One of the benefits of being a triathlete is that you still get to race in the individual discipline events too. Over the years I've always tried to keep an eye on the performances of many of our top Age-Group and Pro athletes in other events. The annual London Marathon review, the recent British Time Trial Championships and others are - and will continue to be - regular features here on Tri247, as I continue to look beyond the simple confines of swim-bike-run.

The past weekend saw a couple or noteworthy performances in long distance time trialling, both in 100-mile events which took place on Sunday 5th July.

First up, the National 100-mile TT Champs took place in South Wales. In the ladies event, adding to her win at the British TT Champs was Hayley Simmonds. In sixth place (4:11:54) was 'runner turned triathlete with a time trial addition (!)' Vicky Gill, who took the Bronze medal last year in the ETU European Long Distance Championships in Almere. Vicky came close to adding another ETU Elite medal earlier this year, finishing fourth at the ETU Powerman European Long Distance Duathlon Championships. After recent illness, Vicky was very happy to be feeling back to health and with a solid ride.

Also racing - in his first attempt over the distance - was duathlon specialist and Michelin chef extraordinaire, Alan Murchison. Alan has already won the ETU Sprint Duathlon and ETU Long Distance Duathlon Championships this year - and this was part of his preparations for trying to add the ITU Powerman World Champs (Zofingen) to that list in early September.

National 100-mile TT Champs - Raglan, South Wales (R100/8A)

On the same day, the Stockton Wheelers CC 100 saw some exceptionally fast racing. The men's winner, Richard Bideau, set an amazing time of 3:18:54 (that's 30.17mph or 48.54km/h average), to break the previous Competition Record of Kevin Dawson (who is also racing triathlon...), from 2003 (3:22:45).

The primary multisport interest though was in women's winner, Eleanor Haresign, who managed to dip under the four hour mark and record 3:59:16. Haresign of course was the winner of last year's Challenge Weymouth, and will be racing at Ironman UK in two weeks time.

According to the Time Trialling Forum records listing, that's the tenth fastest time recorded - with another Ironman UK entrant (who'll be looking to regain the title she won in 2013), Lucy Gossage, ranked seventh with a 3:56:23 from last year. Check out Eleanor's post-ride Garmin image below!

Stockton Wheelers CC (T1002)

** 100-mile Competition Record