IT WAS another busy weekend for local triathletes with Michelle and Phil Parsons in action twice.

On Saturday the pair took part in their first tandem triathlon in Castle Bishop near Ludlow.

This event was similar to a normal triathlon except that the bike section was done on a tandem with one member of each pair doing the swim and the other the run.

After Phil's fairly good 1000m swim, the pair set off on the tandem at a good pace but they were hit by misfortune when their chain derailed on the first ascent.

To add insult to injury the same happened on the second lap of the 30K bike section!

At the end of this test, Michelle set off on the 10K undulating run through the woods, passing many competitors - both male and female - to claw back some of the lost time.

She then leapt back on to the tandem for the final 5K ride back to the finish where the pair crossed the line in a total time of two hours and 15 minutes for ninth place overall and third in the mixed category.

The pair travelled to Hereford the next day for the annual sprint triathlon at Bluecoat School.

Also competing were fellow triathletes Adrian Mayhew representing Team Snugg and Jonathan Langston from Bidford.

Michelle once again showed her strength in the latter two disciplines by producing the best female bike and run split of the day to climb into third place in the female race in a time of 57.27.

Parsons and Mayhew both performed well and ended up in fourth and fifth respectively in 48.30 and 48.44 respectively.

Overall winner 17-year-old Alex Duce recorded a new course record of 44.32. This included a final 5K run time of 14.19 and gave him a winning margin of almost two minutes.

Langston recorded his quickest time for a sprint triathlon of 59.47 to place 76th overall out of the 167 finishers and a creditable 43rd in the senior male category.