English
Last week I was back up in Wales to Parc Bryn Bach to compete in the BTF Inter Regional Championships. This was the ‘creme-de-la-creme’ of young Triathlon talent in the UK: entry by regional selection only, and was effectively a rematch of the event at Dorney Lakes back at the start of June. The only difference this time was that this was a team event, and I was with my fellow athletes from the South West Tri academy. We had the luxury of a few training rides and a practice swim before hand: Although I have swum here a few times before the swim course was unusually all in front of the islands this time.
I made sure I got the circuit fixed in my mind, so that I was on the correct side of all the buoys this time! When we arrived for the practice I was surprised how busy it was, I think the gravity of the task ahead hit me, but meeting up with the team and coaches soon scared any worries away. First we had an hour long swim session, where we practiced our exits and transitions. After a thorough bike check and a little light maintenance we then did a couple of circuits of the track, which were filmed with the loan headcam that I have:
Afterwards the team discussed race strategies, how to take the corners and the use of brakes and gears. I made a few last minute tweaks to my new Aqua Sphere wet suit as getting my legs out cleanly had caused me some grief in training the week before: snagging on my ankles, I also cut a few centimetres from my sleeve cuffs (I’m thinking of opening up a side-line in neoprene bangles !) It really is a breeze to get out of now.
Confident that I was as ready as could be I set off back to the hotel for an indulgent race-prep nosh-up and a good night’s sleep. I got a bit worried when we went into the hotel lobby and I saw people taking their bikes into their hotel rooms: I knew the area was a bit dodgy but honestly – not even safe in your car !? My dad assured me that he had checked with the desk and the car park had CCTV and had never been a problem. None the less both of my bikes were locked up in the back of the alarmed car with a hefty cable lock – I didn’t lose any sleep over it, but I guess some people are just very attached to their bikes!
Dawn rose and I began my pre-race routine. As we were too early for the hotel breakfast and we had another ride of the race circuit before racking I had decided to go for a staggered breakfast, some muesli and fruit – followed by more fruit and a pasta / bacon combo to see me up to an hour before my race. As I had to ride and then rack I also had to make sure that I had all my drinks sorted and ready to go. It was a gorgeous day, and I drained my drinks bottles on the practice laps. As it was so sunny I went for polarised lenses in my dhb sun glasses, figuring there’d be some bugs out round the lake, which would probably have a lot of glare on it (- there were some massive dragonflies !)
I collected all my gear for racking and had it all neatly laid out when things took a turn for the worse. The racking, which was made from light weight scaffolding poles began to sag and as the crew tried to re-jig it – fully laden, it started to collapse! Fortunately I grabbed my bike just in time, and although I don’t think any permanent damage was done there seemed to be a few mangled heaps at the other end of the rack as I looked along it.
The race was a deep water start and I made sure that I got in and properly warmed up for the swim, with some water in my wetsuit to keep me warm while I waited. It was another frantic start but I kept tight lines throughout and despite some interference from the lake weed I came out of the swim in the top ten. I found my bike easily and made a good transition, despite one of my elastic bands on my Lake bike shoes snapping as I headed out (AndyB – your ‘double wrap’ didn’t work for me!) I soon made my way up the race and got into a pack. Although I wasn’t at the front, I wasn’t at the back and the pace seemed appropriate.
It was indeed a good fast group and the 10K sped past in a few moments: I was working hard, and the downhill portions were very fast – the crowd seemed very close. I had been working on my dismount after picking up a few tips and T2 seemed to go more smoothly than normal. I was soon out on the track – running the the course in the opposite direction to my previous events seemed weird.
I enjoyed the run and quickly made up a couple of places even managing a sprint at the finish, but there was no one close for me to pick-off!
Final result: 13th in the UK for me, 6th overall for the South West team. For the South West I think that’s a good start, for me: that’s 10 places higher than 4 months ago – I was happy with that ! Better still, I didn’t pick up any injuries (besides a non-sport related blister), with the Biathle World Champs in Monaco next week, that would have been a disaster! I’d better go pack again!
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