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RR - Highworth Sprint

So – my day was fun but just didn't “happen”. Think I peaked at Cotswolds – today was 6 minutes longer for a shorter swim tri… though Cotswolds is dead flat really and this was a a tad undulating on both bike and run. I don't think i was mentally tuned into “racing” today; it was more like a harder super-brick really.

Swim went OK – on the button for my estimated time @ 9:05 (inc climb out of pool and a few metres to the timing mat). I was last off in our lane, and the girl in front was a tad slower than me… length two (L2) I was thinking “oh, nice draft), the push off for l3 I all but collided with her legs, and later in l3 tapped her feet; she carried on. tapped her feet all the way down L4 9so she could NOT have misunderstood), – though she had stopped to wait at end of lane so pushed off for L5 really hard to finds find she had carried on and I was now adjacent to her with the opposite laneside almost upon us! So I pushed on past her and 3 of us side by side in a narrow lane… he got my elbow, I got his hand in a bit of unintentional biff and i cleared on through. Missed my end of lane a couple of times and got poor push off also a couple of times, but all in all the swim went OK if not brilliantly.

9:05

T1 was also OK, – but took about 6 attempts to get my helmet fastened. 1:07

Bike – again, OK… span up Ok and early doors was feeling good but got a mechanical as was hunting down a couple of riders in front (chain came off) and while it was a quick fix ( a minute to stop, fix and reseat ?) it stuffed my rythm and i was now at the bottom of a hill to restart on. I never saw the riders in fornt after that until just before the dismount, and never got past… was a a really lonely ride! The “hills” weren’t at all bad but enough to slow this larger chap down a bit compered to flat as Dorney and Cotswolds.
As Ris noted it was a long run in from dismpunt to timing mat & T2… 300-400m probably (Ris? Chris? CD?)

46:14

T2 – probably the best part of my race! Though I managed to step on my goggles case and smashed it to pieces!

0:54

Run – found it hard work to be honest. never really got any pace going, though it was all on grass which explains a little of that. Started well enough knocking up around 12 kph on the first downhill, but the uphill bits wore me out a bit. No water available at the water stop at end of lap 1 (dunno why – I didn’t realise until i got past the water stop). I bloody needed it then too. Did the job, finished with a smile though I was a bit confused over where the finish line route was after the 3 laps of the gold course as all the kissball subs/mamagers/supporters etc were out massing their touchlines and it was impossible to see where i was supposed to be running.

Crossed the line, job done, probably a tad more than 5 Km according to my HRM and my chum james’.

32:32

Overall 1:29:42.
103rd (170 finishers); swim 87th, bike 80th, run 85th
(oohhh… getting dangerously close to a MOPer there!)

AG: 28th (41 MVets); swim 30th, bike 30th, run 30th (!!)
T1 I was 7th fastest in AG, and T2 23rd.

I generally rate my transitions as poor but given I fraffed about with my helmet fastening, my T1 was blinding – and my t1 and T2 took gained me 2 AG places!

Goody bag was OK – gels and a bottle of beer. Enjoyable and for £25 (non BTF price) I thought good enough for the cash. Tidy if not brilliant organization, but it was chip timed and friendly. Just didn’t really have my race head on today, so mea culpa.

didds

Comments

  • risris Posts: 1,002
    i stumbled in 25th, a mere 1sec off 24th. if i hadn't pissed about so much in t1 i might have come 21st

    my swim was a bit dumb. i put down 7:20 and did it in 7:12, so bang on the money really. but in training i've been swimming sub-6.40 and foolishly believing myself to be part-fish i started hard and suffered fast as a result. no rhythm, breathing shot to bits and all my own stoopid fault. rookie error and one that i've avoided all season. duh.

    swim 7:12
    t1 - 1:19 (how on earth did that happen? i think i could eat a sandwich and read a paper in that time!)

    bike was good, but i was expecting it to be as it is a bit hilly in places - i'm a reasonably climber and generally punch above my weight in bike sections if it is hilly. did a bit of hunting-down and was overtaken by a couple of tt-monsters, but only one of them made it stick properly.

    bike 37:47
    t2 - 00:44

    run was ok. 3 laps of an up and down grass/cross country course. i did the event last year and remembered it being tough and it hasn't changed. i went with the intention of running it hard and managed to push it early on, and then suffered a stitch about half-way round. i ran it off and had a bit left at the end but had really wanted to run faster than i managed.

    run 25:07

    total - 1:12:06. i had a vision of coming in under 1:10 but just don't have the run legs on me yet. last year i did it in 1:23 so i've come a long, long way!

    best bit was the wife and babblet being there to cheer me on. it was great seeing them at the finish.
  • I really enjoyed this event too and met some nice competitors too. Only my second triathlon and will be back next year to do the hills again!
    Pleased with the run (29 mins) as it was hard work going around the field 3 times.
    Warwickshire in 2 weeks......
  • [toPh][toPh] Posts: 244
    Really enjoyed that event, sorry I didn't get to meet up with any of you guys, had to dash off soon after I'd finished.

    Finished in 1hr17.07 which I was pleased with for my first sprint.

    Splits

    Swim - 7.49
    T1 - 1.12
    Bike - 40.55
    T2 - 0.56
    Run - 26.14

    I was a bit worried about the swim as the quickest I'd done in practice was 8.35, and I'd put down 8mins on my entry form, thought I'd be holding people up. Turns out people were in my way and I could have gone faster! So very please with that time

    T1 went ok, fumbled with one of my socks so will just not bother on my next sprint.

    I went out hard on the bike and thought I'd overcooked it straight away. Got overtaken on the first slight hill by a guy that was in my swim lane but quickly clawed him back. Pulled away on every flat/downhill but lost time on every hill, I know what I need to work on... Didn't get overtaken once after the very beginning so very pleased with that.

    T2 went reasonably well, though I forgot to change my lock laces from old running shoes to new, so that took a bit longer.

    Run was ok too, found the first lap a killer but eased into it fine after that. I like doing a few multiple laps as you know exactly whats left after the first one. Though you also know you've got to do that hill again!


    Overall reall pleased with my result, especially as I've not actually run or cycled for a month due to injury!
  • It was a fun day - nice small friendly tri with a mildly challenging bike and run. I struggled with the race a bit as I swim quickly and as such most of the people in my wave came in the top 10-15 so I lost them all after about the second hill on the bike

    Splits
    Swim - 5:47:7 (3rd)
    T1 - 1:10.1
    Bike - 43:56.4 (66th)
    T2 - 1:19.1
    Run - 33:29.6 (95th)

    Swim - okay but the guy front Nigel Evans (came in 11th) held me up - he was just going fast enough to make overtaking hard but just slow enough I caught him on every length...but at least I top 3'd for the swim

    T1 - all went wrong - I could not get my Garmin on - (need a w'proof HRM I think and then I unracked my bike and realised I had not got my helmet on - I reracked my bike put on bone dome and then tried again - as I looked up the marshall was looking directly at me so I grinned and headed off - lucky not to have been penalised...

    Bike - fairly hilly and despite saying in an earlier post it was a road bike course I think it would be faster on my Aerotic...it just felt easier last week when I did the recce (plus it was 3mins quicker)

    T2 - horrible run in from the road and then I could not get my socks on - I know I should run without them but I just cannot seem to do it!!

    Run - completely demolished me. Firstly I normally road run, secondly I use Newtons so for the grass route I had to swap to my heavy trainers - OMG my legs felt sooo heavy....Andy Shipton laped me on the first loop at a huge speed too which was pretty demoralising as I came through T1 at the same time as him...worst run of the season by 3mins....had to be the hill.....

    Overall though good fun - bit stiff today and glad it is the end of the season as I need a break - have been racing since May and keeping that momentum going has been hard....

    Tried to catch up with a few people at the race but even though I had race numbers etc all copied out they changed them on the day...but I think I saw Didds and Linds was checking his result at the same time as me.

    Later
    I.
  • MowfMowf Posts: 272
    Great results chaps. I did this one last year and it's a pretty tough run course. I couldn't go yesterday as i had a prior engagement - shame really as it is the pool i do the majority of my training in.
    today was 6 minutes longer for a shorter swim tri… though Cotswolds is dead flat really and this was a a tad undulating on both bike and run. I don't think i was mentally tuned into “racing” today; it was more like a harder super-brick really.
    Don't worry about that. I did the same last year - i was two minutes slower than at Cotswold despite the fact that i would have saved about 6 minutes not having to swim as far. Plus it was boiling yesterday and the conditions at Cotswold were pretty much spot on.
  • Swim 8.37
    T1 1.06
    Bike 39.37
    T2 0.39
    Run 31.40
    Total 1.21

    I was having a chat with one of the girls in my swim lane and she said that she may have been optimistic about her swim time and thought that she may be nearer 9 mins than 8. Hmm. She promptly overtook me on the 2nd length then buggered off into the distance. Not exactly the start I was looking for. Still 8.30 was about right for me and I felt fresh, perhaps i took it a bit too easy.

    Well pleased with uneventful T1, any transition that doesn't involve a disaster is a result.

    I loved the bike last year but thought I would take it a bit easier as I was worried about the run. That went out the window within the first km when I got involved in a race with a fella from my swim lane. This continued for the whole bike and I entered T2 a little the worse for wear, having beasted myself for the whole leg.

    T2 uneventful.

    Run, it really killed me last year and this year I had a strategy, run as hard as I could on the flat and the downhill and hang on for dear life on the uphill. I think 31.40 says it all really. Back to the drawing board

    I didn't like the finish of the run and wasn't quite sure that I was going in the right direction, but other than that I loved it. I found the organisation very good and all the marshalls very supportive. I knocked 9mins off last years time so well pleased. I'm going to nail that run next year
  • diddsdidds Posts: 655
    UMS>I didn't like the finish of the run and wasn't quite sure that I was going in the right direction,

    Yeah - I mentioned this in my RR too. The only iffy part of the whole day; sublime to the ridiculous. God alone knows what the kissball lot were thinking as we all didged in between them looking lost as we hunted our exit through the hedge!

    didds
  • risris Posts: 1,002
    when i went through to the finish they marshalled me at the top of the hill (right, rather than left) and then there was a marshall at the left turn in the hedge and at the fence before the finish line. maybe they added some bodies at that bit as the event went on. if they didn't have those marshalls there earlier on then that's a real shame, hopefully they'll learn that for next year,

    last year i don't remember the finish being as convoluted, but then they didn't have the fences up alongside the finish line so you could see where you were going from further back.
  • diddsdidds Posts: 655
    I had a marshall at the right turn out of the goldf course by the water station... but then the next marshall was at the left turn through the trees/hedge a couple of hundred metres further on. the football pitch touchlines were full of footballers' extended families and team mates etc buy then... you couldn't see where you were really supposed to be going until about 30m short of the turn. I had an idea what was going on because I could see the finish line and chute through the trees/hedge ... I just couldn't work out where exactly i was running to, before I turned. I was finishing at around 11.20 am

    the gap in the fencing was unmanned but obvious... Its not a bleat, just a tad confusing.


    didds
  • HI All
    I'm glad you guys all seemed to enjoy it.
    Me, Steve, Wendy, Matt and Jeremy take a lot of our own, totally unpaid time to arrange the race and it's nice when things go to plan and the big guy upstairs is kind enough to give us good weather on the day.
    We will, or course, be running it again next year and we'd also like to hear from you guys if there's anything you all as competitors think we can improve on to make it better ??
  • diddsdidds Posts: 655
    Hi Graeme - the ONLY thing I can think of to 2imporve" is a bit of signage or something alongside the football pitches towards the very end of the run. I could see where i was supposed to end up eventually but wasn't sure until i was right on top of the marshall at the turn away from the football pitches; the touchlines were very busy with all the football subs and managers and families etc (which is naturally fine - it just made it difficult to understand exactly what we were supposed to be doing along there).

    Really enjoyable tri, and I congratulate you especially on making it

    1) affordable, and
    2) providing chip timing in that price too!

    Oh, and

    3) the beer in the goody bag

    didds
  • Hi Graeme,
    I loved the whole thing. It all seemed good to me including the end bit. Lots of marshalls etc. I didnt have a problem with which direction to run or cycle in....all clear.
    I would have prefered a t-shirt to a bottle of beer...maybe thats a female thing!!
    Where can we see the pics?? I did email Wendy but have not had a reply (probably still recovering)
  • risris Posts: 1,002
    didds posted the link at the other place - highworth triathlon 2009 photos
  • Graeme

    I would echo the point Didds made about the finish, a tad confusing. I note that other competitors didn't have any difficulty though, so maybe it was a timing issue or maybe Didds and I were in a more "confused" state by the end

    Really enjoyed the event, friendly and well organised. I will be back next year.

    Well done.
  • Nearly as good as last year except


    No cake ladies upstairs , boo hoo.

    and i didnt get the bottle of beer, would of much prefered a t shirt.
  • [toPh][toPh] Posts: 244
    Really enjoyed the event and will hopefully be back next year.
    Only things I can think of to improve on next year, 10 second intervals between swim starts rather than 5.
    Also I understand there was only a few of you organising in spare time however a number of us emailed and failed to get a response quite a few times almost resulting in not getting entry into the event. Only a minor niggle, but thought I'd mention it.

    Also are the finishing videos up online?
  • Jelly legs,

    There was a cake lady near the finish line and very good she was too.
  • risris Posts: 1,002
    the carrot cake on sunday was lovely, although the cakeage was more limited than last year. family seemed to enjoy it too, missus said that our daughter liked the play park quite a bit.
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