Salisbury tri
It was a wet Sunday morning, perfect weather for my second triathlon. I arrived in good time and set my gear up in the transition, which was a grassy area that I had images of turning in to a mud bath by the end of the race. With me was my girlfriend Nat and my 18 month old daughter Summer, Who we had given an Easter egg box to keep her quiet, only noticing by the pool side that she had managed to break in to the box and had munched half the egg inside, she definitely made her self known with all her screaming and cheering that was nothing to do with her dads swim. Finding the swim challenging i managed a good time of 06:36.
Having no intention for blasting through T1 I took my time in getting myself set up for the ride, by this time it had started to rain but not those big plops it was the fine stuff that gets you soaked through. I found the first 8 km hard then my legs woke up and I was away until the stone henge section of the A303 where there was a bit of a head wind and a long hill. Now cycling is a bit of a weakness for me but when I was over taken by a guy on a mounting bike with suspension and knobbly tyres I knew at this point I was in trouble and needed to up my game, so I smashed it up the next hill overtaking the guy and leaving him behind. In all the cycle took my 1:04.
Coming in to T2 I was busy shouting to Summer, when the marshal told me i should have dismounted on the road and not half way up the gravel path, again taking my time to change my shoes and take on some water. I set off at a good pace and coming down the hill next to the sports fields there were two coppers with a hand held speed gun but the runners kept getting in the way (what a shame). The course was a nice one after the main road section we went off road for 500 meters or so and around a quiet residential area before finishing of the race to a big clap from the supporters and 300 meters round a running track. Time 29:00
I finished in 1:45:00. All in all it was a fun race despite the rain and that.
Rob Page
Marius Kwint
Nice report, Robert, and nice job on your second tri, although I'm surprised that as a cyclist you sympathize with speeding motorists! ;)
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm getting fed up of my feet feeling like blocks of ice until the fourth mile of the run. All the multi-sport events I've done this year have been cold, but yesterday was probably the nastiest on the bike, with heavy traffic, oblivious Sunday drivers galore (where are all these people going at 9.40 on a rainy Sunday morning?), and a mostly poor surface. Moreover, the bike course was relatively long and undulating, which made it not my kind of course. However, it was a fairly friendly event with lots of enthusiasm and participation from Salisbury Tri Club (one that in many respects, especially the appetite for competition, we would do well to emulate).
I was pleased to see Peter Younghusband giving another master-class from the V45 category and winning overall from a good field that included the current European u-20 age group duathlon gold medallist, Daniel Bailey. I was the next V45 and fourth vet, languishing in 10th place overall and with at least a couple of self-appointed rivals very crowing that they'd beaten me, though I did manage to get the 3rd fastest run. There were some nippy women about too, with Elizabeth Hutson snapping about four minutes away from my heels: similar to the margin between Younghusband and me.
Bit of a weak showing from STC, I thought, considering it's a relatively cheap and local event. Well done to those who raced, however: in order of finishing they were Neil Richmond (18th overall), Mike Barnfield (who won first M50), Robert Page, and Len Such, bringing us home all comfortably in the top half of the field of over 300.
Reader Comments (2)
Well done to all of you. That bit of road is certainly busy and bumpy. When I did it 2 years ago I was overtaking a traffic jam of cars!
Julian