Happy 25^th Birthday

Tuff Fitty Triathlon Club

 

 

 

 

Last evening Steve and I were honoured to have been invited to join all the current members of Tuff Fitty Triathlon Club to celebrate the 25^th birthday of this thriving Littlehampton based club. We were on the guest list because we are the founders of the club way back in 1991 when the membership list started with the two of us and a much younger and faster friend, James Clarke, because even though we had competed in a few events independently; we wanted to enter an event that gave triathletes a chance try to qualify for the World Championships in Muskoka, Canada. It was possible to do the event without belonging to a registered club but you could not get a qualifying slot with out being: A. A member of a registered club and B. Without being a member of the British Triathlon Association as it was known in those days. The event was Swindon Triathlon that was part of the 220 Magazine series that year. Steve and James were a few events up on me because they had both raced their first triathlon in 1990. I was just the one with the camera and the loud voice at those races and didn’t even learn to do front crawl until the end of the 1990 summer season. I spent the autumn of that year learning crawl. I was a Breast/Back stroker before that whereas both of the guys had been competitive swimmers when they were still at school. My first event and about the fifth or sixth for the guys was a Swim/Run called the Damp-Dash in January 1991, it was 800mtrs pool swim (yes, front crawl) then 10km run in the snow. Then a pool based triathlon, where we met to already famous teenage Spencer Smith. That was at Ringwood in the New Forest. Then came the important event at Swindon, (my first open water swim) where all three of us got slots to go to the Worlds in Canada.  

Our little club grew a bit during that period and the only member from those early days who is still with TFTC is our dear friend, swim training mate and holiday companion, Anthony Towers and after that gradually a few people started to turn up at Littlehampton Swimming and Sports Centre on Sunday night at 9.30 pm in the early days when we took a regular time for a club swim training session. It was the only time they would give us; a quite dreadful time for recruiting purposes because most people were asleep on the settee by then. 

The club did thrive though and later we had an outdoor swim set at Arundel Lido in the summer and added a 6 am session at the Aquarena in Worthing by which time Steve and I had both taken the first official BTA Triathlon coaching courses. We put on our first event called The Tuff Fitty Tuff Ten in August 1992 it was a hard, hilly 10 mile off road running event. Our first Track session was at Angmering School, and the first Club Championships were held within the Knepp Castle Olympic distance triathlon in July 1993. Two months later September 26^th 1993, we put on a new event the first club Swim-Run event that we called the L.A. Current Run; it was a 1000 metre sea swim followed by a 10km run along the Promenade. 

Our most successful club kit and a wild leopard skin pattern edged with a goldie yellow colour that you could see from a mile back! We had great fun and did loads of events, they were cheap as chips to enter back then, great value for money in the days when people put on events to promote the sport rather than any get rich scheme. A few of us tested ourselves with longer events and soon drifted into the trap of the Ironman events. A surprisingly big group club went to Lanzarote for the First Ironman race there. 3800 swim 112 miles bike and a marathon was not for the feint hearted. Over the years training schedules changed, goals changed, and the club changed with some wanting to just stay with family local events and a stronger and more serious band wanting to get to grips with Ironman. 

This did after a number of years cause a rift for a while and the ones who had become slaves to long distance broke away to form a new club. We called that Trinity and all you TFTC members know that we did not move that far because our session is now in the one hour earlier slot to yours and thank heaven we are all friends and at peace again and you know that you are welcome in our session and we now swim together and turbo train together much of the winter thanks to your friendly brave fire officer group. Now TFTC has loads of athletes doing long distance event and one of your best Craig Hunter is going to the Ironman Hawaii World Championships for the second time having done a scorching 9.09 in Ironman Frankfurt.

 

So thank you all for letting us share you fun, watch your great birthday swim-run last night and eat your yummy bar-b-que food and cake last night at Arundel Lido. Happy Birthday Tuff Fitty Triathlon Club, we are proud to number you amongst our ‘Besties!’ Long may you all Swim, Bike and Run your great hearts out of your gasping chests.