Bournemouth Olympic Distance Tri, on the day that summer finally decides to arrive… Deon Coetzee reports that it was paradoxically a brutal race with awesome conditions for racing!

‘ The sea was flat and crystal clear not unlike the med this time of year. I went off in the 1st wave which was supposed to be the fastest one of the day but by 200m I was left swimming by myself out front which is not my favourite swim.. So, I had to set my own pace which felt comfortable and probably could have been a lot quicker. I came out of the water 1st in and got onto my Achilles heel  – the dreaded bike. But it didn’t turn out that way. I only got passed by 1 person and ended up knocking 2 minutes off my previous year’s time. So, I came off the bike in second but was hit by a recurring muscle spasm I have been having in my left quad which has forced me to pull out of at least 2 races so far this season. But I wasn’t about to bail on another so a quick bit of stretching and a slower start to the run and I managed to run the full 10k. Not my fastest but I did enough to hold onto 2nd. With the final results out I finished 3rd overall for the day so I was very happy with that.’