| Hardwick Sprint Triathlon |
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Donna and Ian were racing in the shires
Hardwick Sprint Triathlon – Croft Farm Waterpark - Tewkesbury Sunday 15 August 2010 750m swim 20k bike 5k run Ian Glover and I took part in this very well organised and well marshalled event which I would recommend to anyone in the future. The location was the glorious Gloucestershire countryside around Tewkesbury. The start was a late one by triathlon standards with the first wave of women going off at 9am followed by male vets and then male super vets. Ian and I arrived with plenty of time to spare and were ready and partly in our wetsuits by 8.30am. Luckily for Ian his wave was second as just as I was zipping up his wetsuit, to my horror the zip pulled away on one side and descended back down to the bottom! He calmly took it off, sent me on my way for my start and went off to try to fix it. The organisers had changed the swim course slightly as due to the warm weather a large number of weeds and algae had started to form in the water. As we warmed up I looked around and my fellow competitors were emerging from the water covered in weeds! I had positioned myself to the side to ensure that I was away from the throng but unfortunately after the first hundred yards I was caught up and in the melee was kicked in the face and completely lost my nose clip. I immediately regretted not attaching it to my goggles…something I shall most definitely be doing in future. I had the most awful swim with my goggles filling up, water going up my nose and burping continuously because of the air I was gulping in! The weeds were the least of my problems at that point! I was so pleased to get out of the water that the 150m run up a steep hill to transition was almost welcome relief! Out on the bike course I was determined to try to make up for lost time and had a good ride on slightly undulating country roads into quite strong headwind, but once had turned and was coming back found I was flying along and began to really enjoy myself. Despite the time of day, the roads were very quiet. The run was three laps around the Croft Farm Waterpark with great encouragement from the spectators – a slightly undulating course with three turns up the steep bank we had run up for transition. I was really pleased with my run which was one of the fastest 5k runs for me – David Willumsen’s Tuesday night running session in Knowle Park was definitely paying off! As the women finished before the men, it was great for a change to be at the finishing line waiting for Ian. Having thought his race was over before it had begun, Ian had managed to get a guy on one of the stands to help him fix his wetsuit at the eleventh hour. Despite the last minute panic with his wetsuit, he had a good swim but then found his bike and run did not go as well for him as normal. Work has definitely got in the way of his training lately (!) and he felt it showed on this event, particularly on the run section. Results: Donna – 1.27.41 122/171 5th in category Swim – 16.34 Bike – 43.00 Run: 25.15 Ian – 1.17.47 69/121 21st in category Swim – 12.27 Bike – 40.20 Run – 22.48 Full Results: http://www.stuweb.co.uk/swp/default.asp?a=2&e=456 |