It was definitely not for the faint-hearted on Sunday as the Granite Man event took place at the Cringle Plantation in appalling weather conditions.

Granite Man, the Isle of Man’s only off-road triathlon, still managed to attract more than 20 individual entries and 21 teams. The competition kicked off with a 400m swim in the reservoir, followed by a 10km cycle and a 5km run along plantation tracks.

The event was run in aid of The Children’s Centre. Lisa Motley, their fundraising team leader, said: ’As you can imagine the conditions were very soggy, the mountain bike course was very wet, muddy and challenging. Visibility was reduced so, for competitor safety, we had to reduce the swim distance.

’I was only expecting a few people to turn up but all the teams were there and nearly all the individual entrants. Everyone was still smiling at the finish and did amazingly well in those conditions.’

Lisa added: ’We would like to thank Quinn Legal for sponsoring and all the marshals and helpers and competitors. Also thanks to Bikestyle for doing the scrutineering and donating prizes and Asia Fresh for donating prizes, and to DEFA for use of the plantation and Manx Utilities for use of the reservoir.’

The full race results will be in the Manx Independent on Thursday.