The Dorney lake of the North people say? ‘Not too sure about that,’ states coach Yeoman as he, Colette, Mark Edmunds, Mike Armer, Colin Hinsley headed to Nottingham for the 1st Worlds and 2015 European Sprint Qualifier. Two hard races in 6 days is not ideal, but being selected last week took away any pressure for Yeoman at least. 

Mark Edmunds was literally up first, with a 2.45am wake up as he had to drive up to Nottingham in day of race so was already tired before his 7.30am wave start time: ‘With 240 people in the wave ranging from 15-19 AG 24-29 AG and 40-44 AG the swim was always going to be bonkers so I started out wide with the aim of banking inwards and targeting a solid swim as in my last race at Dorney 2 weeks previous this didn’t happen, so I exited the swim in a solid 11.33 which I was disappointed with but at least it was an improvement. Yeoman complained that the water quality was poor, weedy and smelly! ‘I went hard and was soon pushed towards the dock so had to slow down and reposition, losing the toes of the front two, but I exited the water in 5th and smashed T1, exiting in 3^rd.’ T1 was smooth but slow for Mark Edmunds – he started with plenty of people to chase down! Meanwhile Mike Armer had a frantic swim start in 35-39 category with over 200 hopefuls aiming for the first turn buoy: ‘I got caught up in too much traffic in the middle of the field and expended too much energy trying to catch my next breath and avoid stray elbows and feet.   I finally got some clear water with 200m to go and climbed up the ramp in a disappointing 12.04 for 750m.’  

4 laps of the rowing lake followed for our Viceroys and the frustration of the swim led Mark Edmunds to pull out a strong ride of 30.12, picking up a few places in the process, but qualification was gone!  After momentarily losing his racking location in T2, an uneventful 5km of 20.10 followed and I came over the line in 1hr 04min 40s : ‘a decent result after a poor swim, which just reminds me triathlon is 4 disciplines, not just 2!’ proclaimed Mike. 

Mark Edmunds tells us about his race: ‘Bike was four laps of the lake totalling 20k and I managed to stay away from any drafters fitting on my wheel and worked my way to a 29.44 minute bike. I was out of T2 in no time chasing down whoever I could find on the one lap of the run. A couple of nasty climbs but generally a flat course which I ran a solid 19.31 minutes to finish with 62.52 minutes for the race. I missed out on top 100 overall but 105th out of nearly 900 people was a good result.’ 

As Yeoman eased in to the bike ride, he rode within himself as he was looking to have a solid run. Mark continues: ‘At the end of lap 2 a small pack eased by. “Are you f$€king kidding me!!”Spotted by the draft buster but unsure if they paid for their crimes. Coming into T2 I was 7^th; looked to be light on my toes. The run course was fairly flat and for once I was catching people, only to then be run down my speed machines. Confident I was still 1st in my AG with 500m to go this guy who was running like his arse was on fire flowed by and pipped me to AG honours. I later found out he a) set the fastest run split of 16:10 and b)two weeks before set a GB age record for the mile. Good day as it secured me 2015 European qualification and another Worlds slot.’ 

So whilst all this racing was boy Viceroy racing was going on, where were Colin and Colette?
Colette remembers: ‘I had the privilege of racing in the toughest pack of women I have met to date. As much as I had tried to prepare myself you never know how you will do until.. The swim was like nothing I have ever experienced, all fists and feet for the full loop, but I loved the bike, and dare I say it the run too. I achieved a PB of 1:11:33 so pleased with my performance, but also inspired by those that were ahead of me. Good enough to go to Canada, we will see…. but I’m smiling whatever the out come’

 And Colin? Remember Coach Yeoman’s rants about drafters? Opps, enough said… they were caught and penalised!

As Viceroys Lara, Alexa ,Carl, Kevin Dargue, Kyle and Rachel headed to Hyde Park they were all psyched up and well prepared for their imminent triathlon – well sort of. Lara’s preparation for the Pru Health Triathlon in London consisted of 3 months of sitting on the sofa eating chocolate following surgery to both my ankles; Carl’s meticulous preparations didn’t take into account that you are not allowed to take bikes on the underground and so had to cycle from Waterloo to Hyde Park, raising his stress levels as he weaved his way through the traffic. Kevin is still blaming coach Yeoman for not telling himthat  Hammersmith Flyover is closed at weekends until end of August, so long, long, long, long, long tailbacks – he got stuck in it for nearly an hour.  Alexa meanwhile was so over-prepared and race  psyched, she turned up to the start an hour early as others were wearing the same hat as her! 

So Lara, what were thinking as you faced your first triathlon after injury and lenghthy recovery? ‘I was told by my physio I mustn’t run yet and friends and family told me I was mad to even consider doing it. But always doing the opposite of what everyone tells me I went for a cycle (just the one!) and bought some waterproof dressings for my incision which still hadn’t healed due to an infection and went to London on Sunday!!

It was only a sprint distance but my arms certainly knew I hadn’t swum for 3 months, despite being on crutches for what seemed like forever. A whole 6 minutes were spent in T1 changing dressings on my ankle! For future reference waterproof dressings don’t work to swim, only shower! Felt somewhat panicked by dirty lake water on my ankle so threw some alcohol gel over it and onto the bike. The bike was enjoyable and there were some parts of the course you could really get some speed. Then the run……..probably best to call it a shuffle! Probably the slowest I’ve ever ‘run’ 5k. A mixture of jogging and walking. My legs weren’t having any of it, I realised it must be a very different group of muscles used to run! I was kind of hoping my one cycle and untold ankle strengthening exercises for physio might have prepared me. 

I had my doubts along the way but having completed it, it feels good to be back in the game. So much so I managed to blag a Windsor triathlon place so I will see some fellow Viceroys there. Just don’t tell my physio!!’

Carl meanwhile had recovered from his cycling trauma and was registered, racked and settled – he headed out to the pontoon and took up a central position to get the best straight line to the first turn:  ‘I had a great swim, first to reach buoys 1 and 2 and second out of the water by a mere body length.  The run from the water exit to transition at Hyde Park is around 200m and I caught the guy in front of me.  T1 went like a dream having cut the legs down on my wetsuit, it didn’t give me any of the usual problems of getting caught round the ankles. Bike mount was not pretty but nevertheless I was moving forward with a degree of speed.

The bike course was flat and fast but you really had to concentrate on the approach to the cobbled speed humps and tight hairpin turns at the end of each lap.  It was really hard not to appear to be drafting given the number of competitors out there but soon found myself racing a couple of younger lads for the duration of the 21k.

T2 was solid too and all those tips coach gave us were being mentally ticked off one by one as I went out on the run. There is a great atmosphere at this race particularly as you cross through the grandstand at the end of each lap with the cheering supporters and compare cracking jokes about the athletes. I’d noticed in earlier races that the final turn into the finishing straight was slippery so avoided that and sprinted across the line with a new 5k PB. Overall times are never going to be great here given the long transitions (I did it in 1;18:22) but really happy with an position of 15^th in AG (out of 218 men) and a solid race all round.

Alexa had an equally impressive race, coming 7^th in her AG and 70 out of 279 women, despite forgetting everything she had been taught in her swim, setting off way too fast and burning out. She had a great cycle and run though.

Kevin meanwhile was learning an important lesson – do not let your 6 year old daughter carry your helmet! ‘My forever helpful daughter spent ½ hour twirling the helmet around on the straps. I thought it was a bit tight when I put it on to rack the bike but thought nothing of it. Come T1 I had to pull apart the helmet and re-assemble it to get the straps sorted. T1 – 6:25mins. That has to be a club worst!

Mark’s coaching definitely paid off. I felt more comfortable and in control. 23^rd out of 58 in age category (old gits). Take off 4 minutes wasted in T1 and I would have moved up 10 places. Still losing too many places on the cycling but that is due to not enough time spent on the bike.’

Great racing Viceroys.

With the words of Chairman Yeo (“Smash it”) ringing in my ears, I promptly began the evening by destroying all records for getting to the event early with a splendid T-2 hours arrival at Dorney Lake – a venue so local i probably could have walked there in that time.

Managing to squeeze my steed into the swathes of empty racking I embarked upon the longest warm up I’d ever done before chatting amiably to my fellow wave1-ers  who tried ever so nicely to get rid of me as they were desperately trying to shoe horn themselves into unlubed wetsuits 2 minutes before the race briefing began.

The swim commenced with a 250m warm up to the start line including another first for me – swimming under a bridge – before the washing machine began with a loud blast on the starter’s horn. I managed to get onto a mid-paced (fast for me !) swimmer’s feet and proceeded to use him to drag me round a decent proportion of the 750m, all the while trying to benefit from all of my winter programme and lake sessions tips, techniques and Yeoman-based fisting drills (insert own joke at leisure) – eventually exiting the water in 14:51.

A geologically timed T1 and I was out on the bike, clipped in and trying to catch number 96 who it turned out would be my nemesis/best friend for the entire 20k as we chopped and changed positions a number of times, acting as each other’s Cat and Mouse on the fast and flat course. Definitely no drafting though – that would have been against the rules……  I headed back into transition in 35:35 and a decidedly average 44 second T2 saw me heading for the run exit…. which is where I discovered I had left my legs in my cycling shoes and there was nothing connecting my body to my trainers! (What do you mean I should have done more than one brick session ?!) It took a kilometre or so of slow plodding (number 96 was long gone by this stage) before I found my legs again, although by this stage I had been passed by more than a few other runners not to mention a couple of hedgehogs and an asthmatic snail who’d lost his Ventolin. Telling my new found legs to shut up, I ploughed on and eventually, after the most negative of splits, stumbled over the line for my very first sub 1:20 sprint tri (1:19:23)

In fact it was my first sub 1:28 – a full 9 ½ minutes off my PB from last year – which I was absolutely ecstatic about and led to some slightly over-exuberant Facebook postings for which I can only apologise.

As raced and reported by Ian Talbot