Rother Valley Race Report

After my misfortune at the end of last season, puncturing at Newbiggin in September 2013, which meant that I failed to qualify to represent the GB Age-Group team in Kitzbühel, I decided to enter two GB qualifying races this season. The first was Nottingham (see race report below) and the second was Rother Valley two weeks later.

After a positive performance at Nottingham coupled with some great results in my local TT and duathlon series' I was heading down to Rother Valley confident that I’m in good shape and should be able to secure a spot on the GB Age-Group team again. 

The conditions were good for racing; sunny with a gentle breeze. I was in the second wave of athletes (M25-29 & M30-34) starting at 8:27 am. Just like Nottingham we were called into the water ~5 mins. before our wave start. The water temp was a balmy 17°C, which I found surprising as I only live 45 miles away and the lakes I’ve been swimming in have been nowhere near that! After failing to position myself well in the swim at Nottingham I was keen to not let this happen again and started close to the front to give me the best chance of drafting my fellow competitors. The horn went and we were off!! The swim was as good as I expected and I was happy with my placement, which resulted in a good swim for me, coming out in the middle of the field, which suits me fine as my strengths lie with my bike>run. 

Once through transition I was onto the bike course. The course is best described as lumpy and within 5 mins. of leaving T1 you're onto one of the long drags. After climbing out of the valley the rest of the course was fairly undulating but that’s the sort of course I like, so was able to get the power down as start clawing back the places I lost to the stronger swimmers. I pushed as hard as I could on the first lap and was flying. Things were looking good for a top result or so it thought! Then I had what can only be described as a "melt down". I seemed to have it in my head that I needed to do one loop extra than what I should do. Halfway through the extra loop it dawned on me that I’d made a "cock up" of all "cock ups". The more I think about it the more I can’t understand why I did that! 

Anyway.............. I smashed it back to the park, had a slick T2 and was quickly into the run. The run was flat and fast and I pushed as hard as I could although my head was gone and I was so annoyed with myself after that school boy error! My final 5km run was still a sub 19 mins, which I was happy with especially after doing that extra loop on the bike!  Reflecting back on this race maybe my melt down can be attributed to me moving house the following weekend or that it was the first Father’s Day without my Father. Either way, I didn't realise it had affected me but perhaps it did! 

Thanks to my sponsors Meridian Foods and Coconoil.

Thanks to my coach Ian Mayhew (Gears & Tears) 

Nottingham Triathlon Race Report

I entered Nottingham at the start of the season hoping to qualify for the European Sprint Distance Championships in Geneva 2015. In the build up to this, training and racing had gone well, although I would have liked to have had a few more open water swims under my belt. Looking at previous winning times, I knew that a time of <1hr would be seriously competitive and give me a good chance to qualify.  

I travelled down to Nottingham (Holme Pierrepont) the night before, in an attempt to relive some of the stress of travelling on race day, especially as the M1 is a nightmare at the moment with all the road works. I made good time and after registration I put on my cycling gear and headed out on the bike for a quick recce of the course (as the pre-race info listed a few pot holes and tight corners).  After the recce I headed to the hotel, checked in, dropped off my kit and then headed out for dinner. After a really tasty Chinese, which I have to thank Sally for we returned and settled down for an early night (rock ‘n’ roll, I know!!)

I woke 3 hrs. prior to the race start to have my standard pre-race breakfast, chilled out for an hour or so before heading over to Holme Pierrepont. This was a split transition race so I first made my way to T1 and started setting up my bike and laying out everything I needed for the swim and bike legs. I then headed over to T2 to put my trainers down. I was lucky with T2, in that I had an easily identifiable landmark so I knew where my trainers would be upon entering transition. After setting out all my kit in both transitions I started to put my wetsuit on, whilst listening to the pre-race brief.

As this was a GB qualifier for both the Worlds and Europeans we were going off in Age-Group waves (M 20-24, 30-34 & 35-39), although I'm only 29 this is my first season racing in the M30-34 AG. I knew that pretty much everyone around me was direct competition and there were a few familiar faces from when I raced for GB last year at the Europeans in Turkey. We were able to get into the water ~5 mins before the race start and I started to warm up and get acclimatised to the water temp which was a tad chilly. We then got a 1 minute warning and at that point it occurred to me that I had left it too late to get a good position in the water. The horn went and we were off!! It took me until the first buoy to get into my swim rhythm as it was a constant battle to find clear water. Unfortunately I didn't get into the swim group I wanted to be in, so couldn't take advantage of the better swimmers, but you live and learn. After exiting the water I quickly ran into T1 to grab my bike and start making up for the time I lost in the water.

The bike course was 4 laps of 5km (20km in total) and perfectly suited to the “TT’er” triathletes as it was dead pan flat, with four 90° bends per lap. I've been racing a fair few TT’s this season and have placed well, although I from these races I've identified that I tend do better when it’s slightly lumpy. I felt really strong on the bike and as the laps ticked down I was constantly gaining and passing some of my fellow competitors. After four storming laps I approached T2, just after the 30 min mark, with my feet resting on my tri shoes and dismounted before the dismount line.  

The run was just a single 5km lap of the bike course with a few slight deviations. In a similar story to the bike I felt super strong and kept picking off competitors. I could see the finish line fast approaching so kicked for the final 1km. The finish line was down the “blue” carpet in front on the grandstand where the crowd was, a great way for finish the race. I completed the 5km in just over 19 minutes. 

I finished with an overall time of 1:05:33, which resulted in me coming 23^rd in my Age-Group. Overall I’m a little disappointed in my performance as I went there to attempting to qualify. I think the take home message for me is to position myself better in the water for the swim start. That being said in reflection I’m happy with my performance as there were some seriously big hitters racing also aiming to qualify. I've now got a couple of weeks of training before my second bite at the cherry to qualify for the GB Age-Group team at Rother Valley on 15^th June. 

Thanks to my sponsors Meridian Foods and Coconoil.

Thanks to my coach Ian Mayhew (Gears & Tears)