The weekend saw 121 athletes turn out to compete against each other in the annual Falmouth Triathlon.

The competition, the fourth event in the Tempus Leisure 2016 Triathlon series, is the only open water triathlon in the series which was expertly organised and run by Tempus Leisure’s events team. The triathlon involved a 750 metre sea swim off Gyllyngvase Beach, a 23km cycle and a 5km run.

As well as Cornwall’s finest battling it out for a podium position, the event attracted many participants who were taking part for the first time and who were simply delighted to cross the finish line.

The winners on the day were Dave Bartlett (Cycle Logic) in 1:07:55 and Rachel Vague (Tri-Logic), who won her third consecutive series event in a time of 1:25:21.

In contrast to last year’s very wet and windy event, the competitors enjoyed excellent conditions and the rain held off until everyone had crossed the finish line.

Ceri Harvey, event manager for Tempus Leisure, said: “We would like to offer sincere thanks to all the volunteer marshals who helped for the duration of the event to ensure the safety of all the competitors. Thank you also to Gylly Beach Café, Finisterre and Iceland who kindly donated prizes for the winners and also thank you to our main triathlon sponsor Clean Earth.”

Heidi Master, from Clean Earth, said: “Clean Earth is very pleased to be supporting this year’s triathlon series. We are very passionate about supporting local events and bringing communities closer together.”

It was the Gyllyngvase Surf Lifesaving Club who provided all the marshals for the event and with the help of the RNLI provided the safety cover in the sea as well. The event was also enhanced by Tesco Falmouth who provided some much needed water and fruit at the finish for the competitors as they crossed the line.