Saturday 31st saw our potential superstar Erica Hawley take part in the final BTF youth series race at Dorney Lake. The atmosphere was electric as the day was full of racing from Tri Star events in the morning up to U20 ÉTU continental cup race with all the best U20 athletes around the world doing their final preparation for the forthcoming worlds in Hyde Park. Erica has been working hard over the summer to increase her speed.

Going three minutes after the boys, the swim was fast and long and the series leaders where out in front from the go. Erica exited towards the back of the second group and a narrow T1 saw her lose touch with the key pack. She rallied hard and never gave up. –  she rode with a few weaker cyclist but intelligently she opened a gap into T2. Flying out like a rocket with one of the faster T2 times Erica looked to run harder than ever. She pulled back many places and set a course PB by around 1.30 and ran 10.30 for 2.5km and only 30seconds off the same time the winning girl did. An amazing performance and lessons continually learnt.

As reported by MySmartCoach Mark Yeoman

‘Well the run of good results sorted of ended today with a puncture. Did the F3 Berkshire Festival Olympic distance in foul conditions. The race was going to be hot with European AG champion and double Olympian Toby Garbett as well as Karl Alexander (Kona bound). After this week I had little mojo and after a tough start to the swim I swam on Toby’s toes and we exited in a lazy 21mins.

On the bike we soon extended our lead which we both would need over Alexander. However after three laps Toby got a flat and then on lap 5 with around 90 second lead so did I. I have never seen so many racing walking back. However, a group of us still decided to do the 10km run route and I did a low 37 and PB so not all bad. Three weeks until another sprint then the final race on the 22nd which is a European qualifier for Kitzbual which will be nice.’

As raced and reported by Mark Yeoman.

On a perfect evening, a merry band of five Viceroys rocked up for the 2nd club championships in a week – the 10mile TT: Mark (newly crowned club triathlon champion), Clarkie (1st Vet at tri club champs), James (seems to look pleased whatever he’s doing), Matt Bee (this will be  breeze after Cycle London 100) and Jon (this is going to kill me, it’s been 2 years since my last TT)

Held over the ‘sporting’ course in Chertsey. Mark was off 3rd and Alan Clark was 4th with the rest dotted further back.Mark Yeoman continues his winner’s story: ‘ I was motivated to avoid getting caught and from the get go entered the pain box which is time trialling. Great to see James and Jon on the course as we exchanged a nod of ‘I know the pain you are in!’ What more can you ask for than a 30 odd second PB of 23:47 & Forth overall – trend for the week so far.’

Forth overall, but 1st Viceroy and the second club championship discipline which Mark has smashed.

Viceroys are quite a close bunch and this race was no different, Andy was standing in for Simon Tack and Colin and Andy found staying away from each other difficult in this mid week tri (nice pic of them exiting the water together). Colin Hinsley and Andy Tugwell headed to Dorney, Andy tells their story:

‘What a nice evening to race,hardly any wind and perfect temperature. As like many others I was away until Saturday morning,  I was not really prepped for the Sunday race (Thorpe 4 / Club Championships) so when this offer came up I could not say no as I needed to make myself feel good as I found Sunday pretty tough. 

With the swim anywhere around 12mins I am very happy with, but I was just pipped at the post by Colin: good T1 but was unable to match Colin on the bike but was still very pleased with my time. T2 was good but my legs were gone so I started to run probably looking very strange, I could see Colin in the distance but was unable to catch him. Overall  this was a good race, but time to start saving for my T.T.bike – if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em!’ 

This was only Andy’s 4^th tri and he’s chasing GBR AG triathlete Colin… a fine Viceroy, excited about watching this space for more!

Thorpe 4, Viceroys Club Championships race was a challenge before competitors even hit the water: the event was a sell out, which meant many club members were still tucked up in bed as 14 eager Viceroys forced the 5.45am wake up to get to Thorpe.

Trevor, Alan Clarke, Alan Harris, Mark, Conor, Adel, Pete, James, Carl, Simon Colvan, Andy Tugwell, Jon all eyed each other up nervously in transition and race briefing, as Viceroy prepared to race against Viceroy for the trophies and prizes sponsored by Hartley’s Menswear. Viceroy ladies were a little more relaxed, Fab freely admitting to having had one too many Malibu and cokes the night before: only 2 Viceroy females had managed to secure a race place on time and Fab was a faster runner, swimmer and cyclist than Kate and there were 2 prizes up for grabs for the female category.

As the men began to race, there were no surprises as Mark ‘the shark’ Yeoman exited the water first, but hot on his heals were Alan Harris and James. Mark bemoaned that after a week away in France he had no bike training or swim speed and was concerned that Alan Harris (aka the racing snake) or Andy Tugwell would profit, but his solid swim set him up with a 90 second lead. Continue reading →

Viceroy Deon headed to Ely for the ECF Monster Middle Triathlon (1.9km swim; 83km bike; 21km run)- a tri with a great name, but did it live up to expectations? The fact that Deon came and amazing 24th over all, surely can’t have made it too terrible an experience…
‘A very nice course which I would recommend for beginners and seasoned veterans alike. The place is pretty and the event has a good vibe. The swim was lovely in the river and was super fast. I was very surprised with my swim split just under 24min for 1900m, then onto the bike course which was flat and would have been super fast but for the howling wind in every direction. Still, I aimed for a fairly conservative bike split of 2h30 as I hadn’t raced the distance before and hit it pretty much on target, but for the last bit with no signage or Marshall so a little delay. ]

Then onto the run which was advertised as flat and fast but flat she was not! With 2 decent hills on each lap of 4 it was a challenging but very scenic around Ely cathedral. I managed to tag onto the 2nd lady and we ran a good pace for the first 2.5 laps and then I developed stomach spasms, probably from the gel I used handed out on the course. I don’t think my stomach quite liked it but I had no alternative as my gel had gone missing in transition, so had to slow and walk a bit on the last lap but still managed to hit my split of 1h30 for the run. So well happy with that. All round a good result for me 4h27min total. With the body not feeling too bad. ‘

Viceroys Kate, Jon, Nicola and Em were lucky enough to be beneficiaries of a prize draw at Thorpe 3 Triathlon, which led to an informative and eye opening coached triathlon session and Wellness Profile with the inspirational Rick Kiddle. Rick,  former British Triathlon Champion and National Triathlon Coach has a mind boggling CV (20 years triathlon competition; 15 years coaching; BTF level 3 books; NOWCA founder; he brought spinning to the UK!) but was approachable, charismatic and engaging to listen to.

Although only uncovering the tip of the iceberg, we looked at heart rate zones in relation to effective training and then moved on to each being put onto the scales for some body composition readings… as we analysed weight, body fat %, muscle mass, physique, DCI/BMR, Metabolic Age, Bone Mass, Visceral Fat it became abundantly clear that there’s more to training than getting out for a few swims, runs and cycles! Continue reading →

Viceroy Julia Hawley raced IronMan UK last weekend, but the story of this immense achievement does not end there. Julia finished a staggering  2nd in the 50-54 age group in 11:41.44 and  was 21st female and 260th overall ( 1,602 competitors).Julia tells her awe inspiring story:

‘I had the race of my life! I was leading my age group until the last 7 miles of the run when Jo Gundle of GBR passed me to win the age group ( she ran an amazing 3:49 marathon to finish!).

There was only 1 Hawaii IM spot in my age group and the first place took it. Somehow the Kona gods were on my side though and I was allocated an untaken Hawaii spot from the 18-24 age group during the awards ceremony the next day. Needless to say I was a tad excited when I won the spot!!

This has been a four year endeavour to get back to Hawaii for a 2nd time and it has so been worth the sacrifice, hard work and disappointments along the way.

Hawaii is on October 12th and I plan to have an amazing race there too!!’

We’ll all be supporting you at Kona Julia.

Viceroys James, Jon, Adam, Alan, Matt J, Matt B, Carla, Charlotte, Lara, Helen, Fab, Kate helped to make sporting history on 4^th August as they were among the 20,000 riders to attempt the inaugural Prudential Ride London 100: a 100 mile route which took cyclists from the Olympic Park in Stratford, through London, out through the Surrey Hills and back to finish on The Mall, left even our most seasoned riders awestruck.

All riders agreed that the organisation was 1st class, from turning up first thing through the route and support stops and the finish. All was smooth and at no time was the number of people overwhelming. The closed roads and sheer number of like-minded cyclists throughout the route made this an amazing experience for all involved, and as Matt Bee explained, even pain was worth it to be part of such an awesome event: ‘ the last 20 miles I was struggling, but have never enjoyed suffering as much as I did during the Ride London-Surrey 100!’ Cycling on roads that we were all familiar with was new and exciting as we jumped red lights and cycled the wrong way down one way streets!

Riders found the first 45 miles sped by and Newlands Corner and the hilly part of the ride had started; time for 20 miles of pain and then a fast run back to London. James tells us, ‘Leith Hill made me hurt. I can’t remember it hurting quite so much other times I have ridden it. By Box Hill and the first cramp pains had settled in and once cresting it was a matter of digging in for the fast run back into London. Finished in a time of 5 hours 11 mins which really surprised me considering I had a good couple of chats at the food stops along the way.Highlight was turning onto the Mall with 5 other riders and all deciding to go for the sprint to the line. I won!’

Superfit Carla managed to hang on to one of the pelotons that sped past the rest of us at regular intervals in a race to the end: ‘before I knew it I was in a Peloton topping 22mph through Blackfriars, our club Tuesday dash set me up for this and meant I could latch on to some amazing Pelotons, absolutely brilliant.’

Viceroys LOVED Ride London 100, despite the early start and never quite managing to catch Mayor Boris; when do entries for next year open?