We have multiple reports this week for this race .. thanks everyone. Great to see Nick Austin at the top of the leader board !

From Esther Rousey:

I woke up at 415 am, already feeling very nervous and under-prepared for this triathlon, and we drove to Swanage through the night (at least, that's what it felt like!). On the plus side, the weather looked a million times better than it had been the night before which was a big relief!

The sea looked lovely and calm, and proved to be so - 750m then climb out (onto some rather tricky to get onto and slippery steps!) and re-enter and swim back to shore. It was a really nice swim though, quite warm, and very calm - I have to say a much more pleasant experience than I had at the Cotswold tri earlier in the year, purely because I've done a bit more open water swimming since then!

Then up to the run - for some reason I couldn't work out where I was supposed to go, despite several fluorescent-coated marshalls, but thankfully there were a lot of friendly spectators who pointed me in the right direction!

The first couple of miles on the bike was a bit of a pull, with it being hilly and a bit windy, but the views from the ride were spectacular, and I got into a rhythm, which admittedly seemed a lot slower than other peoples' rhythms as they tore past me, on the flat, as well as on winding downhill sections whilst I sat on my brakes! I found the roundabouts a little scary, trying to go round without losing too much speed but whilst also staying on my bike, but managed them without incident.

Coming into transition for the run I realised I was really enjoying the event, and I set out on the run watching out for the hill which everyone had warned me to walk up - not difficult to spot, since everyone else was also walking up it. From the top of the hill, there was a lovely view of the bay in sunlight. Reluctantly, I started running again, but then the downhill suddenly made it quite fun, and the rest of the run felt quite good, despite having some more hills to climb - I picked up a few people on the way to the finish, which was encouraging.

It was good to see a number of STC people there - we caught up for a quick synopsis of the race at the finish line.

The only downside of the event was the registration on the previous day, which meant a 2 hour drive in each direction on Saturday (traffic was awful!), just for them to look at our cycle helmets and give us our numbers, but I would still do this again as it's a beautiful race.

From Tim Wilks

After the wind and rain of Saturday evening several of us were considering the sense of competing on Sunday at the Swanage triathlon. Particularly myself, pitching a tent in what was probably the most exposed field on the South Coast, in monsoon conditions.

The event thankfully, enjoyed dry and sunny weather, albeit with a strong Westerly wind. Those not familiar with the Olympic distance course, its one of the toughest local events. The swim is a straightforward there-and-back across the bay but the cycle course is hard with a long climb north out of Swanage to Wareham and looping back and the wind and road conditions were not helpful. The run is harder still, climbing from sea level out to Ballard Down, with spectacular views East and West, up a footpath which is almost too steep to run (even if you wanted to), and down and up again home.

It was great to see a good turn out from the club and there were great performances from everyone. Personally, I was delighted to improve my PB on that course by over 15 minutes, and had I not lost the chain and gained another three minutes could at last have been competing well in my age group.

Best comment of the day was from Andy Robertson who overtook me on the run about a mile from end, so fast, that he could have been nicked for speeding...." sorry, I couldn't help it, my legs were out of control"

The difficult subject of club kit raised its head again. I saw four of the seven club members competing, had no club recognition. That’s not a poor reflection on them because of the availability and cost of club kit, but as club, we really must encourage our members to market the club’s name. Apart from which it would be great be able to recognise fellow competitors on the course and offer encouragement.

From Ian Wells

Saturday before the event was just rain and rain and wind, with a better forecast for the next day, although the wind was to stay. Preparation before an event is essential, but I was to learn the hard way on this one. I arrived in Swanage at 07:10 for a race wave that was to start at 07:10, I was late due to my car breaking down and still had to park the car. I little panicking and they let me into transition to prepare, put my wet suit on, got my hat and goggles: I could hear them calling for the 7:25 wave! Got down to the beach, and learnt they were running late, and I just managed to get into the 07:10 wave, said hello to Kevin Harding, did not have time to check anything, almost straight away into the swim, not taken my gel or any water, my goggles letting in water, had issues seeing where to go, ended up swimming head on into the returning swimmers and in all having a very poor swim, probably swam an extra 200m and did it in 47 mins.

Once out of the water and ready for the bike, I had difficulty finding it, my shoes were still in my bag, anyway got away and went onto a good bike race, in 1:12;10, this is a hilly course, especially on the return leg from Corfe. Then followed by a good and hilly run, in 46:18. Managed this time to get second place in my age group, although I had the fasted cycle and run legs, the fourteen minutes lost on the winner could not be made up! Goes to show one must arrive early, settle down and get ready for any race! However, I was lucky that the event was running 15 minutes behind schedule otherwise I could not have raced.