This was my son's first go and he is only just 8 so was one of the youngest in the children's event - he was also the slowest! Everyone was very friendly and helpful, with parents cheering on other children as well as their own and as he was finishing the run some of the stewards were running a bit alongside my boy and cheering him on. He is delighted with his medal and is really happy that he took part. The only thing that could have been better would be signs to make it easier to find the transition stations when we were dropping things off before the race as it was a bit spread out around the site.

This event is a good starter triathlon but as advertised and the fact that Winchester is renowned for being hilly the cycle and run course are both very undulating. The race HQ had a really friendly atmosphere with helpful and supportive marshals ready to answer any questions or concerns. Both the pre race information email and briefing were very informative giving advice for first timers and course maps. The swim 🏊🏻‍♀️ 4 people to a lane with 10 second intervals between each swimmer which worked well, the water was a bit choppy but only because they don’t use anti wave lane ropes but this is good preparation for open water swimming! The cycle 🚴🏻‍♀️ A lovely 2 lapped Route which again as advertised was undulating but it was really nice cycling through Sparsholt with all the bluebells and the bright yellow rapeseed fields. There weren’t a huge amount of marshals on the course but it was well sign posted with plenty of notice before any left turns so no reason to go wrong and there were marshals at the traffic lights 🚦 stopping the clock if you had to stop at a red light meaning you weren’t penalised and it adjusted your finishing time. The run 🏃‍♀️ was a challenging undulating course on a mixture of trail and tarmac which was clearly signed with black arrows on a yellow background, so again no reason to go wrong. Transition and finish line 🏅 The transition was well marshalled with plenty of signs indicating where you needed to go, whether you were coming out of the swim, in from the bike or out on your second lap of the run. At the end of the run, the finish line was clearly visible with music and marshals to welcome you where you received your medal and a much-needed bottle of water. The event is great for spectators, either out on the course, around the transition area and most definitely at the finishing line. If you’re thinking of taking on a triathlon, I would recommend giving this one ago.

Excellent day and perfect for beginners! Only feedback would be there were no kilometre markers on the cycle and as a beginner, it would be great to visualise how far it is to go / has gone as there are no marshals when you get to the country roads. Can be a little daunting if you have lost the pack! Swim support was amazing!! All marshals were so friendly!

A fairly well organised and enjoyable event that is (as advertised) aimed at first-timers. For the Sprint: - the pool swim was well explained and not problematic as long as you were in a lane with people of similar standard (but overtaking wasn't a big issue if you did it on changes of end or if noone was coming towards you in the other direction, so unless you were really aiming for a PB and didn't want to lose a single second then it shouldn't really bother you); - the cycle was undulating/hilly (nothing major, but plenty of ups and downs - Garmin says 365m climbing on the 24k course) and on a mixture of country lanes and (at the start and end of the loop) on quite busy main roads through town (but that is pretty unavoidable given the location of the school, so not worth complaining about!). As others have mentioned, there are some traffic lights, but again this is unavoidable given the location of the school so not sure it's really worth complaining about either, and they had marshalls at the lights to record your number and waiting time so that it could be deducted from your actual time. The marshalls on the course were very cheery and stationed at appropriate places (and there were big pink arrows for each turn, so you couldn't possibly go wrong unless you had your eyes closed). I would also echo the comment about the ‘loose’ security in getting in and out of transition – I wasn’t checked once as I went back and forth to my bike and bag (most tri events require you to show a wrist band that matches the numbers on your bike and bag, so maybe consider introducing this). - the run is also quite undulating (Garmin says 92m climb on 5k route), and on a mix of loose trail, pavement, path and grass. Again, very well signposted and impossible to get lost, and with cheery marshalls along the way; - general comments: finish line is slightly underwhelming but who really cares?! I would echo the comments about having more mechanics around on the bike course - my bike chain came off three times and made me think about what a pain it would have been if it was something more serious that I couldn't fix myself when you're in the middle of the Hampshire countryside. The bike mechanics on hand near transition deserve a mention though, as they were extremely helpful in trying to sort out my chain issues after the race. I was also very grateful to the organisers for showing flexibility in my wave time so that I could go as late as possible to avoid my wife waiting around too long for the kids race in the afternoon! Kids race : - seemed very popular as there were quite a few participants, and the organisers were great at giving lots of reassurance and explanation in the pre-race briefing. My daughter really enjoyed it, but I think there are probably a few tweaks that could be made to improve the event in the future. - pool swim: my daughter said it worked well in the water (same system as adults, where 4 are in a lane with traffic light system of hats to go off at 10 sec intervals). I think it could have been better explained in advance that shoes should be left at the pool, as we were sent to rack the bikes after picking up the race pack and had to rely on advice from other parents that the expectation was to take shoes back up with us to leave outside of the pool (as it’s a 200-300m run from the pool down to the bikes along a gravel path). It was then explained in the pre-race briefing, but everyone had already racked their bikes by that point, so maybe include some guidance in the race pack or ensure that marshalls are on hand to explain what to do when first taking the bikes down. - bike: racking was a bit chaotic as it was a free-for-all, and so they might want to reconsider whether to give the kids specific places to rack based on their race number and to do the bike in/out and run out in a way that does not give any racking position an obvious advantage. That would also mean that parents coming with their kids to rack bikes in the later waves won’t get in the way of the kids already on the course (which I saw happening a few times). The course was on a field which was quite tough going given that it had rained that morning (but it is a triathlon, so not supposed to be easy!). It was good from a spectator’s perspective though, as you could see the kids going round the field at all times. I also agree with the other comments about having a better way of monitoring the kids’ laps (other triathlons have a timer carpet at the start of each lap so that it monitors your time for each lap, and is easy then to see afterwards whether someone skipped a lap), as it would not be surprising at all if some kids miscounted their laps (accidentally or deliberately), and it would be good to have marshalls stopping any shortcut opportunities. - run: seemed to be fine, all on grass and with a nice final sprint into the finish line where the kids could see others ahead of them to chase down. - general comments: medal was well appreciated! Might be nice to have something more rewarding than a bottle of water though!

1st ever Triathlon. Enjoyed the event however cycle route was very hilly and this was not mentioned that i picked up on anyway. The route from pool to bikes was only partially protected with carpet which was rough on the feet. There were no lockers available or bag drop which was unhelpful. I found the marshals to be plentiful and very helpful if asked. Routes were very well signed. medal was adequate with a water as well however no tee shirt or goodie bag. 8/10 event but quite expensive considering the lack of goodies at the finish.

Its a shame it was so easy for some kids to cheat as not all did the 4 bike laps and some where being encouraged to take a short cut deliberately by their parents. That has probably impacted results unfairly. The marshals had no idea about the kids split transition area when we were trying to set up, as they had a separate place to put on shoes that was not marshalled leaving us wandering around for ages just to get set up and find someone who actually new what the plan was. There was no sign posting from the car park to the registration.

Have done this twice and have enjoyed both times. Only a couple of down sides/feedback. Swim- 6 lanes are shoehorned into the pool rather than the standard 5 making them very narrow and all lanes swiming in same direction rather than opposite, causing a lot of waves and arm banging in opposite lane. Cycle- there is zero support on the route. A long walk back if you have a mecanical. Would be good to see a support van doing the odd lap, also for satey/firstaid reasons or an emergency contact to be given out.