275 brave souls made their way to the picturesque Sussex town of Steyning at the foot of the South Downs for the first triathlon of the season. The duathlon two weeks earlier was held in near-arctic conditions but with BST just a week old; athletes were keen to test their new summer attire. Unfortunately the British weather took its toll again as 4" of snow fell in almost as many minutes.

The 6am start enabled most of the Long race to complete the bike before near blizzard conditions hit the athletes on the run. Meanwhile the Sprint race had already started which left a number of cyclists abandoned on the course unable to return due the white-out. A quick rescheduling by the organisers got the remainder of the field off for an unseasonable aquathlon through the streets. Foil blankets and the Red Cross were kept busy throughout the day.

Top cyclist James Dear from Mid Sussex Tri took the honours in a time of 1:47:07, followed by team mate Mike McLoughlin and Thames Turbo's Nick Clements. Oxford Tri's Lauren Davies was first female and 8th overall ahead of Tri Condor's top vet Claire Chapman and Anita Jones from Brighton Phoenix.

Here's a before and after shot of part of the transition area!

Sophie Whitworth was one of those caught in the snow and sent us her comments:
I've done the triathlon twice before in glorious conditions, but today was the most unprecedented set of circumstances I have ever faced in a triathlon in my 15 years as an agegrouper. I did the long race and was one of the last to go. It was cold, but no colder air temperature than the Thames Turbo race on Easter Monday, but half way into the bike it turned into a blizzard. Those with later starts in the Long version 800m/35km/8km were caught out on the A24 and the undulating return leg into Steyning.

My HR plummted to 130HR as I hadn't worn shades so I couldn't keep moving any harder for fear of coming off. I DNFed along with many others in T2 as I could not feel my hands whatsoever to get my shoes on, try as I might. Feeling a wimp I then realised my good friend and top cyclist Nikki Treacey was in the same boat as me and had pulled out on the run into T2. However my training partner Lauren Davies was absolutely nails and went onto win the women's event easily after a great race.

Not too sure about the men to be honest, I think the best ones had to quit as the snow was too deep as they were coming in... I'm hoping for a better run out at MK Duathlon next week...

There are more comments and a superb picture of bikes in transition (well, we think they are bikes!) on TriTalk - see here.

According to all the reports it looks as though Mick Dicker and his crew did an excellent job of managing the situation and although the field was decimated it seems as though everyone was safe and cared for.