Royal Windsor Triathlon - Olympic Distance

Sun June 11 2006
Listed by TW
Entrants (3) Club Pred Swim Pred Bike Pred Run Swim T1 Bike T2 Run Total
Hollywoof! Had a really bad night's sleep - it is way too hot at the moment! Eventually gave up on sleep and got up at 4:25 - 15 minutes before the alarm was going off... 6:20 Watched Shiraz off... she got herself at the business end of the swim start and drafted the fastest swim group from the first 10 metres on... 6:45 Watched Shiraz come back in from the swim - she was in 5th from her wave and then zoomed off down the path... Then off to get myself ready - lots of time to get ready... and it was getting hotter all the time... 7:35 - at last - my swim start - had a rather pushy group who made sure I was in the second row for the start... Quite a lot of argy bargy in the first half minute of the swim, but then I headed further right (across the river) than most peeps and so was soon out of trouble. Looked up after 3 minutes and could see a group of maybe 10 pink hats ahead of me to my left - it was very useful that our wave all had very visibly fluo swim hats. Spent the next 600m tracking down each of those hats one by one... Had some problems with backmarkers from previous waves - they got quite a bashing from the front of our wave - sorry! By the swim turn I had just one pink hat in my sights ahead of me. He then headed towards the right bank while I stayed a bit further out - hoping to pick up some current... Didn't seem to work so ended up following him over to the bankside. Finally got the pink hat on the inside of the very last turn - just 20 metres from the swim out :-) Swim time - 24:44 (but does that include the run to the bike area?) - 3rd in my wave - apparently there were 2 other pinkies who broke a long way ahead from the rest of us - but I'm very happy with third - especially as my swim time is faster than Shiraz's :o) Transition was quite slow - 2:23 - sat down again to wrestle my wetsuit off and then to do my shoes and socks - still didn't really have a clear plan of what I was doing and was still dead nervous I'd forget something... Out on the bike and immediately it felt great! There was a headwind but the tyres were hard, the road was smooth and the marshalls did an excellent job of stopping traffic. Did get stuck with a group of 6 who were drafting off each other... had a couple of traffic problems (got caught by 3 turning vans on the one unmarshalled roundabout, then got stuck behind a livestock lorry that was stuck behind a slower cyclist)- all of which just made the drafting group harder to break... Finally overtook and left the drafting group and noted that I'd done the first 14km in 25 minutes - big smile - if I could keep that up, then a 1:15 split was possible. Found the Unaffiliated 2:27:07 2:27:07
Mazza aka Fitso Sprint distance, not Olympic! 2nd FV40 in 1st race over this distance. Unaffiliated 1:46:56 1:46:56
TW Will be my first Olympic distance (1500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run). Anything under 3 hours would be acceptable, the closer to 2hrs 30mins the better!... Race report from me....First Olympic distance so a whole learning curve. I did not really leave enough time to get sorted in he morning, and kind of rushed around a bit..but at least managed to say hi to a few pirates...cartman, and didn't catch the other name...That kit is so cool, I need to get some in the next order! Got down to the swim, just in time to get straight into teh water. As my weakest element I stayed right at the back, and let the others pretty much go. I just got my head down and started my steady slow swim. After 10mins or so I got into a rythym, but found I was zigzagging all over the place, right at the bank one minute, then right in the middle the next! Anyway got out of the water in 35.46, which for me was fantastic. I was looking at 40 mins. T1 was OK, just took my time to get sorted and out oin the bike...2.17. Bike went great for the first 10 miles, passed loads of people and give a shout to a pirate as I passed. Then got an horrendous stitch for about 30 minutes. I was in agony, so could not get on the aerobars or even lean over properly..I slowed up quite a bit, and a few of the people I'd passed went by me again...including the pirate (not sure who it was). Once I got towards the end of Drift Road my side starting to feel better so I tucked down on the bars and pushed it from there..I think I touched 40mph on the way that hill in Windsor Great Park. Overtook the same pirate on the downhill bit...Overall pleased with bike, at 1.18.39...expected about 1.20. T2 again was Ok just took my time and took a bottle of water out on the bike with me. 2.22...that same pirate got out of T2 before me. Run was very, very hot...but went OK. I re-passed the pirate on the run, also gave a shout to another one at the top turn outside the castle. Plenty of water on the course, and big thanks to the lad with the hosepipe. Ended up with 48.36 for the run. and overall time of 2.47.39. My target time was 3hours so well pleased with the time...I also know I can go quicker for the next one (London in August). Overall a great event, and thoroughly enjoyed..and apparently I was spotted on the local TV news report this morning, which is an added bonus:-) Well done to all others who completed yesterday. Cheers TW Note to self: Must get some of that pirate kit...by far the coolest tri kit out there! Unaffiliated 3:00:00 2:47:39 2:47:39

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