New to Viceroys, new to triathlon, Colette made the switch after gym boredom set in – a May deadline for a Dorney triathlon (it was then just December) was an abundance of time to learn the quirky insanities of the sport we all love. She remembers standing on the edge of the lake worrying about her sanity in May as she prepared for her first open water swim; tipping gracefully from her bike as she came to terms with using cleats … at least she’s a good runner!

 Then came Dorney! From the moment Colette got in the water she loved it (hardly surprising – we’ve all seen her speeding off in Mark’s Monday swim coach sessions).Colette says: ‘I was so pleased with my time but I knew I had the bug when all I could think about was how I could make it faster. I’m looking forward to meeting more of the Viceroys, what must be the friendliest club around.’ Welcome to Viceroys Colette.

Held in Exmoor National Park, one of the most picturesque but also the bleakest areas of the UK if the weather is not in your favour, 3 hardy Viceroys battled heavy winds and torrential rain during this already challenging event. Despite this, Helen Blamey and Lloyd Cosgrove both claimed to have a ‘good’ swim, but both faltered at the bike course whose ‘challenging reputation’ precedes it: the bike course has 53 hills in 56 miles, 1750m of climbing!! None the less, Andrew Pirie managed an astounding 24kph average and smashed 3 hours 45 which he was thrilled with (not bad as he had only cycled with the Viceroys twice on a Tuesday, once on a Sunday plus some spinning classes – not the best preparation for 3000 ft climbs!). Helen’s  bike was nasty, not only was the weather against her, but the deteriorating road conditions caused  three big crashes around her: ‘ I had to stop going down the steep hill with the left hand turn at the bottom of it as a girl lost control, crashed and went straight under a car – quite scary’.

 Despite the dramas (including Andrew ‘doing a Paula Radcliffe on the run section due to pushing myself too hard and ingesting enough gels to kill a small continent’) each did their pink jerseys and club proud to finish such a challenge… Helen coming 5^th in her age group too. In Lloyd’s words:  

This race could be summed up in one word “BRUTAL.”