Mark Kleanthous, a name that should be familiar to pretty much anyone who does triathlon in the UK, celebrated his 25th season in multisport by racing both days of the Big Cow Trifest at the weekend. His did the first triathlon in the UK back in June 1983 and has since crossed the finish line in over 440 events in 14 countries around the world. Some of those exploits were detailed in one of Steve Trew's recent columns.

On the Saturday he placed second in his age group (45-49) behind fellow Team Milton Keynes member Mark Booth and his silver medal was presented by Dr Sarah Springman OBE the president of British Triathlon and, ironically, one of the few hardly individuals along with Mark who competed in the first triathlon in England in Reading back in in 1983. On the Sunday he raced in the qualification race for the World Sprint Triathlon Championships and managed to go 4 seconds faster in the swim and only 39 seconds slower on the run compared to the aquathlon on the previous day. His final result was 73rd overall and fifth in his category with a time of 1:06:55. Dr Springman raced and turned in a creditable 1:20:17.

For more information about Mark and access to training tips, injury prevention and nutrition guidance that he has learnt over the last 25 years log onto his website: www.ironmate.co.uk