Back in 2007 and again in 2009 I raced the Winchester Fast Twitch triathlon, being more or less my most local race. While I’ve been away, Concept Sport seem to have slimmed down the FT series considerably, but up has popped Try Tri Events. Monday was their fourth May Day Tri in Winchester.
Result: 5th*/139 overall
(S: 14th, T1: 37th, C: 5th, T2: 17th, R: 6th)
Date: Monday 7 May 2012
Format: 400m pool swim, 16km town/country road bike, 4km run on school playing fields
Race website: http://www.trytri.co.uk/
Full results: http://www.trytri.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Sprint-Provisional-Results.pdf
Brief race report:
- Let’s be clear. This was my first triathlon for almost exactly two years.
- I had/have a cold. Hard to breathe, couldn’t max out heart or legs on the bike, and laboured on the run too. Frustrating.
- The whole event was well organized, marshalled, etc. apart from the run course laps, meaning that I ran about 750m less than I thought we were going to (having studied the route very carefully), but 250m more than the guys I was chasing. Doubly frustrating.
- Having recce’d the bike route with the tri club on Wednesday was a huge advantage. I saw one guy with very little skin on his shoulder/arm/leg at the 90deg left turn at the bottom of one of the (rain-dampened gravelly) descents. It would have been me. The free swim coached session was useful too.
- Elastic laces have obviously improved my T2. I still need to practice T1. The four guys who were faster than me on the bike were the four who beat me overall.
- I’d do it again. Unfinished business!
Hope the dratted cold is completely gone before Salisbury (Fast Twitch) this weekend!!
*I claim 5th, not 6th as in the full results. There were two competitors who I’m reasonably certain must have only biked one lap instead of two, and 4 competitors who must have only run 1 lap instead of 2. The organizers listened to what everybody said and plan to simplify the run route next year to make this less likely.