In the news...Tackling the triathlon Written by Lydia Fallon

After the amazing medal-winning feats of the Brownlee brothers at London 2012, who wouldn’t be inspired to tackle the most gruelling of sports? In the latest Olympic Legacy blog, Lydia Fallon takes to the River Ouse with NiceTri Triathlon Club to see how her questionable fitness levels would fair.
You couldn’t help but fall head-over-heels for Jonathan and Alistair Brownlee as they ran, cycled and swam for their lives at Hyde Park last year. In the tensest of races (those transitions looked deadly!), the down-to-earth Leeds lads secured gold and bronze respectively, and had a whole nation on the edge of their seats, desperately wishing their own family had the Brownlee gene pool.
Whether you were a triathlon enthusiast or couldn’t think of anything worse than getting three sports for the price of one, as the boys sprinted to the finish line it was impossible to not feel completely awe-inspired by what they had achieved. Alistair’s 10km time of 29 minutes and 7 seconds was only a minute and a half down on that run by Mo Farah on Super Saturday – impressive doesn’t quite cut it.
Naturally I was setting my expectations slightly lower for my mini triathlon with the NiceTri Triathlon Club…



Based in St Neots, NiceTri caters for all abilities, from complete novices like me to the international elite - they have several members who have just qualified for the Great Britain team, don’t you know – and they promise fun, relaxed sessions with plenty of opportunities to hone your skills in the different disciplines.
For my taster session the club put on a mini triathlon which to incorporate a 500m swim, 15 mile bike ride and 3k run, there’s nothing like getting thrown in at the deep end!
Heading to St Neots Rowing Club on a beautiful June evening, my nerves went into overdrive. The three disciplines separately I could just about cope with, but I feared together this could turn into a nightmare of epic proportions. I’d always liked the idea of a triathlon, and often daydreamed that after attempting everything from taekwondo to rifle shooting it could well be the sport I was finally a ‘natural’ at, but faced with the reality of a cold, murky river and wobbly road bike, I wondered if I might be out of my depth.
I needn’t have worried though; the club were one of the friendliest I’ve ever met. Super welcoming, and instantly putting my mind at ease with tales of their first triathlon experiences (“I screamed the place down when I first stepped into the river,” one lady told me). It was a far cry from the competitive, lycra-clad fitness junkies I’d been expecting.
After getting kitted out (be warned the trisuit is not flattering at ANY angle), it was time to gracefully dive into the river… or should that be go all shrieky and high-pitched as I very slowly lowered myself in. Once I’d come to terms with the cold and the very slushy river bank, being out in the open water was surprisingly exhilarating. On a warm summer’s evening the river looks stunning, and you feel so much freer when away from the confines and monotonous lane swimming of a pool. While some of the others sped on ahead, I negotiated the current slowly, alternating between front crawl and breaststroke, and trying to not think about what was lurking beneath. Luckily club chairman Paul Ridley was there to encourage me along the way.
500m swim completed (and enjoyed immensely), it was time to take to the bikes, which proved a little more hairy. Obviously being from Cambridge I like to think of myself as a bit of a cyclist, but my own bike is one of those pretty old-school ones with a huge basket and only two gears; a long way from the slightly scary and highly technical road bike which I was faced with. I’ve only been on a road bike once in my life, and it didn’t end well, so as you can imagine my first few metres were shaky to say the least.
The special cycle shoes and pedal clips also proved tricky to master. I really struggled to clip my shoes in and out of the pedals, and five minutes into the ride this surprisingly complicated procedure all went a bit pear-shaped, and ended in an embarrassing tumble (“We’ve all been there,” club secretary Michaela Ridley kindly reassured me).
After the fall, it was decided I should wear my normal trainers instead, and embark on a slightly shorter route. As the others went on ahead, Paul and Michaela Ridley took me on a leisurely ride around St Neots, and with some of the pressure off, it was rather enjoyable. The super-thin wheels do take a while to get used to – you feel every bump in the road – but it was fun to pick up speed, and put my rarely used quads to the test.
Returning to the river, I found myself in much more familiar territory as we set out on a run around the park. With the Cambridge Race for Life just weeks away, it was good to be able to challenge myself with experienced runners, and it was a pleasant change to run in a large group, I found my competitiveness immediately kicked in – I would keep up damnit!
Sprinting/staggering to the finish, I’d completed my first triathlon, and I felt on top of the world. Exhilarating, challenging and hugely addictive, the triathlon is a true test of your speed, strength and endurance, and I could see exactly why it’s the fastest growing sport in the UK. “There’s no doubt that once people give it a go they’ll become hooked,” Paul Ridley enthused.
I may have to agree with that one. Next stop: Rio?
For more information about NiceTri Triathlon Club and to see their training schedule, visit the website at www.nicetri-club.co.uk.

I can’t fault Spanish roads....... By Duncan Bush

European Middle Distance Triathlon Championships – 19^th May 2013

(Half Iron 1.2m Swim / 56m Bike / 13.1m Run)

I was fortunate enough to qualify for the GBR age group team at Middle Distance following the NiceTri Grafman last year (2012), this was my first middle distance triathlon and only third ever and finished within 110% of the age group winner Phil Westoby who also won overall.  I was a less inspiring 9^th overall in comparison in a time of 4:52.

So 9 months later here I am flying out to Barcelona on my first ever international race and GB age group qualified, I won’t lie is was quite harrowing, whilst the kudos of qualifying was great I still had to race and it isn’t a short race, as well I wanted to prove to myself I could compete within the age group successfully.

Once in Calella the ore of the day approaching became apparent, mixing with some real quality athletes from the GB squad some of whom make a living in the elite world of triathlon, and more so seeing the sea for the first time, I had never swam in the sea and the waves and swell were quite intimidating!

I managed to get a practice swim in on the Friday morning, swimming just over a mile, to be honest it wasn’t as bad as I had thought, yet still was tough being picked up by the swell, losing sight of the shore and fighting the rip.  The following afternoon I knew it would be prudent to cycle some of the bike course as this was changed from a flat and fast to an alpine style course with over 4,500 feet of climbing (that’s almost a mile of going directly up!).  I can’t fault Spanish roads, smooth tarmac and not a single pot hole, however the accent on the practice ride was bloody steep and full of switch backs, however being a fly weight it suited me and I blasted up the first climb in my usual spirit of trying to beast the other GB guys which I did fairly adequately, little did I realise they were being sensible and saving their legs for the day, will I ever learn. 

The decent was amazing, I’d only ever ridden down local hills but this was something different, fast, sweeping and scary.  Whilst it was great to be coming down the concentration level was huge as the switch backs on the way down needed some serious braking for…..lots of wheel squealing mixed with yelps of joy and shouts of “Oh Sh….t”.  Nonetheless even though I had wasted my legs on the practice ride it was invaluable for race day preparation.

Race day….the race organisation was amazing, I can’t say enough just how slick Challenge race organisation is, however the start of the swim was a mile away from the T1 which made for a lot of walking.  My bike was raked the night before and we were given 3 bags, run bag, bike bag and a street bag.  Pretty straight forward, morning of the race you make your way to T1 and leave you run and bike bags in the changing tent, you then make your way back to the start and deposit your street bag once changed into your wet suit.

Once in my wet suit I started to feel a little claustrophobic with 2,000 other athletes all milling around, all looking super fit!  I rushed quickly in for a quick warm up swim and to acclimatise and then headed back to shore to get into my pen.  The race started at 7am with the Elite guys (Gomez/Macca) then elite women.  Finally at 7:09am the age group air horn went off and something weird happed.  Usually I hate the impending swim being my weakest element, I tend to steer clear of trouble and take the attitude of just trying to survive, however I started pushing and fighting people out the way down the sandy shore and into the sea.  As I waded in a wave started to roll in on me I dived deep and head on into it dolphin kicking as hard as I could later to rise a good meters away from the shore and started to push on.

 

It was the usual mêlée of people climbing all over you, however I just gave as good as I got and it felt good!  Eventually swimming hard against the rip we reached the first buoy and turned left adjacent to the shore.  Once turned it was time to settle in and swim properly, although on first look up to sight the sun was just coming over the horizon and was blinding, mixed with the swell I really had no idea what direction I should swim but relied on swimmers around me as a sense check, as well just headed for the sun.  Peculiarly the swim training had paid off and I was actually enjoying the swim and found I relaxed into my stroke.  I spied a buoy just ahead and thought “great I’m on course….nice one” albeit once I got there it was actually a safety boat and I was a long way of course and on my own!  So zig zaging my way through the swim I eventually arrived at the next turn buoy with only another 200m’s to swim.  As I approached the shore you could really feel the waves lifting you and I kicked hard in order to wake my legs up for the impending transition run.  I found my feet but sunk quickly into the sandy beach and cramp took hold, I shook it off and ran in state of quite weirdness, your legs just seem to want to work that well after a long swim, especially in sand!  I finished the swim in 36mins which wasn’t bad for 1.2m, however after the race my Garmin suggested I swam closer to 1.4 miles!

The run to T1 was quite lengthy 200-300 meters which offered plenty of time to remove goggles and wet suit.  Once in the tent I found my spot and started to de-robe, looking for socks, shoes and helmet as well a good swig of full fat coke to take the sea salt taste away.  To be honest for a moment the tranqulieness of T1 was quite appealing then I remembered I was racing!  I sprinted out of the tent and found my bike two thirds of a football pitch away, and the ran with my bike out of T1 and to the bike mount spot, all in all the whole of T1 was over quarter of mile and completed this in an impressive in 3:31…(NOT!).

Once on the bike it felt amazing, loads of people around and loads of support.  Getting out of town was stroon with hazards, sharp corners, speed humps and some risky pedestrians!  As soon as you met the main road you started ascending, this slowly got steeper and steeper and panic set in….my legs just didn’t seem to feel like they had felt a couple of days ago, nonetheless I tried not panic, what could I do, hence I just ground away in my granny ring.  After about 10m of climbing I was over the first accent and descending fast and furiously, at the next downhill switch back there was carnage, another GB guy had lost it around the corner and wiped himself out on street furniture, fortunately there was a paramedic nearby (they must have known) so I kept my pace high and enjoyed the brief rest bite of the flatter sections.  Then after what seemed a short break we were climbing again, another 1 hour of 8mph…..it was tough, hot and pathetic, I tried not to look up as the road often predicted false hopes of the top, although when I did reach it I wasn’t really aware, was probably delirious!  Once on the down the fun started again and I found my stride and risk management went out the window as I overtook many competitors on the decent and flats.  I had planned on ridding the bike section between 3 and 3.5hrs based on the accent, although I as I approached Calella I realised I was on for a 2:50 which made the sub 5hr half plausible should I run well!  I did finish the bike in 2:50 with an average speed of 19.6mph, originally I’d be un-happy with this, however for once was ecstatic considering the climbing.

T2 was just as laborious, long run from the bike to the tent, find shoes, remove and bag bike clothing neatly and re-hang…all in all another 2 mins!

I then hit the run hard and felt pretty good, support was now amazing and plenty of “GO GBR!!” as well lots of sniggering Spanish shouting “BUSH” as this was printed on my suit….turns out “Bush” means the same in Spain in respect of ‘pubes’ but not in the sense of garden forna, hence the hilarity, albeit to me it was just another “GO”  Things were going well and seeing the likes of Gomez and Macca running in the opposite direction was incredibly inspiring.

It was however very hot now and taking its toll, I tried to maintain my cadence, energy intake and hydration, however after 8/9 miles the heat took hold and my speed started to rapidly reduce, I carried on pushing knowing the potential of sub 5 was achievable however with the cramp returning I played a risk vs. run harder or stop because of the crap.  

On the final lap the wind also now felt like a hand holding me back, little did I know too I had a string of runners behind me all sheltering (not that there is much to shelter behind)…..even so I kept my head down and saw it as a personal challenge to break them, which I didn’t.

Finally the 1k to go came and I tried to push again but nothing happened, I really was in deficit now but just dug and dug, eventually after the longest 1k in my life I came into the stadium and was met huge cheers and even a small GB flag was thrust into my hand as I eventually crossed the line in 5:03!

 

I’ve never felt more spent, albeit the deeper you push the more satisfaction you gain.  I actually finished 15^thin my age category and was 1^st GB back so was properly chuffed, even the time compared to other half’s was miserable!

Well that’s about it, the recovery tent at the end was something else, SO much food and beer which was welcomed whole heartedly!  This was one of the best and most amazing humbling experiences I have ever par took in and can’t wait to get stuck into the next race, as well compete again at GB level, I’d recommend to anyone to try, it’s so worth it!

Dunc

The 6:30am start meant I was up at 3am... By Ian Turner

Outlaw Half

Another middle distance triathlon (1.2 mile Swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run) and the race I was looking forward to. Armed with my new kit check list and swim preparation tips from Adam at GreenlightPT (Who also was racing) I had no excuses. The 6:30am start meant I was up at 3am to travel to Nottingham. I had everything, I checked more than 10 times as I didn't fancy considering phoning home again for help. I had already registered the day before which was a bit unexpected. Last minute read of the race instructions informs me of no registration on the day, which obviously was the plan. Only positive about this was I was able to finally hear a full race briefing!

Met Daz (Check out Darren's race report) at 5am and made our way to transition. Sorted all my stuff out and hovered about ready to pounce on anyone that considered putting stuff within touching distance on mine, I was seriously in the zone. 6am and believe or not, I was getting into my wetsuit. Managed to put my finger through the leg again which was annoying, put it was on and I was ready. 

In the water I found a safe place to stay away from the 200+ other swimmers in my wave and suddenly we were off. Everyone went out flying ahead but I stuck to the plan and went off steady. After the first 500m I was starting to overtake people, I couldn't believe it and I actually started to enjoy it. The swim was clocked at 33:04 which was 5mins faster than 2 weeks ago, goes to show good prep work and a bit of advice (Thanks again Adam! ) can go a long way!

Transition went like clockwork and I was out on the bike. The plan was to get to the front as quickly as possible and then access the energy levels after. As I hit 30 miles I passed the race leader and I kept the effort going but in the last few miles I started to lose time. The wind was taking back whatever it gave and as we turned off the main road back to transition, where we hit a road surface that in normal situations I would be carrying my bike over, it was shocking.

 

Transition was good again and I was out on the run. Lucky to have bike escort clearing the way of ducks, swans and sunday walkers. I ran the first mile hard then started to ease back to target pace over the next 4 miles. By then I had gained a good gap so I knew I just needed to keep the pace constant which I did. With 1k to go, stomach cramp got the best of me and I was happy to see the finish. I knew nobody had passed me, first across the line so surely I had won?! (Actual finish time was 4:24:10)
 

A couple of minutes later everyone else started crossing the line and suddenly I hear the announcer say 'here is the winner of Outlaw Half 2013, Richard Wilder with a time of 4:22:24, What?? Really? It was only then I was reminded of the other waves! Bollocks! Richard's time was over 2mins faster than mine so I thought that was it, I haven't done enough, time to go home!

When I finally got the results I found out I actually finished 2nd and also had the fastest bike split of the day (2:21:18), just! The winner, Richard, was only 18 seconds behind me on the bike and 1 min on the run. The 2min gap came from the swim so he was always going to be difficult to beat. This fact has me more determined than ever to nail this swimming lark!

2nd overall, 1st in age group. Considering it was never my intention to do middle distance triathlons, the experience turned out quite well. Next year I may focus on Middle distance only and see where it takes me!

Here are the results.

"Utter relief mixed with joy!!"...... By Richard Hancock

The 1st of june 2013 was a date that had been fixed in my mind for quite some time , it was of course the 1st of 3 World Championship qualifing races that would see age group triathletes from all over the uk fight for just 17 places per 5 year age band. All vying to win the right to represent GBR in the Grand Final in London in september. 

From my club there were also team mates Tom Stead , Chris Ritchie , Emma Ritchie and Mick Lawrence who like myself all had qualification on their minds . I personally felt that we could all  qualify at some point over the coming 3 races such is the current standard within the  Nicetri club but personally felt that my own  chances would be better at bristol .

Arriving at the National Water Sports venue with my son Benjamin we saw that the 1st wave with team mate and training partner Tom stead in was already under way and I
had to smile as on the other side of the lake he was hammering the bike leg and obviously making very good progress , a discipline in which Tom has improved over the winter hugely.

A quick chat with Julia ( toms mum ) confirmed that he was in a qualification spot thereabouts against some very tough opposistion , by this time Tom was in and had started the run so we moved round to the finishing straight to shout him on for every last second , soon enough he came in to view and holding a very strong pace we all cheered him in and waited for the confirmation .... and Yes 6th place with a time of 1hr and 51 seconds , what a start for him and the club , he for sure was going to the worlds .

After a chat and congratulations we moved round to the start area to watch the 2nd wave Which had team mate Chris Ritchie in,  with all of us wishing him luck he entered the water in what were for all of us 200+ swim waves . Chris is a great swimmer so it was a suprise to me that as people started to exit the water there was no sign of him . I mentioned this to Keith ( chris s dad ) and said to him that something must be wrong to which he showed me the stopwatch , it wasnt that chris was slower it was that the frontrunners were swimming 9 minute 750s !!!

Sure enough Chris exited the water with a fantastic 10.56 ( beyond my dreams !! ) and like Tom, Chris  proceeded to smash the bike , the 3 of us have worked hard on the bike this winter and it has given me great pleasure to pass on some of my bike knowledge and see the big gains that they have made on the bike this year.

After a great bike time of  29.19 we again cheered Chris on the run as he came underneath us and with his usual light bouncy run style he had a fantastic run of 18.11 and smashed the hour with a finish time of 59.47 and as we waited for the all important qualification status it came back 7th place ( 25-29) Fantastic 2 out of 2 qualifiers 1st time out !!!! big handshakes all round and with Keiths words of " its your turn now " ringing in my ears I began to prepare.

 After setting up all my kit in transistion and wishing team mate Mick Lawrence good luck I just tried to concentrate on not getting to spooked by the size of the swim pack , setting off with 230 fully charged up triathletes in what is my relativley weakest discipline takes some courage as I dont have the ability to stay out of trouble at the front and knew it was going to get physical !!!

After a short delay we were away and it was carnage !! ha ha I just tried to keep as even pace as possible and was very relieved to exit the water in about 40 th ish spot with a 13.28 not blistering but not bad given the pack size for me .

Wetsuit off and unracking the Giant Trinity felt sooo good as I knew i was going to move up the order rapidly as the bike is my strongest discipline and sure enough I started to pass people very quickly . I passed Mick on the bike and shouted to him and he looked to be going well . Each lap I heard the Nicetri crew cheering which spurred me on and I hammered the pedals to a bike split of 28.17 , to put that into perspective the outright winners time was a 28.10 so not to bad for an old guy  !!

Onto the run and I just tried to focus on keeping things fast and even and began to pass some more people each one a potential qualification place . At half distance I glanced round to see Colin HInsley  a gbr regular who caught and passed me on the run for 2nd place in my Euro qualifier at Rother Valley in 2012 on my shoulder . I had to smile at history repeating itself and just kept my head down and thought about all the hard run work id done with Tom since then and lifted the pace steadily for half a km , as I looked back again he had dropped back to another group and that gave me a real boost.

It was just a case then of holding the gap to the line and with one final push and with  all the team there shouting me in i crossed the line in 1 hr 2min 27 sec utterly spent , but had i done it ?? not 3 in a row surely but yes Tom gave me the ticket , youve done it 7th place ( actually 6th later on ) it felt so good and what an achievement for the club , I was going to the Worlds .

Mick finished in 1 hr 05 .46 and 14th place  in the 50 - 54 bracket a cracking race and time and im sure he  will qualify in the remaining races with another 10 places up for grabs . 

 So last up was Emma Ritchey with all the pressure / support of us watching !! with a similar size wave group away she went and it certainly gave you a different perspective knowing what she was going through . After a great swim off 14.12 she soon settled into a good bike leg looking the part on a tt bike and  produceing a very good bike split of 38.52.

Soon she was off on the run and with us all cheering her on she produced a great run of 22.11 and as we all moved round to the finishing shute she gave one last push to cross the line in 1 hr 17 .07 which gave her 10th place in the 20-24 group so close ... but a few days later it became apparent she had made it due to 3 people below her not  having registered intent so fantastic she also had qualified !!! what a day .

So thats it 4 members going to London at the first time off asking to what must be the pinnacle of amateur racing triathlon , a fantastic race to look forward to and train for . Just to compete will be great but to medal !! impossible surely ?? but hang on didnt I think that about qualification ?? ha ha watch this space- Richard