Aberfeldy Triathlon 2024: The Return of Keppie

(top image courtesy of Triathlon Scotland)

On Sunday 18th August, Keppie made their grand return to Aberfeldy to take on the annual Aberfeldy Middle Distance Triathlon (hosted by the team at Still Going Strong), competing in the 1900m swim, 90km bike ride and 21km run around Perthshire, battling against some of Scotland’s top triathlon athletes.

We partnered with Scottish Action for Mental Health (SAMH), in January 2023, and are aiming to raise a total of £20,000 by the end of 2024. SAMH have been around since 1923 and recently celebrated their centenary year.

For over 100 years, they have provided Scotland with mental health support and information, for both those suffering from mental health issues, and those affected by them who require support. They have 70 services around the whole of Scotland, focusing on social care, addiction, suicide prevention, employment services and physical activity and sport.

Triathlete, Stephen Hall said, “Keppie were delighted to take on the challenge of the Aberfeldy Triathlon, with three teams this year competing against each other, whilst fundraising for SAMH again. SAMH is a charity partner we are all close to and are delighted to support from a professional and personal perspective.”

The Teams

This year saw us enter 3 Keppie teams, with a mixture of Aberfeldy triathlon returnees, and some new recruits!

Team Orange:

Ester Coma Ramos (swim), Sean Cliens (cycle), Neil Whatley (run).

Team Blue:

Jamie Laurence (swim), Alistair Braid (cycle), Stephen Hall (run).

Team Pink:

Michael Evans (swim), Kirsty Gaunt (cycle), David Galt (run).

Image courtesy of Triathlon Scotland

Some of the team members from last year decided to take on new challenges for this year, competing in an entirely different leg of the triathlon. Sean Cliens, who was last year’s runner, decided to take on the cycling challenge, and Jamie Laurence decided to hang up his pedals for a wetsuit and goggles. Could we see them both return next year to finish the final part of the challenge to ‘complete’ the full triathlon set? Watch this space!

Team Pink were our ‘newbie’ category, all taking on new physical challenges and training for new sporting achievements in swimming, cycling and running.

Team Orange and Blue all have experience at the Aberfeldy Triathlon and knew what to expect on the day, but this year’s runner Stephen Hall had to sadly bow out just days before last year’s challenge due to a sporting injury, but still came to support the team. This year saw him finally get over the finish line, injury-free and with an outstanding time.

The Triathlon

Our triathletes travelled up the day before to get relaxed (as much as you can before a big race!) get registered and enjoy a local meal at The Inn on the Tay, before settling down for an early night. For Ester, her way of relaxing was to complete a 3000m swim at Go Swim Loch Tay (also organised by Richard Pearson, from Still Going Strong), before doing it all over again the next day!

The morning of came around soon, with the swimmers having the earliest start. The made their way to the front of Taymouth Marina in the village of Kenmore, with kick off the whole event starting just after 6.45am, and our swimmers rolling out in groups into the 13.9 degrees of Loch Tay. By the time the spectators had made their way back round to the front of Kenmore beach, our first swimmer was close to coming in!

This particular transition of our relay chips was potentially the most dangerous part of the entire event – coming out the water and avoiding the rocks and stones, while sprinting to Kenmore Recreation Ground to find our cyclists ready to go!

Our first-time swimmer, Michael said, ‘After waking up at 5am and making our way to the start line for 6:45am, the nerves began to hit. However, the atmosphere of the day and the beautiful surroundings really puts your mind at ease (just enough to ignore the cold, COLD, loch water).

Placing myself near the back of the rolling start, I watched as people started to dive in and head off towards the first buoy. After months of training (and panicking), I managed the swim in 47 minutes (which was 13 minutes quicker than I was aiming for!). The day was one I’ll never forget and was a very rewarding experience, and all for a great cause, our charity partner SAMH, which made it even more special’.

Whilst the cyclists went off to warm-up, shower and get a fully cooked breakfast, it was time for our second round of athletes. The next part of the event was the most time consuming, but the most scenic; a 90k cycle round the highland Perthshire hills, through Kinloch Rannoch and Loch Rannoch, over the shoulder of the Schiehallion and returning to Aberfeldy at Wade’s Park.

After cheering on our swimmers from 6.45am, our team of runners arguably had the most nerve-wracking part of the day – the wait! After an hour of swimming, 3 to 4 hours of cycling, our runners were waiting in Aberfeldy’s Golf Course Meadow to set off, and with the timings between all 3 teams being neck-and-neck, meaning we didn’t know what team would be making their way to the transition pen first. It was Team Orange, and our cyclist Sean Cliens who arrived first, giving Neil Whatley a head start on his run! Our second returning cyclist, Alistair Braid, managed to beat his timing by nearly 20 minutes on the previous year – a fantastic training effort for his second time around. With not much time between all teams, it was then put to the runners to determine who our Keppie Champion would be!

Just before 13.00pm, we saw our first runner Neil sprint his way to the finish line at Wade’s Park, closely followed by Stephen and David, meaning it was Team Orange who just managed to sneak the best Keppie timing!

The overall times for the Teams were:

• Orange Team: 06:00:41
• Blue Team 06:12:10
• Pink Team: 06:22:25

In what was windier conditions compared to last year, we were still lucky in avoiding most of the rain during the day, and all 3 teams crossed the finish line with a real sense of achievement, a smile on everyone’s face, and a camaraderie in managing to achieve this through teamwork, training and dedication, to see all 9 people through to the end of the race.

The day was expertly organised by Aberfeldy Multisport Festival team, with special thanks to race director Richard Pearson, and all the race volunteers, who kept both athletes and spectators right the whole day. We were also kept well-fed and served excellent coffee by our friends at Coull Beans, Macdonald Brothers Butchers and The Ferryman Inn.

Amount Raised

So far, the Aberfeldy athletes have raised over £1600 for SAMH, smashing our target of £1125!

Fiona Lewis, Senior Manager, Workplace Engagement at SAMH said, ‘We are proud that, for more than a century, SAMH has been there for Scotland’s mental health. However, the last few years have been the most challenging we can remember. The need to support Scotland’s mental health has never been greater. It is with thanks to the support of our partners like Keppie that SAMH is transforming and saving lives, making a real difference for people in communities across Scotland’.

If you wish to support the team raise funds for SAMH and find out more about the work they do, please visit our JustGiving page https://www.justgiving.com/page/team-keppie-aberfeldy-2024