John Levison reports: What a contrast in weather to two weeks ago! After the monsoon-like conditions of Race 1 in the Series, athletes, spectators and volunteers were all in a much happier frame of mind with clear, calm, and most importantly, dry conditions for this morning's event.

First out of the (slightly long?) 600m swim was junior James Sedgwick (SBR), closely followed by Matt Malloy & Phil Roker (Ful-on Tri). Right with them, however, was the first lady, Jenny Shorrocks from host club Hillingdon Triathletes. We knew Jenny was a super swimmer, but would her winter of cycling show through later in the race?

Onto the part off-road 6km run and it was all change as Clark Schofield (Hillingdon Triathletes) led into transition, shortly followed by the day's faster runner, veteran Martin Potter. and Super-Vet Russell O'Malley. Clark has been focussed on long distance racing so far this year, with IM South Africa, Weymouth Half (14th) plus a marathon completed already, and was looking good to add to previous Hillingdon wins in 2003 & 2005.

For the ladies, Jenny still led heading out of T2, though her lead had been halved to just over a minute by Suzanne Hopper, who was one of several who puntured in Race 1, and was looking to put that right today.

Over the 2-lap rolling bike course, Clark was able to build on his lead and take the win. Behind, however, the man-on-a-mission was Phil Roker, who having lost time on the run, was scything through the field with the day's fastest ride time - despite an 'altercation' (!) with a bus and a Land Rover... Like Phil, James Sedgwick was regaining time lost on the run, to get back into the top 3 places overall.

For the ladies there was no change at the front, with Jenny taking the win ahead of clubmate Suzanne. Veteran Jackie Wastell was the fastest of the ladies on the bike, which brought her up into 3rd place overall.

In the accompanying duathlon over the same course, National Series winner Jez Cox (Planet X) took another win, despite being headed into transition by Ryan Prout. Once on the bike however, 'normal service' was quickly resumed for a comfortable win.

Once again Hillingdon Triathletes would to thank the continuing support of Red Bull, which certainly seemed to energize race winner Clark Schofield who was seen knocking back a can before the race! Give it a try, it might work for you too...

The third and final event of the Series takes place on July 15th. This race forms part of the Triathlon London League and is almost full - please note that entries will NOT be accepted on the day. We expect to announce that the race is full within the next ten days - you have been warned...