Hever Castle 2021 Race Report
27.09.21

A fitting celebration

Hever Castle is always a very special weekend for Castle Race Series. It is where we hosted our first ever triathlon race back in 2009, it was where we hosted our only live event of 2020, and it always rounds off our multisport season.

Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th were a fitting celebration of all that we have achieved in the last 12 years, last year and the most recent 4 months.

More than 6,000 competitors and spectators were welcomed into the 125 acres of glorious grounds surrounding Ann Boleyn’s childhood home.

75 years young

The weather was kind to us all weekend (a little less for the event breakdown team today!) and athletes were treated to beautifully misty mornings and bright, sunny afternoons.

The event schedule kicked off with a day of sprint distances across all our multisport disciplines; open water swim races were also enjoyed and endured by athletes of all ages and all abilities; and our youngest triathlete category, 9-10 years old conquered the castle.

We were thrilled to welcome old friends and new faces and a particular Castle Race Series team highlight was meeting Tim Iredale, who competed in his first triathlon aged just 75 years old.

Conquering the castle

Sunday morning saw hundreds of athletes jumping into the lake to start their Gauntlet and Olympic distance triathlons. The athletes that emerged hours later to claim the win were Neil Eddy (04:44:16) and Bex Rimmington (05:19:06), Hamish Reilly (02:07:19) and Kate Curran (02:19:45).

This year the Marathon was won by Stephen Pitchers (03:43:01) and Eva Ellis (04:21:06), Half Marathon by Tom Smith (01:30:10) and Louise Hartshorn (01:45:44), and the 10K by Jack Kavanagh (00:43:27) and Nicola Denton (00:54:22).

Our junior triathletes continue to impress us with many back for their 8th year!

Incredible athlete stories

The event village was buzzing with live music from Gobbledigook, delicious food and drink, official event merchandise as well as inflatables, a climbing wall and fairground rides to explore!

A huge thanks must go to our three commentators, Mike Clyne, Helen Murray and Peter Jack. They kept us entertained and up to date with finishers all weekend.

Our media team were set up next to the commentators in the finish shoot so that they could capture some of the amazing stories and journeys of our incredible athletes. We will be sharing these over the coming weeks and hope you find them as inspiring and motivating as we did on the day.

Champions of age diversity

We were delighted to welcome a new partner to our Hever Castle 2022 event. 55/Redefined aim to empower people and champion age diversity across jobs, finance, legal and lifestyle topics.

Three of their team joined us over the weekend – Richard raced whilst Ben and Paul helped to host our prize giving ceremonies and provided some delicious prizes for the age category winners.

Our 50+, 60+ competitors have always been a very special part of our community, and we hope an ongoing partnership with 55/Redefined will help to develop our age group races over the coming years.

2022 dates released

We would like to thank everyone who has already left reviews on Race Check and shared photos on social media. We have loved seeing them here in the Castle Race Series office.

The dates for Hever Castle 2022 have now been released and tickets are available! If you would like to join us on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th September 2022, do not miss out on the 30% discount. It won’t be around for much longer so book quickly to avoid disappointment.

Thanks again to all the athletes, spectators and crew who made this event a weekend to remember.

Book 2022