Viceroy Tim Ferguson headed to the small North Eastern seaside town of Redcar which was hosting its second triathlon, a great looking event: sea swim, closed road cycle ride, on freshly surfaced roads, and a coastal run.

Tim reports: ‘Despite raining all the previous night the event started in warmer and drier conditions than expected. The swim was a beach start, very exciting, very professional. I had a reasonable start but swimming against the waves I held back intending to up the tempo at the first turn and I passed several swimmers in the next section, but alternate breathing was a bad idea and I swallowed large amounts of the North Sea. The last section was back to shore with the waves behind us and this felt fast and I passed a few more. My time incredibly was 10 minutes.

I started the bike leg well picking off one rider after another. The course was 6 laps up and down the esplanade, a roundabout at one end and a bollard at the other, by the time I’d reached the bollard I was in a strong position and feeling fast. However, I hadn’t noticed the rather wicked chicane and in an effort to catch the rider ahead took it at full pelt, boom. Not exactly sure what happened but I gave the crowd a spectacle, I quickly remounted, and continued on my way, very aware that I was bleeding profusely but not really in pain, importantly the bike was fine. I let common sense reign and slowed down heavily at the corners, although the straights were fun and fast. I had a great dismount and was quickly out on the run.

Surprisingly for me I was able to catch and pass the runners ahead without being passed myself. All that track work with mysmartcoach and the viceroys was really paying off. The finish was excellent decent crowds cheered you all the way through to the finish. I waited for my wife to finish before going to see the ambulance crew for an assessment of the damage. All superficial, but I got some impressive bandages. I must say this was an excellent event, despite crashing I had a great race and was pretty pleased with my times.’