The Nineteen Durty Triathlon – the brainchild of Selkirk triathlete Paul McGreal – attracted a massive entry to the Loch of the Lowes, far more than originally expected. Although it was an incredibly tough and demanding course, 55 of the 135 athletes actually signed up to do it twice.

For the slightly more sensible (those who call a race lasting an hour and a half or more a sprint) it was a 750m swim on a triangular circuit across the loch, a 15km off-road mountain bike course and a 5km off-road run.

For the insane, it was the same thing – twice over – with more hills thrown in.

Some were not all that thankful for the time and effort the organisers had put in to make it all the more evil. One competitor, asked by a marshal whether he was on the long or short race after a lap on the bike, managed to gasp: "I'm supposed to be doing the long one, but I don't think I'll bother. Tell Paul McGreal he's a dead man when I see him," before going ahead and doing it all again anyway.

McGreal was unperturbed. He told TheSouthern: "I've been called certain names by a few people who finished the bike section.

"It started tough with the swim – it was fairly windy here this morning so they did get thrown around quite a bit in the water.

"The bike course is quite tough. There's no two ways about it, it's a proper mountain biking course.

"This is an off-road triathlon. There's no point in doing things by halves."

The short course event was won by Edinburgh's Martin Gore, who finished third in the Peebles event earlier in the month. But pushing him all the way was second-placed Kevin Murray, from Selkirk, who managed to beat all sorts of obstacles.

He said: "I don't do the crawl, so I had to breast stroke the best I could. I do a lot of cycling, though, and that was always going to be my strong point.

"I just held on in the run and got second – I was pretty chuffed.

"This is my first off-road triathlon. There's not many of them around and I think there should be more because it is a really good event."

There was also a strong local contingent in the longer race. Kelso's Graeme Veitch and Hawick's Ian Veitch took second and third respectively, behind Northants Tri's Craig Mattocks.

The third-placed Veitch told us: "It was a relief to cross the line. My body isn't used to doing that type of thing at the moment.

"It was my first open water event and race of that distance. The hardest part by far was getting into the water at the start – the temperature was awful.

"All credit to the organisers and helpers, though, for a great wee race.Really enjoyed (most of) it."

But taking pride of place in the womens' contest was Innerleithen's Rhoda McPherson, who finished a full minute before second-placed Angela Martin.

McPherson told us: "I like to take part and support local events when I can and with Paul McGreal's reputation, the race was bound to be an event to be remembered! I wasn't disappointed.

"I've never done a mountain bike triathlon before, but I have done an open water swim. I've just come back from San Francisco where I took part in the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon.

"I said that was the hardest tri I'd ever taken part in. However, it's now been superseded by the Durty Tri. I have the bruises to prove it!

"You may think that St Mary's Loch may be a 'pussy cat' after the frigid waters of San Francisco Bay, but looking at the waves in that dark, black loch made me just as nervous.

"But what surprised me was how clean it was and how delicious the water tasted – it's impossible to avoid swallowing water when it's choppy.

"And I loved the mountain bike ride – I only wiped out once!"

TheSouthern's own Sally Gillespie pulled on her wetsuit, cycling shorts and running shoes for the event and did remarkably well.