The Southend-based Team Viper triathletes made a raid on the south coast town of Deal in Kent, to take on the best in the South-East Region.

The seniors raced first (17 yrs+), over a 500m pool swim and 8km road run in mild but blustery conditions.

The senior men were dominant, taking first second and third respectively through 19 year old Ben Wheeler (36min 31sec), James Parker (37m 33s), and Simon Henty storming through from 15th to third on the run (37m 35s).

Simon had the fastest run of the day, but Ben's fastest swim and fourth best run time sealed it overall.

The senior women's race was won by unattached Christine Johnson (41m 18s) with Team Viper's Charmaine Wheeler fourth (43m 55s) and Hayley Spackman sixth (44m 00s).

Youngest competitor in the field, Team Viper's Kristina Marshall, gave a very encouraging performance over far longer distances than she's previously tackled to finish eighth (46m 24s).

Not celebrating her 17th birthday until late September, she missed out on being able to compete at youth level by just three months.

Published Monday, April 28, 2003

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