Sandman Tri - Race Report

Well, its now been 3 weeks since Helvellyn and I'm knackered.

The week after Helvellyn I decided to race Bala Olympic.  Maybe not the best idea, as I was still pretty sore and the highlight was while struggling to get out of my wet suit I tore the scab off my hand.  It was a fun race though and I got round in under 2 hours for 8th place.

The next week was Sandman Triathlon on Anglesy.  The second in the series after Slateman, I really wanted to do the race and have a go at winning it.  Most of the swelling had gone down and although painful the wounds on my hands were healing nicely.

Race day was the best Anglesy has to offer with gale force winds and heavy rain.  Always Aim High did a great job though of creating a great atmosphere in tough conditions and although a little rough they even managed to keep the swim by moving it to the far side of the bay much to all our delight.

It was a beach start with a run into the sea for an out and back course.  It went quicker than expected but I think that was down to the rough conditions making it interesting. I picked up the pace on the way back to the beach and was surprised to exit in the top 3 (very uncommon for me). 

A brisk 1k run up to transition I arrived to struggle out of my wetsuit and find everyone else piling in just behind me.  I exited t1 in third with Arthur Connell and we proceeded to push a pace to try and give us some room.

This is where I have to apologise to my mate Ben who I borrowed some Zipp 404's from.  Now when I said I would look after them I didn't realise I would be racing over speed bumps. I can happily confirm though that at 25mph the Zipps easily coped with the speed bumps although I can feed back Zipp could do with putting more flex in for the biggest bumps.

I rode with Arthur for the first 40k of the bike swapping the lead a few times before we turned back into the wind for the last 20k.  This is where he pushed on and I just couldn't keep with him.    the wind was blowing me all over the road so I rode in by myself until Chris Prior caught me just before the end of the bike.

 Arthur blitzing the bike

 

 

Chasing Arthur

 

Out onto the 10k trail run, finding Chris and myself running together chasing down Arthur.  I have ran a lot of miles with Chris and it was nice to have company (for the first 5k only though!)  We caught Arthur at around 4k and I then had to figure out the best time to drop Chris.  I managed to do this at the 6k point and it was just a case of keeping the pace going to the finish.

 

Crossing the line was great and a relief that the serious race season was over.  Chris followed in close behind with Arthur holding on for 3rd.

http://www.tdl.ltd.uk/race-results.php?event=1249

So that's it now.  Season over .... at last.   Time for a few beers now and to put on some winter pounds.

Sandman is due on Channel 4 on Sunday 28th October at 7.30am. 

Helvellyn Tri - Race Report

Well its done, and although not the most enjoyable race I've ever done it was the toughest.

On Saturday we travelled up to Glenridding after I earned some brownie points by plumbing in the new washing machine.  Its not quite a completed bathroom but got me in the good books for a while.

On arrival the village was buzzing with triathletes and every other car had bikes on the roof.  Its a big race in a small village and we had taken over!  A nice meal and a pint of the local brew that night and I got off to sleep pretty well.

Race morning and once racked met up with club mates Andy & Mig.  The Sun was just coming over the top of the mountains and starting to warm up the valley.  A perfect race day.

The 1600m swim went pretty well and the lake was a real beauty to swim in.  I came out the water in 16th (22 mins) and set about trying to make up places on the bike. 

As previously mentioned Nick at 69 had done a final fettle on the bike, even lending me and fitting the 28/11 cassette from his own bike.   The bike just felt perfect (not like when I set it up!) and I started taking back the places I lost on the swim at a steady rate. 

By half way I caught the leaders Chis Joyce and Jon Fletcher and decided to push on and try to build a gap on them to make the run a little easier.

Towards the end of the bike is The Struggle.  A 3k climb which ranges from 10 - 20%.  By the top you are bolloxed but there is a crowd of supporters lining the road cheering you on so you can't help but smile.

The Struggle - Its steep

Jon though was not that easy to drop and by the time I got back into transition I had only built a one minute lead on him, though, I had set the fastest bike split of the day.

Out onto the run and I had already made my mistake, it was a hot day and I had only drank 250mm out of my bottle on the bike.

The Run!

For anyone who did the race and thought - did the leaders run up here then the answer is no!  I lasted about half way up the first of the 2 major climbs before I admitted defeat and started to walk the steepest bits. 

It was at this point I spotted Jon about 200m behind me tracking me in.  .

The Squirrel Edge Climb

I told myself that if I could get to the top of the mountain without being caught I could still win it and bought myself a bit of false hope as I climbed up Squirrel edge still in the lead and started my decent hidden from his view by the cloud cover.

Unfortunately though as we descended beneath the clouds he caught sight of me and started to claw me in.  It was a race to the finish off the mountain with both of us throwing ourselves down the trail not wanting to put ourselves through all that effort to give up the win.

Jon was the first to fall with a 'light' tumble down the zig zags (a steep path which winds its way down the hillside).  He was up quickly and kept reducing the gap to catch me about 2 miles out from the finish.  In truth I think I did a pretty good job to hold him off for an hour and although he beat me fair and square, I made him work for it (it makes me feel better to think of it like this).

Shortly after he made the pass though Helvellyn showed me her teeth.  On a fast rocky section I clipped a rock and fell head first down the path.  It happened so quickly I just remember picking myself up looking down and suddenly thinking - this hurts.  A big flap of skin was hanging of my palm and my knees, thigh and shoulder were scuffed up. 

I hobbled the final 2 miles down the valley to the finish line by the lake.

So - overall a bloody tough race, well organised with a great atmsosphere. Just not to be taken lightly!

If you fancy this one next year - enjoy!

Oh - Andy unfortunately had a puncture on the bike and decided to save his legs for Bala next week. 

Hero of the day was Mig though.  He achieved his target of sub 6 hours but got dehydrated and had to stop the van to be violently ill on the way home.  Yes - it was one of those races!