‘It was an early start in beautiful Chester for the 2nd ITU qualifier at Olympic Distance. Before I start about the race, I would say that this was the best organised triathlon I have done – Age group waves, with 15 minute staggers meant there were no issues with over-crowding that affect most triathlons nowadays. Every marshal clapped as I went past, with most calling out first names, which were printed on our numbers. There were even toilets in transition!

My swim was off at 8am with a 900m swim upstream in the River Dee, followed by 650m downstream after the turn. I managed to get some feet on the upstream leg, remembering the drills we have been doing at Shepperton, and was hauled out of the river by 2 nice guys 24 minutes later in 10th position. An uphill run and some steps led to T1 and we set off on the bike, heading into Wales. The downside of having a good swim was that there was no confidence booster available by taking anyone on the bike…Instead I was hunted by other Canada hopefuls. Those damn Christian names printed on our numbers that I had thought were great, suddenly became annoying as I began to recognise rivals from the BTF website easing past me. A tough first 15k, undulating, on some rough surfaces soon flattened as we headed onto a dual carriageway. A fast back 20k led to an overall time of 1hr 06 mins.

The run was a pretty 3 lap course utilising 2 bridges over the Dee. A gel was needed at 4k as the legs started to feel detached from my body, but 43 mins later I shuffled over the line in 2 hr 16mins. No automatic qualification, but still in the hunt for a roll down….’

As raced and reported by Mike Armer