Battle of the year - The pressure of expectation.So I should start this by firstly introducing myself as if you were not one of the original Nice Tri members you may not know who I am.
My name is Ben and I am the current club treasurer, however I'm best known for being the 'King of Tapering' and my efforts to 'peak' for the 1 race I do each year. (Club Relays) Regrettably though, more recently for going out drinking until 3am the night before this year’s club relays....
And quickly moving on, 2013 would be the year for change, this would be the year I would break the stigma and do a second race! Nice Tri Sprint 2 on Sunday 8th September.
Only 2 weeks after the club relays this would be sure to raise some eyebrows! Though before we get to the race though let us rewind to how we got to this point.
Banter - an exchange of light, playful, teasing remarks; good-natured raillery.
This should possibly be reworked to include - The moment when any of the above leads to poor decision making.
A trap a naive Chris Viggars found himself in after 5 pints and claiming he could complete the St. Neots Nicetri course in 1hour and 20minutes. An impressive claim from a man who’s only current known exercise was the odd game of badminton.
So there we were, a wager of £50 was set and after approximately a further 30seconds of 'banter' had quickly escalated to £150.... easy money and I was laughing, literally.
A few weeks after this Chris came crawling back with his tail between his legs asking to renegotiate the terms agreed. Like a fine young gentlemen (or fool) I offered him a chance to agree a more even wager. Very quickly this was agreed as a straight shoot out between me and him for £50, an amount the victor could use for a few triumphant beverages.
In the coming 3 months I set myself the daunting challenge of going for 2 runs a week with approximately 1 bike a month and zero swimming so not to peak too soon. Something I'm in no doubt all you athletes can relate too when marking your race calendar in January.
Chris had been busy, firstly purchasing the equipment he would need and practicing all the disciplines, It was clear to see he had caught the bug and was determined to cause an upset.
So there we were Sunday 8th September at the Riverside Park raring to go and before we knew it, we were off along with 170 others on the 750m swim. As I exited the swim in approximately 160th place it was no surprise that Chris's bike was no longer racked though with my weakest discipline out of the way the hunt for victory was well and truly on.
After some awful guesstimations by Ed Porteus and Chris Ritchie regarding my deficit throughout the bike, momentary panic had come over me and was I further behind than I thought I would be at this point?
As I came into the bike dismount line, I got my first sighting of the hare. The words, 'Come and get me' as Chris ran past in the opposite direction was likely an attempt to antagonize, but in fact was the moment I knew his advantage would not be enough and it was only a matter of time before I broke his heart.
Nearing the end of the first lap of the run my target was in sight and as I coasted up behind him a quick tap on the shoulder too dash his spirits and let him know his time running scared was up.
I injected a quick burst of speed to ensure I passed Keith Ritchie on comms. Infront and he could advise the crowd of the key developments in the most anticipated head to head for years.
After an uneventful final lap I crossed the finish line to victory.
A few minutes later Chris had also finished in a valiant effort for his first sprint triathlon.
Swim | T1 | Bike | T2 | Run | Total | |
Ben Hall | 22m 25s | 1m 29s | 49m 18s | 44s | 24m 13s | 1h 38m 09s |
Chris Viggars | 19m 51s | 1m 19s | 49m 52s | 1m 04s | 30m 07s | 1h 42m 14s |
So............Rematch next year?
