Race Reports

On Sunday 12th June the Mid Sussex Triathlon Club held its annual Sprint Triathlon and Aquabike at The Triangle Leisure Centre in Burgess Hill.

The event attracted entries from all over the South East with 238 competitors in the Triathlon and 22 in the Aquabike. The Sprint Triathlon involves a pool swim of 400m, followed by a 25km bike ride around a circuit which includes Ansty, Wineham and Twineham, finishing back at the Triangle, and finally there is a 5km run.  Gary Leybourne of South London Harriers Tri Club was first home in 1hr 2mins 28 secs, with Luke Worthington of  Surrey Tri Club second in 1hr 4 mins and 04 secs. Fiona Blagg of Crawley Tri Club was the first woman home and 26th overall, in 1hr 15mins 17 secs. 

The Aquabike event entries were dominated by 10 members of the Crystal Palace Triathletes Club. Jeremy Purnell was first home in 47mins 44secs, with Cathy Cooke, also of Crystal Palace Triathletes, being the first woman home in 53 mins. In this event the 5km run is omitted.

The weather was rather wet; however most competitors appeared to enjoy the day. Feedback from past events has indicated that this is a very friendly Triathlon, which is marshalled by members of the club. Team Oathall, comprising  12 teachers from Oathall School in Haywards Heath, indicated that they all had a great race and would be back next year for sure. They congratulated the club for putting on such an enjoyable event. Two Triathlon competitors were stranded with punctures out on the far reaches of the bike course and faced a long walk back to the Triangle. However they were rescued by the MSTC roaming mechanic, who fixed their punctures so that they could complete the triathlon safely.

Klara Boarder was the first Mid Sussex Tri  Club member home, in 1hr 33mins 20 secs; she commented that she had had a blast.

Ten members competed in the East Grinstead Sprint Triathlon on Sunday 8th May. 

Anthony Vince came 15th overall on 1:16:48 whilst Rob Hoodless was 2nd in the M50 category on 1:19:24 and Rachael Baker was 2nd in the W40 category on 1:22:24.

Ed Cockill had a good performance on 1:23:21 with Callum Murray 1:28:56 and Matthew Critchley 1:32:24 not far behind.

Julienne Stuart-Colwill 1:33:26, Sarah Hinon 1:43:29, Angela Murray 1:45:10 and Clair Hunt 1:56:25 completed the club's entry.

On the same weekend that the club's elite were taking on the continent's best at the European Championships in Geneva, or becoming Ironmen (all over again) at Hever, the elderly, the infirm, the has-beens and the never-weres took a deep breath and confronted the Bananaman Triathlon at Dorney Lake.

Why the 'Bananaman'? Well, there was a bloke in a banana suit (no one knew whether he actually competed - getting his wetsuit on over the banana suit would have been tricky) and there were piles of green bananas around the place, courtesy of upmarket sponsor Lidl. "Don't eat those," warned Professor Dr Sir David Ricketts, Bart, "they'll kill you. I remember when I was in Honduras…" etc, etc.

Sir David, Brad Williams and I were off at 10.30 for an 800m swim, followed by a 31.8k bike and a 7.5k run (note the strange, in-betweeny sprint/Olympic hybrid distances), while Angela Murray's wave was due off 40 minutes later.

An 800m open water swim. Gulp. We line up with the other green caps in the clear waters of the lake, conscious that the next wave of yellow caps (relay team swimmers, I think) are due off just five minutes later. So that means being overtaken by the first of them in about six minutes' time, I think. And so it happens. Otherwise, I have a relatively uneventful swim as I labour round two circuits of a rectangle marked by four buoys - no (deliberate) punches, kicks or gouges, unlike a lady in Angela's wave who later says she's planning an official complaint after being so badly bruised by swimmers ploughing through from the following men's wave that she was forced to retire.

Emerging from the water, surrounded by yellow caps (where are all the greens?), I'm confronted by my usual wetsuit removal problem of being unable to reach to undo that velcro thing at the top of the zip (howdopeople do that?) until, seeing my evident distress, a spectator kindly offers to undo it for me. Against the rules, I know, but wtf? It's only the Bananaman, not the Olympics.

Into transition and no sign of Sir D or Brad (they'll be miles ahead), onto the bike and straight into the notorious Dorney Lake headwind for six circuits of the lake. Down onto the tri-bars for the next hour or so (it's completely flat), except for a tricky little chicane where you sometimes have to slow down to negotiate the traffic. Towards the end, I overtake Sir D, who is making his usual stately progress on his venerable titanium Raleigh, having deliberately handicapped himself once again by electing to shun tri-bars. If ever there was a course where you benefit from minimising your frontal area (no, don't titter), it's this one.

Then onto the run, which is three out-and-back laps of a path by the lakeside - and is HARD, despite its pan-flatness. About two-thirds of the way out I meet Brad on his way back, and with an uncatchable lead, so settle down to my own private misery. Out on the second lap I see Brad again at approximately the same place, but on the third lap, no sign of him. So that means he was more, not less, than a lap ahead of me! Oh well, it's not a race, I tell myself - conveniently forgetting that, well, itisactually a race.

Finally, nowhere near soon enough, the finish comes, and there stands an only slightly sheepish Brad waiting to reveal that he thought it was two laps, not three. "Julie will never let me forget this," he chortles, as Sir D finishes in fine style, having, like me, naively thought you had to complete all three laps.

Suddenly, catastrophe! Sir D realises that he hasn't been given a medal. He's only doing it for the medals. Nor have any of the rest of us, and realisation dawns. There are, in actual fact, NO MEDALS! Except… Sir D says he's seen some children walking about with medals, so there must be medals. He sets off in search of medals and returns shortly afterwards, well satisfied with a children's 'Scootathlon' medal. "They've got loads left," he says airily. "Why not get one yourselves?" Politely, we decline.

Then we sit in the sun watching Angela finish her run to come first in her age group for the first time ever, before the obligatory team photo back in transition. "Don't post the times on Facebook this time," warns Sir D. "I wasn't really trying. I've got the Brighton Aquathlon tomorrow."

"Yes," agrees Brad, looking preoccupied. "Er, you know, don't post those times on Facebook or anything, will you?"

So I don't. But just in case anyone's interested, here's a link: http://humanrace.co.uk/results-archive/2015/lidl-bananaman-triathlon/all-results

We all hope for and are seldom lucky enough to race in summery conditions in the U.K.  Indeed, my definition ofsummeryhas changed a lot since settling in this country but was I lucky enough to enjoy near perfect conditions for Leeds Castle Std triathlon yesterday.

I was surprised to see that only one other Mid Sussex entry on the start list of nearly 300, and chatted to Paul Wills in transition where we'd managed to rack within meters of one another.

The sun was out at 07:30, temperatures rising and the race director announced that at 21 deg water temperature, wetsuits would be optional. I am not the best at getting my wetsuit off so this was a tempting prospect, albeit short-lived, as a quick reconnoitre of the swim start and spotting the duck s**t content thereof meant almost everyone remained suited up. This was confirmed during a brief warm up swim whilst wading through foot deep 1000yr old duck s**t masquerading as mud!

The race

A well conceived self-seeding system helped avoid a beach start mass brawl as I set off in the second 'wave' in a very memorable and novel setting. As it turns out the moat is only 1 metre at its deepest point and I frequently felt the bottom (as it were) during the two laps around and under the castle bridge which was novel! There were many turns and not a lot of straight line swimming which made for an interesting swim, if slow and very big buoys made sighting easy.

Onto the bike leg, I was riskily trying out a (newly acquired) time trial bike which I hadn't ridden more than a few miles on. Inadvisable, in know, but ultimately irresistible.

My devoted cheerleaders added a dose of feel-good on the way out of T1, and I was cleanly away.

The bike course was a simple out and back with no turns, other than the eventual halfway u-turn of course. Described as 'undulating', a typical way of saying 'never flat' it certainly seemed to bemoreup-hills than down-hills but I enjoyed it and was determined to post a good split on my new toy although I knew I was burning matches I would need on the run. It was great to be able to stay in the aero position for 99% of the ride, something I've never managed on my road bike before but it's safe to say I will definitely need a tri-specific saddle ASAP!

Eventually back to T2 having overtaken at least as many as had overtaken me on the bike and with one numb foot (a 50% improvement on every other race I've ever done), a successful bike by my standards and within the first 20 into T2 according to a dismount marshal.

The run was a car free route within the castle grounds, mainly off road and described as 'challenging' in the race description - another colourful term, often used! I had overheard some chat in transition about how awful it was so was slightly apprehensive. This turned out to be wholly understating reality, as my lack of brick and/or hill training came home to roost!

Some parts of the course could easily have had staircases installed, as most competitors were reduced to a walk especially on the second lap as I too succumbed.

Increasing temperatures also paid its part in my decline, as dreams of a fast run split evaporated.

Some more demented cheerleading by my long suffering posse saw me to the finish line however (where were the cowbells though, I find myself wondering?). 

Results

Gunter Eifler

OA      Swim               Bike                Run

16        0:24:12            1:14:59            0:45:06

Paul Wills

OA      Swim               Bike                Run

198      0:36:39            1:24:18            0:59:04

1,850 competitors crossed the starting line following a glorious sunrise in Tenby for the start of Ironman Wales 2014. Choppy sea resulted in 56 athletes not completing the swim.

Sadly, mechanical problems caused MSTC's own Michael John to stop within a few miles from the end of the cycle. Despite unseasonably warm dry conditions for the cycle and run, finish times were slower than usual. At the awards ceremony it was commented that the swim had exhausted many athletes and there was double the usual IM DNF rate at around 12%. 

I attended the awards ceremony, having got an Age-Group-Finish PB of 7^th. Kona slots rolled down to 4^th in the 50-54 category……almost something to brag about. However, one felt a bit inadequate because almost everyone else there had a massive IM podium-finish trophy. The 30-year old German Age-Grouper sat next to me had come 10^th overall (having beaten half the professionals)…….his Tenby run was 40 mins quicker than mine but his standalone marathon PB is only a minute quicker than mine (what am I doing wrong?).

Tenby is arguably the most scenic/enjoyable/intimate/friendly/challenging IM in the world. The cycle in Pembrokeshire National Park is beautiful, technical and hilly…….. including a "heartbreak" section with big crowds (like Challenge Roth). The run is 4 x 10.5k through the town with massive support from passionate drinkers from the many pubs, bars and hotels on the route.

It's a relatively hassle-free race with registration, briefing, transition, start, finish and hotels all within a 1km radius. Great to be able to pop back to hotel for a shower after the finish before collecting the bike and bags.

Tenby has the longest IM transition times with its 1km (mostly uphill) dash to T1 from the beach. Total transition times being 10:12 for the 50-54 age-group winner, compared to my 19:29……..9:17 difference !!!!

All Athletes (139 Athletes)
Originally from Ironman Wales Tenby 2014 Results.