing for Age Group Team GB in 2024. It is awarded to a member who has overcome adversity and battled challenges either before or during a race.

Most Improved Member: Awarded to the member who has made the greatest improvement in their swim, bike, run, or multisport performance.

Most Engaged Newcomer: Awarded to a member who joined the club after the 2024 Reading Tri (held on 8th September) and who has supported the activities of the club or volunteered at a club event. We will advise who the new members are in October, when we seek the nominations.

Please send your nominations to secretary@tri2o.club with the reason why you think this person should win one of the above awards. The closing date for nominations is 31st October 2025.

The award ceremony will be arranged for early in 2026 😊

Thanks!

Nora Holford
Secretary, Tri2O Triathlon Club

Club Annual Awards Night Summary

Tri2O Club Awards night at Bill’s in Reading was a roaring success, with over 50 of attendees. It was lovely to see so many familiar faces and some of those newer to the club. We paid tribute to Mark Stokes who tragically lost his life competing for his country in the triathlon world championships last year and who fittingly won the Henderson personality of the year.

Congratulations to all our below winners.

Club championships winners:
Martin Cook – sprint triathlon
Alan Howells – standard triathlon
Andy Tucker – middle distance triathlon
Callum Hughes -full distance triathlon
Adam David Phillips – multi sport

Awards:
Mark Stokes – Henderson personality of the year
Siân Vaughan- Most improved
Mark Berriman – Most engaged newcomer
Kathy Stevenson – Against all odds

For more information on Awards’ criteria, description and how to vote this year, scroll up to Tri2O Annual Awards & Club Championships section.

A big thank you to our new social secretary Stella-Sophie Ferguson for organising a brilliant evening.

Here’s to another year of great racing and some fantastic club events.

Reading Triathlon Update

1. Entries are open, and people have started entering
2. The race will be part of the first South Central Regional Series, which will hopefully lead to an increase in entries. 
3. In an effort to be as sustainable as possible, the event will be cupless which will mean participants will need to provide their own cup/bottle for the water station (or buy the collapsible cup we have for sale when they enter). 
4. We also have updated merchandise this year, with hoodies and t-shirts available in this year’s chosen colours (will provide some images soon!).
5. Sarah Phillips has very kindly agreed to join the team this year and will be launching the volunteer sign-up information shortly. 
6. Look out for social media and other marketing for the event coming soon. 

Membership Update

Please join me in welcoming our new members to the club:

Duncan Bond
Matt Picozzi

I hope you will enjoy training with us. For anyone that wants to get the most out of the club and would like a call to talk this through – please let me know.

Annual Membership – April 25 to March 26

The membership renewal is now open on Stackteamapp.  The membership year runs from April until March and is £30 for the upcoming year.  You are able to make the payment at any time between now and March 31st, and you will receive a weekly reminder (as well as seeing an outstanding payment request every time you go into Teamapp!)

If you have any questions about the process, please let me know.  You can just click on the outstanding payment request to make the payment.

If you are unsure whether you have paid or not, please contact me and I can let you know.

Meet our new (Co-)Bike Officer – Gareth Preston

Hi, I’m Gareth. I have been a member of Tri2O for about a year and I am happy to introduce myself as your new (co-) bike officer. I am originally from a small mining village on the outskirts of Doncaster and moved to the Reading area for my trade training at Arborfield Garrison (now Arborfield Green) when I served in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

I have always enjoyed sports, even though I only ever had an average ability at best. But I was always very competitive bordering on combative, which is probably why I leaned towards Rugby as a preferred sport. Unfortunately, this beautiful game is known for causing injuries, for which I did eventually fall victim. It was during recovery from ankle surgery from an injury sustained in a rugby match that I had my first “experience” of triathlon. In an attempt to regain my fitness to pass the Army’s Basic Personal Fitness Assessment and therefore be allowed to re-join the rugby team, I took the opportunity to join the garrison triathlon team for one of their training sessions. This ended up being a brick session with a ride around Finchampstead and a run off the bike through California Country Park.

It would be 14-15 years and having left the Army before I would ride a bike again. In 2018 I got a hybrid bike to do the 14 mile commute to/from work. My brother in law would then convince me to take part in a Duathlon in 2019. I would sign up for this again in 2020 but delays due to covid meant this did not happen until 2022. After doing two Duathlons, I realised I wasn’t a fan of run-bike-run, the second run always led to cramp. Then in 2023, I won an entry to the fix addiction super sprint triathlon at Dorney Lake (400m swim, 20km bike, 5km run) and absolutely loved it. In 2024 I did this race again, along with another super sprint (400m Swim, 10km bike, 2.5km run) and the Thorpe Park sprint triathlon where I actually met our Chairman Mark.

Outside of triathlon, I took 13 years to complete my 50 parkruns, have taken part in running events up to half marathon distance, I did the swim serpentine 2 mile in 2024, Ride London-Essex 100 miler in 2023 and the London to Reading ride for British Heart Foundation just before Lockdown (this was a virtual ride but I did the actual route).

As the (co-) bike officer, I really want to hear from the members about what they would like to see in terms of rides, start locations, types of rides or anything else you can think of to do with cycling as I would love to grow this community and share the knowledge that we all have.

As for my own goals. I am looking to doing an Olympic distance in 2025, though I seem to have a busy calendar for all the club championship events. Then in 2026 I would love to do either a T100 or 70.3IM event with the longer term aim of a full distance in 2027, preferably the iconic and triathlete bucket list trip to Challenge Roth.

Women in Triathlon: Breaking Barriers & Building Community!

Spring is here, and the bikes are out! A huge thank you to everyone who makes these meet-ups so special, it’s always a joy to ride together.

To support more women in triathlon, we have launched Tri2O Women in Triathlon: Empower, Educate, Elevate. Women make up 37% of our club, yet barriers still exist. Our goal is to build confidence and community through:

✅ Women’s-only rides & training
✅ Workshops on health & performance
✅ A dedicated women’s WhatsApp group

This isn’t about separation, it’s about breaking barriers and lifting each other up!

🌿🚴‍♀️International Women’s Day Social Ride & Lake Dip! 🌊
Join us for a fun, supportive ride to celebrate International Women’s Day!

🗓️ Saturday, 8th March | ⏰ 8:00 AM (Meet 7:50 AM)
📍 Hi5 Reading Lake Swim Centre, RG30 3UN
🚴‍♀️ 25km social ride – all abilities welcome!
🌊 Optional lake dip (NOWCA membership required)

🎨 Wear purple, green, or white to celebrate! 💜💚🤍
Not riding or swimming? Join us for coffee & cake! 🍰☕

📢 Sign-up & details: tri2o.teamapp.com
Let’s ride, support, and celebrate together 🚴‍♀️🧡🤍

Coach Corner

What’s the point of BTF Membership?

Full disclosure: I am a fully paid up member of BTF, because they provide my coaching insurance. But ever since I started doing triathlons (1998!), or just training for them, I have been a member. There are so many good reasons to join, but for me the most important one is the protection it offers.

I would like to share the story of a fellow triathlete to illustrate this:

“Many of you know I had a nasty accident in 20** […] but what you don’t know is that British Triathlon supported me for 5 years as I scrapped with the people responsible, and I do mean scrapped.

Nothing can put back what I lost or what my family went through but getting acknowledgement that they were in the wrong was incredibly important to me, even if they still won’t say “sorry”. This was only possible because I was a BTF member. BTF looked after me from the beginning to the end and that £** licence […] covered the dental costs (and trust me dentists aren’t poor) and put me in touch with a team who literally took me under their wing. I have only recently realised that a BTF DAY licence is not the same, it is for 3rd party liability ONLY. I know two people now who had race day accidents and are having to sort out things for themselves. […]

I don’t like talking about this stuff as it’s personal but for what it costs, I’d make sure you have at least BTF membership the day license just isn’t enough. […] Race safe x”.

Aside from the serious stuff like the free legal advice and support, and insurance, there are also a LOT of member discounts with e.g. Garmin, Nike, Hoka, Huub, Sportsshoes, SIS, Clarks, National Trust, Oakley, Ray-Ban, Sungod, Cateye, the list goes on. And they are often significant savings.

Your membership supports BTF to support your club, coaches and volunteers, including race officials, and as a BTF affiliated club, your membership of Tri2O is also cheaper. Be sure to look at the difference membership tiers, as there are different levels of cover e.g. abroad or not, personal accident cover or not.

If you aren’t already a member, take a look at the options here.

MARK STOKES – HIS LEGACY FOR TRI2O

Many of us feel the loss of Mark Stokes very keenly, and his absence at club events, training sessions, rides and the lake, leaves a big Mark-sized hole. Those of you who were at the club Awards Night will have heard from me that the committee has been discussing how best we can remember Mark going forwards.

An award in his name
The “Against All Odds” award that we currently vote for every year, feels very fitting for Mark. He reached a high level in triathlon, despite challenges including an artificial hip, long-standing knee and ankle injuries from rugby and childhood, not to mention diabetes – he worked hard, trained committedly and set himself ambitious goals. The club would like to create a special Mark Stokes Award – Against All Odds, in honour of his tenacity and contribution to triathlon and to Tri2O.

Memorial swim
Mark’s entry into triathlon was through open water swimming and he always described the Reading lake as his “happy place” – swimming was meditative and mindful for Mark, so it seems apt to hold an annual swim in his memory. I have very fond memories of swims in the Thames with him, and Basildon Beach and Hardwick were two of his favourite swim spots. We plan something for June, and are still discussing the best options (including the possibility of a night swim); we will keep everyone informed about plans when a decision is made.

Mark’s race bike – a legacy gift
Mark’s wife Jo very kindly joined us for our Awards Night, and picked up the Henderson Personality of the Year Award on his behalf – he really did embody everything Katie’s award stands for, with his enthusiasm, support of other members, giving to others and whole-hearted participation. Jo has said that she would very much like Mark’s bike to be donated to a club member who might not otherwise have the means to buy such a bicycle, so we are looking for that special person. They need to be pretty tall (Mark was 186cm!) and will be someone who respects and takes care of the bike, and hopefully shares with club members their adventures with it!

If you would like to request to be considered for this incredible donation, or to nominate another club member who you think is a worthy recipient, please email coaching@tri2o.club by Sunday 16th March.
Specifications:
Orro Venturi
Size 57cm
Favero Assioma power pedals
Prologo Dimension saddle
Vision TTmax 42cm handlebars
Groupset – Shimano Ultegra 

Georgia Jackson
Head Coach 

Q&A Session with York-Peter Klöppel – Head of Mental Performance at Red Bull

Save the date: Wednesday 19th March 2025 8pm

Tri2O has a fantastic opportunity to tap into the knowledge and experience of Sports Psychologist York-Peter, who is currently working at Red Bull’s performance Centre in Salzburg, supporting athletes (particularly cyclists) to become outstanding performers.

York-Peter has helps athletes reach their full potential through by using innovative mental performance strategies. He uses his education in sports psychology and personal experience of competing at elite level sports to find tools to take athletes to the next level.

Peter has published a series of podcasts – for a taste of things that could be discussed – go here: Red Bull’s Head Of Mental Performance On Mental Training – York-Peter Klöppel

This will be an informal, live Question and Answer Session on Zoom – details of the meeting will be published on TeamApp.

Please join us in what should be a fun and extremely and informative evening.

To make this more interactive, please submit your questions to York-Peter so that we can ensure he has time to prepare and answer the questions on the 19th March.

Please submit your questions to: welfare@tri2O.club by Monday 17th March.

• Some of the topics and questions that will be asked include:
• Do we really need to consider the power of our minds in sport?
• What is mindset? and what strategies can we incorporate into our lives as amateur athletes to use it to improve performance?
• Is visualization before a race a helpful strategy?
• Does a routine before a race help you perform better? If so how do you find a routine that will help us?
• What to do if you are in a race and it is not going to plan?
• Some of us will be experienced athletes and some of us will be doing our first race this year. Is there one piece of advice that you would be able to give us all in order to go into a race feeling prepared?
• There are a lot of people who come into triathlon using sport to improve mental health (either consciously or unconsciously) – is there any advice or strategies that you would advise to use if we are hitting a ‘low’ and finding it difficult to motivate ourselves to train?
• What is mindfulness? Can it help 1. Reduce stress and 2. Improve our performance as amateur athletes?

Strength & Conditioning – why do it?

As Triathletes, most of us are cardio junkies. We love running, cycling, swimming and tend to be very reluctant to spend time in the gym doing strength workouts, working on flexibility etc. It’s always the first workout session to be dropped when life gets in the way …

So why is strength so important? To quote Jennie: “Because strength and mobility are what keeps your body going for longer in races before things start to break down. They help prevent injuries, improve movement efficiency and keep you training consistently. And let’s not forget our strength naturally starts declining from the age of 30. And for females, once we hit the perimenopause, that decline speeds up!” (Click here for her full post on FaceBook).

I’ll be honest, I really struggle to do my strength sessions. I aim for twice a week. The one that I pretty regularly do is Monday night with the club. Like all training sessions it is far more fun to do it with others. I get the added benefit that I know Jennie puts together a great session that will really help us as triathletes, it’s specific to our sport. I don’t need to think about what to do – just follow Jennie’s instructions and I will get the benefit.

She is also really knowledgeable and helpful, will adapt the exercises to whatever level you are at. Even to the point if you are recovering from injury, she will make the session work for you, so that you maintain fitness in the parts of you that are still functioning, at the same time as gently building up the injured area in a sustainable way. When I broke my wrist, I was back in these sessions before I was swimming, cycling outside or running.

Be warned, even though we are online, Jennie has eyes like a hawk and will spot if you are not carrying out the exercise correctly. To be fair her feedback is always very positive and helpful and ensures you get the most benefit from doing the exercises in the way that they were intended – so that the correct muscles are targeted and develop in the right way.

Come and join us: 6 to 7pm on Monday – online, so you don’t even need to leave home! The timing of the session works so that you can eat straight after, without that meal being ridiculously late.

Only basic equipment is required: a mat, ideally a foam roller, some exercise bands and a bit of space so you can do the moves … If you have them, kettlebell or dumbbell (not essential). Booking is via the TeamApp, cost is £5.

Nora Holford
Club Secretary

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