‘After my original race was cancelled last week I was keen to race so I found a nice race up in Cambridge at the St Neots sprint. I’d raced this last season as a world, European & British champion event so I knew it was going to be hard but not as hard as it turned out to be.

The current in the river Ouse due to the rain was strong and I mean strong. On the turn of the out and back I was in a battle for 2nd as 1st had gone. As we turned we hit the current and boy did he hit it. It felt like I wasn’t ever going to get back. I hugged the bank and pushed hard exiting with the other guy who I soon dropped in T1

Heading out onto the course I thought I knew the way so I checked with the Marshall and unfortunately he directed me on the super sprint course and not the sprint / Olympic course. I should have stuck with my gut instinct. When I realised it was too late. Off course and angry with myself. I picked up the main route having gone from 2nd down to the mid 20s. I pushed as hard as I could to get places back and although the head wind was conspiring to break me I eventually got back to 5th overall as I entered T2

The run course was a mixture of park paths and flooded grass stretches. My legs were cooked from my epic bike ride (still 7th fastest split even after 3 added kms). I dropped a place on the 2nd lap but still with a sub 19min 5km so all good. Looking back 1st & 2nd would have been out of my reach with their run times, but I would have come off the bike in 1st or 2nd and would have held on for 3rd. But I didn’t so that’s that.

Back to Milton Keynes next week and I bike course I know really well so not wrong turns for me.’

As raced and reported by Mark Yeoman

‘I’ve always had a soft spot for the most famous race in the land – Windsor Triathlon. It was the first race I ever did. I was fortunate enough in 2013 to win the Olympic distance race and the following year to win the sprint, so I left it for a while. Hard acts to follow.

So heading back I was super nervous. Racing at 6.04am isn’t pleasant, especially when you get up at 3.40am. I was off in wave 2 with James ‘can I borrow another bike’ Turner. Wave 1 saw Carl Fisher race in the over 45s and finally wave 3 with the sub 37s (yeah, funny age group waves at Windsor). I had a good swim but soon had to navigate through wave 1. Mid 9mins and it was time to make the 400m run into T1. I ran hard to take back places and make sure Turner could draft off me. I soon exited T1 for another long 400m run to the mount line – my feet are still sore.

The rain was now coming down now but I was determined to press the bike to catch up as many places as possible. I made my customary ‘boom’ noise as I passed Carl but what I wasn’t expecting was to catch the first bike soon after about 7km into the ride before Maidenhead. Having a lead motor bike is great but the game changes from chasing to settling into strong pace to avoid smashing the legs. I set the 2nd fastest bike split (by seconds) and come into T2 not knowing what lead I might have over the next guy.

The run course at Windsor is nasty as you hit the steep McSteep  hill up to the castle soon after leaving T2. As I ran down I was expecting to see a runner but no, okay I thought. As I got to the far dead turn I thought that I’d surely see the next runner but no? Err okay I thought. As I approached the overlap section from transition to lap turn I saw the next guy. Wow I thought, I might have a really good chance of winning this. In the second lap I could hide in the other runners heading out on their first lap. I then saw James in a small group during lap two – something to chase. I think Iwas close to catching the 3rd placed guy at the end of my final lap. Now I wasn’t running fast but quick enough and I crossed the line having to wait and see if wave 3 had any fast runners. As the clock ticked I realised that I’d won it again and by over 2mins to boot. James had an awesome race finishing 5th overall (fastest vet with 3^rd fastest bike split) and Carl had a top performance too.’

As raced and reported by Mark Yeoman

Stunning weather in Strathclyde provided a very memorable backdrop to a fierce ITU Sprint Qualifier for Duncan and Colette.

Duncan reports: ‘Perhaps it was the weather that put the pack in a feisty mood? Perhaps it was the desperation of 2nd round/one shot qualifiers? Perhaps I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, for the WHOLE swim! An all AG wave of 97 around a tight course made for a brutally physical 11.22 swim and a very dazed and disorientated charge for transition.

Onto the bike, the Strathclyde course was a treat, a 4 lap course with continuous elevation change. A group of 9 quickly formed and I worked hard off the front to chase down the 2nd pack 15-20 seconds ahead; making sure I stayed out of trouble leading into the turn points and first off the pack into transition. Two AG rivals were in my pack who I failed to shake off, so it was now all down to a quick transition and turning on my run.

Oh how my legs protested at taking that bike effort into the run. I couldn’t bring myself to look back, the psychological pain of knowing being passed could mean the difference between a Q1-4 and no Q at all. I just had to keep it under control and push.

With an out and back 2 lap course though it meant I would have to face reality 3 times. I was passing others but none had the crucial ‘G’ AG marked on their right leg to give me a reprieve on my placing. At the first turn ‘Wall’ was right there. What did he have in the tank? My brain scrabbling to remember his past run form from Google. My legs were starting to feel good, I’d push on for a break straight away, and turn 2 revealed ‘Wall’ had dropped back. The 3rd and final turn was a huge relief, there had been no fight back; with 1250m to go and still feeling strong, I had a Q in the bag. A wave of elation hit me, the realisation of a hard winter’s work and having the opportunity to race in a GB suit again at the ITU World Finals felt fantastic, mentally I backed off the pace but Garmin data suggests my legs didn’t get the message!

In summary a super weekend. The new draft legal racing adding some real excitement and great tactical racing, the crowds loved it, the organisation was faultless. Oh and if you haven’t seen any pictures that perfect blue sky made it all just even sweeter!

Collette recounts: ‘The ladies wave was very small but having checked the entry list several times I recognized a few names that I knew I would be/or potentially be racing in Cozumel come September so it was game on.

I knew that my swim was going to be slower than my competition so just stayed focused on my stroke and pushed as hard as I could, the tactic clearly worked as it was a decent pace for me so it’s a shame I messed it up getting stuck in my wet suit again.

Out on the bike and ready for 4 laps of a beautiful, but challenging course, at no point was there any flat!  Luckily I exited T1 with one other so we worked together on the ride, this was mentally and physically hard, she was stronger on the climbs than me so I really had to dig deep to keep with her and take my turn on the front. There were a few times when I thought “I’ll just let her go and I’ll ride on my own” but then I had a serious word with myself and pushed on. I’m really pleased I did as we closed down the leader in my age group at the start of the 4th lap. By the end of the last lap our little pack of 2 had grown to 5 as we closed on 2 and was caught by 1  other, I sat at the back of the group as we came in to T2 and let me legs recover for a few seconds and prepared myself for the run.

I had been disappointed with my run at Dorney so set off determined not to make the same mistakes this time. I had ridden hard and my legs were feeling it but kept pushing my legs to turn rather than let them come in at their in their own time, I could see that I was gaining on those ahead of me so I kept focused on picking people off, 1k in to the run I knew I was in the lead for my age-group so now it was all about my time. With the mantra of “high heals” and “elbows back” going through my head as I pushed on home.

After Dorney I was not sure I liked the new drafting rules but I am loving how it forces you to communicate in the race and work out strategies. I am so much more aware of my competitors and how they are racing it is adding a great new dimension and forming new relationships within the triathlon community.

What can I say, it was an amazing weekend, great race, great crowd, age group win, a wooden medal and a bit of Scottish sunburn. Cant wait till Llandudno.’

As raced and reported by Duncan and Colette

Lanzarote is well known for being particularly difficult, but on race day, the conditions were almost perfect, still some wind and fairly hot but nothing major. The sea was also very calm. I was ready for a perfect race. Little did I know! I still loved the swim, taking the ‘longer route’ to avoid the pack / chaos and swam 4.2 km, @ 1.44 pace. I was then going strong on the bike until km 15 when the shifter for the rear cassette broke; I tried to fix it myself, U-turned towards the start of the course to find the support car, but nothing could be done. So after losing 40minutes, I got the chain locked on the top ring so I could continue and do the climbs. I did think of DNF but then, no medal so I went on.  Doing an IM with a single speed is not ideal and since I could not pedal over 32kmh I lost a lot of time in the fast sections. I was probably the only rider looking forward to the climbs! Ignoring the time with the mechanics, I still managed 28.6kmh average and enjoyed the really fast downhills. The Run was all about chasing Lloyd who was well ahead of me, and looking strong. It did hurt but was great with 2 tough 1 km @ 26km& 37km it was all about survival and mental strengths. I overtook over 500 people on the run and finished in 3:50. Official time is 12:10. I’ve got the medal and another IM under my belt. I’m happy and I will definitely go back to race there!

As raced and reported by Yann Umbricht

15+ Viceroys took on the 80 mile Tour of Cambridgeshire this weekend. There were a mix of riders and the plan was to ride out together and then see how we all felt naturally grouping into faster/slower groups. To enable us all to start as a group the “challenge” riders moved into the “Sport” start pen which meant the start time was a bit later.

Meanwhile, Lara arrived ‘pretty shattered from lack of sleep in the days leading up to it. Chris and I managed to catch up with all the other Viceroys and we all sneaked into the same pen. I really wasn’t feeling it, but it was nice to see everyone and look forward to a cycle together. I was a little worried about Chris as he has ridden his bike twice in the last year and his ‘preparation’ was 3 WattBike sessions!

Our pen slowly filtered out onto the closed roads and we got separated pretty much instantly! I found Andrea, David and Nick and we cycled together. A queue up a hill due to an accident separated Andrea and I from the others. Andrea then decided to cycle hard to catch up. Panicking we wouldn’t be able to hold 47kmh with 75 miles to go I sensibly suggested we ease off!!

We caught up with them again some time later and wheel sucked to recover. 2 hours in Andrea told me it was starting to hurt, but I felt really good. Knowing what she was like on Ride London I was pretty sure a bite to eat would have her back in no time.’

The mass Viceroys group eventually got rolling around 12.30 and Geoff tucked in behind a Johannes who he knew would be able to ride at a strong early pace (a correct prediction!). Geoff reports: ‘I was hoping to break the 4 hour mark so knew I needed a 20mph average and with the wind behind for the first 30 miles wanted to be ahead of this level at that point and Johannes was the perfect wheel to follow. Continue reading →

Lara Clay and Time Gray were at the ETU Championships in Lisbon last weekend competing in the Standard Distance event.

Tim reports: ‘All in all, a reasonable result. My swim, for some reason, wasn’t as strong as normal which left me around 30^th out of the water (field of 72) in 23.52. My woes were further added to by a dreadful T1 – couldn’t fit my helmet correctly first time and as a result, knocked my visor off in the process. Overall impact was probably no more than about 30 seconds but considering 8 GB athletes came home in a space of 60 seconds, it left me ruing what may have been! Anyway, managed to get away on the bike and into some sort of rhythm. The bike course was largely flat and on closed dual carriageway which, although a little dull, was fast and mostly flat. Coming out of town and working hard to hold the 40kph average that I wanted, I took a brief moment to check out the view towards the river, enjoy the sun on my back and pinch myself that I was racing again in GBR kit surrounded by the best in Europe (well, possibly not!)

The bike course was over two 20km laps with a dead-turn at the top of a 1500m climb halfway around each lap and another dead-turn at the corresponding end of the course. It was tough work grinding up the climb but an extremely quick descent down the other side with a gentle roll out to enable you to carry as much speed as possible for as long as possible. That said, there was a nasty little wind blowing right to left on the descent which meant that you had to keep your nerve and keep the power on to keep the bike steady at 65kph. The bike leg was little long so my time of 1.09 was okay but not great although was within the top 20.

Back into transition and was fairly smartly through and out. The run course comprised four laps of a weird course with a section actually entering the main arena before heading back out. There were some issues about lap counting which resulted in a number of DQs plus some narrow sections where passing slow traffic and missing oncoming traffic were a challenge in themselves. However, I managed to work pretty well on the run phase and delivered a 37.11 time, again, within the top 20 times but not enough to pull my overall position inside the top 20 which was my target. Anyway 2.13.56 gave me 22^nd position (out of 76) and 10^th fastest Brit, which since I’d qualified as 17^th in the team of 20, meant that I have significantly over-performed against my team ranking. So, not all bad but still leaving me looking for that elusive perfect race……still, Blenheim on Saturday – will see if we can do better over the shorter distance….’

Lara reports: ‘I didn’t have the greatest preparation for Lisbon, injured most of the winter with both ankles. Then an Achilles issue since March which had stopped me running, but it had been fixed and I thought I could at least get some run training in beforehand. Then I tore my peroneal tendon, so no running for me. I cleared it with the team manager to just do the swim and bike, but having been told surgery would be the same whether I ran in Lisbon or not, the temptation was too big. I tested running at Eton and it was pretty slow, but I could do it, so I made my mind up to run in Lisbon and just have fun. It wasn’t like I could expect a good time on my next to zero run training. It was quite refreshing to be stood in the starters’ pen looking forward to doing whatever I could, rather than stressing that my training had been less than ideal and feeling the pressure of trying to put in a good performance. It seemed I was in good company, my ankle was taped, another girl had a stress fracture wrapped up, another had a bursa on a bunion so big the side of her shoe had to be cut out. All in all it made quite a jovial start to the race.

The swim was in a harbour, so it was salt water but quite sheltered. I drafted on someone’s hips for a while, but despite the first buoy being a couple of hundred meters away, it was a washing machine in there and I lost the person I was drafting. I then ended up being the person to draft off and was swimming in clear water. Coming to the exit I had an unsavoury character next to me who kept elbowing me – the exit was a ramp less than 2m wide – so everyone had to swim close to make the exit. In T1 I had made the decision (for the first time ever) to leave my shoes off my bike as I’d had a bad bike mount in Eton. Cue me grabbing my bike and running for the exit only to remember I needed my bike shoes!!! Shoes firmly attached to feet I started the bike course.

The way out was amazing, really fast, loving every minute, then at the dead turn I realised why. The headwind was spectacular! The second half of the bike was spent gritting my teeth, grinding away. Then my tri bar gears didn’t work and I was pushing too hard a gear uphill and too easy downhill. Realised fairly late I could still use the other shifters, but by that point I was pretty much back at transition. For once I wasn’t panicking about the run whilst on the bike because I knew it was never going to be good. I shot out of T2 and was surprised to see my pace, I thought my Garmin must have missed a couple of satellites, but 1k in I realised I was going way too fast to hold it and it probably had something to do with the caffeine gel I’d had!!

The next 1k was quite a struggle, then my friend from swim squad who was supporting ran next to the course to spur me on. I picked up the pace again but realised fairly quick that I didn’t have the run fitness to go that fast. The Viceroys motto was going round in my head, I’d been through the arena once and could picture it the second time when I would finish, so I just kept going. Inside the arena I saw a GBR girl in front and then one came in front of me from my left shoulder. Well, that did it! I sprinted all the way down the finishers’ chute, I overtook the girl who had got in front of me, she couldn’t match it, neither could the girl in front who I’d also overtaken. We crossed the finish line and all landed in a heap! Then I realised neither of them were in my age-group!!!! Oh well, it caused some cheering from the crowd at least! I didn’t come last, despite fully accepting I would. I’d done quite well on the swim and bike, but I lost about 10 places on the run. I had fun though and gave it my all, and that’s all that matters.’

Awesome racing guys.

Thames Turbo Race 3: This sprint series is a great way to get into triathlon. It’s friendly and well run. It’s also over early so you can get on with the rest of your bank holiday. Of course this means an early start – for John Kellett this was 4:45am breakfast and then over to Hampton Pool for 5:30: ‘At my start time I slotted into place in line for the pool swim and found that I was between the same 2 people I was between in Race 2. Appropriate hellos were said and then it was “3,2,1 go.” The 426m pool swim felt like it went well and I was able to pass a couple of people without any real delay and without pressure to let people past. 27th in AG but down to 28th after T1.’

Viceroy Carl Fisher entered the Thames Turbo (Race 3) late on Wednesday as a direct result a poor show at Dorney last weekend : ‘I got a real kick in the butt there, surely I wasn’t as bad as my times suggested, after all I had been fairly consistent over the winter and I was expecting to at least be in similar shape to this time last year.I was quite tactical with my entry submission, entering a reasonably quick swim time so I didn’t get held up in the pool, but a long overall time so they put in an early wave and I didn’t have to hang around at the start.  It paid off and I will try that again next time.

Swim went pretty well overtaking two guys in front me and only getting held up for a few seconds. I do need to remember where the slides are on the last lap as I always smack my hand on them and one day it will really hurt.

T1 was pretty smooth and uneventful which is always a good thing. Bike mount wasn’t very slick but at least I didn’t hurt myself….or anyone else!’ Out onto the bike for John too: ‘It was a bit windy with headwinds in both directions. Got held at the traffic lights for the full phase (in theory 20 seconds but felt much more). Apart from that and a particularly obstructive dustbin wagon (on a bank holiday!!) the ride went ok. Was passed by only one rider on a “full-aero with disk” setup so didn’t feel too bothered about that on my trusty roadie. Up to 15th in AG but down to 17th after T2. Out onto the run and felt really good. The figure-of-8 course round Bushy Park is a mix of tarmac and trail and is a really nice place to run. The breeze wasn’t too troublesome either so all-in-all a good run. End result : 13th in AG in 1:12:56 knocking a handful of seconds off my pb. (Swim 9:34 [-6 secs],Bike 38:47 [+15 secs], Run 22:15 [-13 secs])’

This was Carl’s first trip out on his rebuilt (by him!) TT bike and: ‘I immediately felt benefit of the winter upgrades.  I felt like I rode smoothly and was feeling calm and in control.  I promise the crash that happened between two cars on the turning point as I arrived into the roundabout was nothing to do with me, but they the divers may have been distracted by the sight of me in my Pink tri suit.

My run last week was so bad that I think I may have held a bit back on the bike as I really wanted to do a decent last leg.  As ever, finding the balance across the three disciplines is always a challenge.

The run for me has always been tough but today I clocked a 22.45 which topped a very satisfactory morning’s work.  No fireworks, champagne or cigars but an honest reflection of where I thought I was. Plenty still to work on but for the first time in a while, I actually enjoyed being out there racing and if felt that I’d found some kind of rhythm.  More importantly, my heads back in the right place.

Finished 21^st in AG with 1:13:22

Viceroy Marc Highton was 9th in AG and Charlotte Saunders smashed the field taking 1st female in 1:04.

After having seen a super physio in April and she re-arranged most of my upper body, Outlaw Half was going to be my first real test as to whether or not it made any different to my knee!  So, I was quietly hopeful but still keeping mostly realistic and preparing myself for the worst, especially as I knew I was under-trained and had had the cold from hell the week before and I was still struggling to shake the last of it off.   Race morning and partly thanks for a party in the hotel and parlty due to pre-race nerves, I got to the site with pretty much no sleep and wishing I’d taken more clothes (always forget how cold it is at 4.30am!).  But transition was setup up and I chatted to a few people, got the wetsuit on and it was time to get into the water.

I just took the swim easy, tried to avoid the masses and focus on keeping form and came out bang on the time I thought it would be.  It was fun in transition as everything was numb from standing around in the cold for 2 hours earlier and then the swim, but managed to get myself sorted and decided to throw on the jersey I’d packed last minute but left the gloves on the ground thinking I’d warm up quickly – a decision I’d later regret!   The bike course was pretty flat but kept myself in check (the motto “you’ve still got to run after!” kept going around in my head!), and while we had been warned about the awful road surface I found it no worse (if not slightly better!), than the usual Surrey roads I ride on so no problems there (except the last 2 miles but more on that in a second).  The downside of a mostly flat course though is that there were only 2 sections of about 5-10 seconds where I free-wheeled, the rest you are pushing the whole way, and there were several sections where it was miles of a long straight road on the slightest of gradients with the wind in your face which was energy & motivation sapping.

The decision to leave the gloves in transition was based on the thought “I’ll warm up soon enough” – that turned out to be about mile 45 before I could use my left hand for anything and the right was only just usable enough to grip my bottle and change gears! Hence it meant at the feed stations attempting to grab bottles on the go resulted in just knocking them away as my hands wouldn’t work enough, so I physically had to stop to collect new bottles and the volunteers had to peel the banana’s for me as well (thankfully I had bars cut-up and teeth can pull gel tops, although trying to squeeze gels out was quite difficult as well).

Fairly uneventful bike course otherwise, well until the last 2 miles when the road surface was awful, lots of speed bumps, some of it gravel track and the rest was play dodge the too many to count potholes!  I think it was good though as you had to ease up on speed for safety so the legs got a bit of a break, hence when I went out on the run I felt surprisingly fresh and strong.  The first few miles of the run were good, then I thought my knee was twitching around mile 5 so had a good walk break and that seemed to do the trick as I set off running again feeling strong and the knee was much happier.  That was until about mile 8 when my stomach started to turn a bit and by mile 9 it was in pieces, hence a lot of walking and several stops of hunching over trying not to bring the contents of my stomach up.

Somewhere near mile 10 was a feed station so I decided to try a cup of coke, and by around mile 11 that seemed to have done the trick and I was able to run again, so another cup of coke at the last feed station at about mile 11.5 and that got rid of the last of the upset stomach and it was a strong run up to the finish, where I was all smiles as my knee had held up for the first time ever at half distance – and then I promptly burst into tears at the emotion of it all!!  But they were definitely tears of joy 🙂