Mark Yeoman, Suze Pratt, Ian Talbot, Tim and Libby Ferguson all headed to Marlow last weekend for the Marlow triathlon.
Mark (as ever) set out to smash and dominate the Olympic race: ‘This was a two lap swim in the Thames, two laps over the challenging bike course & 2 laps along the river and up Marlow hill. I saw Olympian Toby Garbet and über swimmer Kate Henderson so I knew it was going to be an honest swim. I went hard and led for the first 300 before Kate glided past – however I stuck close to her and only after the last 100m did she ease away – but the guy who I was swimming also with who I thought was Toby was some random. 30sec behind Kate – 3rd fastest swim.’
Tim and Libby meanwhile where both embarking on their first Olympic distance tri: ‘The swim was fantastic, a poor start position resulted in an aggressive and quite slow start, however Viceroys swim coaching had prepare me to get around slower swimmers and to create gaps. Once out of the elbows and feet of the mid paced swimmers I was able to get my rhythm going and complete the swim in a personal best of 25:49’ and Suze meanwhile was just pleased to be competing again – although she found the swim start a bit frantic she had done no cycling or running for the last 5 weeks (due to an annoying hamstring/lower back issue! Another Viceroy who ignored her physio! Ian Talbot loved the swim: ‘relatively little current in either direction so the 2 lap course worked really well for me. Plus the sun stayed off long enough to allow decent sighting (crocodile eyes to the fore !)’
Mark meanwhile ‘set the fastest T1 to move into 2nd place and looked to close on Kate after the first hill out of Marlow. But leaving the area my water bottle jumped out -shite! Kept going as I wasn’t going to allow Toby to close in. Passing Kate I moved into the led with the led motor bike I pushed hard. On the out & backs I could see Toby wasn’t catching neither was anyone else. I knew the lack of fluid would be an issue, but by how much? Over the last 5km I cramped up & my legs soon became solid. 2nd fastest bike split behind 2nd overall – Tom Burkinshaw.
Coming into T2 I looked to go hard out to wake the legs, but nothing so It was only going to be a matter of time. I held onto the 4km mark before the long legs of Toby eased by. Felt like. Michael Jackson doing the moon walk. At 6km into the second lap I was passed by. Tom Burkinshaw thanks to his fast bike split. All I could think about was holding onto 3rd – with 3km I found a little extra and come home strong to round out the podium. Poor run split and 1st thrown away as I swam and bike and transitioned faster than Toby.’
Tim continues his race report: ‘Despite ending on my backside T1 was reasonably quick. The bike was a great course, out and back with a hill at each end, however of more interest was the cafe offering the “Man vs. Food breakfast challenge” and the “winery & Brewery”. The slight dampener on the ride was there was at least one large group riding together. At one point I was, rather guiltily, enjoying a free ride with them. Until my mind wandered and I lost the wheel, then I just became bitter and self-righteous. T2 quick again but the run was tough, not helped by grabbing a gel and squirting it all over my hand, before trying to wash it clean with an energy drink. Unfortunately poor preparation took it’s toll as the last hill proved to be too much. I regretfully made the decision to walk up and jog home. I lost a lot of places and received a lot of support, but it was the right decision. Still a 52 minute run surprised me I had expected it to be nearer the hour. Best of all Libby didn’t overtake me, she also finished as 3rd Ladies vet.
Bike I found hard – mainly due to shoddy road surface which threatened to give me hand-arm vibration syndrome. The organisers kindly added in an extra hill as well due to road works on the other side of Henley which actually proved helpful as I seemed to be able to drag my lumpen carcass up it quicker than most people in my vicinity.’
Ian remembers, ‘the run was the usual story of “no legs” until halfway through the 10k but I enjoyed overtaking some of those that had scooted by me on the first lap! Big success of the day was a halving of my transition times versus this time last year. Small wins…’
