Ciaran Alstowe and his team, have continued to build on their initial successes in 2014 and have once again delivered another successful sprint distance triathlon.
The now 23-year-old, a graduate from the University of Bath and his family have continued to grow his Active Sports Events company, in order to give back to his local community and raise awareness following the tragic death of his mother in August 2013.
The Royal Wootton Bassett Sprint Triathlon took place on the 14th of May 2017 and has become quite the hot ticket; the race sold out in record time, 180 entries sold by February – Ciaran said ‘It sold out a day after my birthday and 14 weeks before the race, I was amazed but its credit to the event the team have created’.
This year’s race continued to support Wiltshire Air Ambulance, a charity close to the family’s heart. “It will be coming up four years since my mum passed away. There isn’t a day goes by that we and many others don’t think about her.
This event really has grown to resemble who she was as a person, caring, loving and always thinking of others.
We try to go the extra mile and that has been proven by the fact over 1,000 people have now crossed an Active Sports Events finish line and over 500 of them being completely new to the sport”.
‘A huge thanks must go out to all the athletes who continue to support the race and volunteers who without them the races can’t go ahead. A big thank you to Gary and Keith at ASAP Personal Couriers for being the headline sponsor of this year’s event, without their support we couldn’t make the race what it was. I would also like to thank the local police, ambulance and fire crew who attended a car crash on the course and did a superb job as always in allowing the race to continue’.
The winner of the men’s race, Paul Ryman, completed the 400m swim, 20km bike and 5km run in a time of 57 minutes 26 seconds smashing the hour mark and the previous course record. Young Luke Campbell from Malmesbury and Richard Giles of Swindon Triathlon club come within a minute of each other to take second and third respectively just over the hour mark. The female winner was a familiar face and the returning champion and course record holder, Holly Willis. She completed the course in 1 hour 7 minutes and 28 seconds, beating her own course record by 10 seconds. Holly faced stiff competition this year from Amy Bentley who finished just a minute behind to take second and Claire Vallance grabbed the final podium place.
Wiltshire Air Ambulance had been donated slots to this year’s race, both employees and local residents raced and raised money on behalf of the airbase appeal.
Valerie Whistler, Royal Wootton Bassett Triathlon finisher and employee of WAA said “Taking part in the Wootton Bassett triathlon was great fun! It was the first time I have ever taken part in this type of event and I was a little nervous but it proved to be a brilliant experience, in a friendly and encouraging atmosphere.
We are so grateful to Ciaran Alstowe for providing places in the triathlon, allowing people to raise funds for Wiltshire Air Ambulance, helping us to reach the £3.25miliion we need every year to keep this essential service flying and saving lives”.
Alstowe is continuing to look into organising more events around the local area due to the growing demand of crossing the Active Sports Events finish line.
