After their first season of triathlons last year and some very close races, Nicola and Kate returned to Blenheim on what was the triathlon’s 10th Anniversary for another enjoyable triathlon on closed, undulating roads in the beautiful grounds of Blenheim Palace.
Blenheim is a genuinely friendly triathlon for triathletes of all abilities and both entered the lake slightly less nervous than normal. Nicola had a strong swim, beating Kate, who set off a little too enthusiastically at a pace she could not maintain – but Blenheim’s 400m uphill trail from swim to T1 worked to Kate’s advantage as she overtook Nicola on the way to T1; but Nicola’s speedy transition meant she was off on the bike first. Kate then chased Nicola for 10k, the competition of chasing and being chased meaning that both Viceroys improved their previous year’s cycle time – Nicola by an amazing 6 minutes and Kate by a creditable 4 minutes. Kate finally caught Nicola and then the second 10k of the bike course was spent playing cat and mouse, chasing and overtaking each other and reaching T2 together.
Kate set off first from T2 and narrowly managed to maintain her lead for the run duration, the two finishing just minutes apart and both improving their overall performance from 2013 – Nicola with a 5 minute improvement and Kate 3 minutes.
