Blackwater Triathlon Club member, Ciara MacCallum, was in the Garden ofEngland on Sunday the 21st of July for a half Ironman distance race. Ciara,along with 82 other enthusiastic athletes travelled to Lydd in Kent to takepart in the Owler Triathlon. There were a number of distances on offer forathletes, from  sprint to Olympicdistance,  culminating in the middledistance that Ciara took part in. This was made up of a 1.9km swim, a 90 kmcycle and a 21.2 km, half-marathon distance, run. This was definitely not anevent for the faint-hearted, but then Ciara has never been accused of that. Theevent took part in the beautiful South East of England, close to the 7 milelong sandy beach at Camber Sands in an area of outstanding natural beauty. Theevening before was wild and windy with 40km/h winds whistling around the SouthEast of England. Fortunately, it had calmed down by the morning and Ciara andthe other competitors were up at the crack of dawn for a 7am start. The swimtook place in a lake in an old quarry, which was flat and calm. Ciara finishedthe swim in just over 40 minutes. Next up was the 90 km cycle leg, which wascomprised of two laps of a flat course on scenic country roads through Lydd,Brooklands and Camber, before returning to transition at Lydd lake. There werea few crosswinds to contend with, but Ciara made it back safely in a veryimpressive 3 hours and 18 minutes; an average of just over 27 km/h. The finalchallenge was a half marathon run, consisting of 3 laps of farm roads and stonypaths around the lake and surrounding paths. It was very hot at this stage andstill quite windy. The frequent water and food stations were in high demand ascompetitors tried to keep fuelled and hydrated as the day wore on. Ciarafinished the run in 2 hours and 34 minutes, crossing the finish line in anexcellent total time of 6 hours, 37 minutes and 39 seconds. Well done to Ciaraand everyone who took part on the day. This event was really friendly and wellorganised and is definitely one to consider for anyone looking for freshchallenges abroad.