Last night I did the second race in the 220/Human Race/V02 series at the Eton College rowing lake near Slough.  The weather and water were warm, although there was a brisk breeze across the Berkshire flats.  I raced quite hard, and enjoyed it; there was a bit more competition than the first one, no doubt because of the better conditions, and from a quick glance at the electronic results board on the line, I came sixth overall and second vet.  Last time, in May, I was second overall and second vet to Pete Eggleston, and last night he was second overall to a Cypriot elite racer.  I would estimate there were about 270 competitors in total.     

I recommend these races for a midweek sharpener.  Dorney Lake is only about an hour and a half's drive away from Southampton.  The bike course is especially enjoyable, on smooth, flat private roads. 

That's my last race before the European Age Group Championships in Holten, the Netherlands on 4th July.  Holten is a pleasant area of forest and heathland where my family used to go on holiday.  There are a few sandy undulations, the biggest of which is 59m high and is known as the 'Holterberg' -- literally, the Holten Mountain.  Suits me!

Update on Thursday, June 25, 2009 at 03:07PM by Marius Kwint

Results now published. There were 223 finishers in total.  Back in May my run split was quicker than Pete Eggleston's, but last night he added a minute to his winning margin over me, showing form on both the bike and the run.  It was a sprint distance (750m/20k/5k), though I think the bike was a bit long.

First Name	Last Name	Age category	Finish time	Overall position	Date of Birth	Swim Split Time	T1 Split Time	Cycle Split Time	T2 Split Time	Run Split Time
Chris	Panayiotou	Senior	01:03:57	1	1982/02/15	00:09:46	00:00:31	00:35:02	00:00:30	00:18:08
Pete	Eggleston	Veteran	01:04:24	2	1968/12/09	00:11:29	00:00:49	00:33:48	00:00:30	00:17:48

Marius

Kwint

Veteran

01:07:02

6

1965/04/30

00:11:43

00:00:38

00:35:47

00:00:28

00:18:26