Another week, another new(ish) Viceroy – Simon Tack. Congratulations Simon on completing your first ever tri last weekend (Eton Supersprint: 400m Swim, 20km Bike and 5km Run)… particularly impressive as he had never even worn his wetsuit before, let alone swum in it. He loved the swim though: ‘ one of the best swimming experiences of my life! A total eye opener. I felt like I was turbo charged – incredible!!’

If you’re still struggling to work out which Simon is which, he’s the one with the dog. Loki first came swimming at the lake on  a recent Monday, and then clocked a very reasonable time with Simon on the handicapped Thursday night run. But this isn’t just about his dog…

Simon’s first tri success (1:24) has spurred him on to enter: Marketing MAA Olympic Tri; Hampton Court Swim; Gatorade Evening Sprint Tri; Eton 70.3. GO SIMON!!

Alan Harris’ ETU experience:

‘I felt great on the start line of the Sprint 40-44 and had a good swim. I was 7^th out of the water in my AG and I was well-up for picking-up some more places on the bike and run as usual. Within 200m of the bike though I just couldn’t get any power out. It was crazy. I just had nothing there and had to battle round for little return. I then got into T2 to find that A.N.Other GB athlete in my AG had racked in my slot and run-off in my trainers (insert swear word of choice)! They were the same make, same size, same colour. I took a while to work it out; worried that I’d be DQ’d for taking someone else’s trainers or that I’d ruin someone else’s race if I had got it all wrong; then spoke to a Marshall and he gave me the all-clear to run. By that time I had a mild head-f*ck and I still had nothing in the legs and struggled to get going until the second lap. I finished 12^th and came away thinking that it really was a missed opportunity given my current form and the people who beat me this time round. A tad frustrating!

But, you had to feel sorry for the GB athlete who was 4^th in my AG by 1/100^th of a second. Having been 4^th in Budapest in 2010 by 9 seconds I now don’t feel quite so bad!’

Mark Edmunds’ ETU Experience:

‘I was in the first wave of the championships at 7AM doing male 25-29 Olympic Distance. We started from the pontoon which was a massive surprise as age group athletes are supposed to do water starts! so we all dived in and I lost my goggles straight away, so had to find them and re attach them, but once re attached I struggled to sight as they became fogged up. I struggled round and was disappointed in my time of 24.35 minutes, but a quick transition and strong first bike lap had my spirits up as I caught and passed Nururas other athletes and came in after lap 4 in 59.59, a PB for 40km. A solid T2 saw me in 8th position in my AG so I had high hope of moving up but my legs just gave up once I hit the first hill and knowing I had another 3 laps to survive I hung in and finished in 2 hrs 8 minutes 55 seconds which was a massive PB and got me 14th in AG and 71st overall, which was a massive achievement and my season goal done.’