The long and the short of it.

If you don't want to read the very long post!

I raced Bedford Olympic and had a bad race.

I raced the world long course and was happy with my performance and had a lot of fun.

Thanks,

David

The long and the short of it!

The past two weekends could not have been any more different. Once again I turned up to race the Jordans Bedford Olympic on the bank holiday weekend. This was followed by the ITU World 03 championships.

Early on Sunday the 24th August I drove up to Bedford hoping the weather would start to improve, and that after the first taper week of the year, a fast time would be on. After queuing for registration under an umbrella the rain finally stopped for the start of a race. Florian Leder set the early pace for the swim with a 20mins 47secs while I was a little too relaxed with a 26min swim, never finding a good rhythm. The wind had not dropped on the bike and with the roads still wet I rode some interesting lines round the course. I held back on the bike as I was looking to have a solid run. Although comfortable with the effort my intestines had other ideas! I set the 3rd fastest bike split of the day just 25sec behind Mark Livesey and his 1hr 02mins 20secs. I had good pace for the first lap of the three lap run course. Unfortunately I had to take a diversion to the loos. I managed to recover a little for the second lap but had another pit stop and just jogged the last lap. Steve Harrison eventual winner in 2hrs 26secs, had the fastest run split of the day with 35mins 23secs.


This year’s worlds were held in sunny Almere, Holland. Yet another early start, I begrudgingly set my alarm for 04:00 on Friday 29th to catch my 06:15 flight to Amsterdam. The journey was running smoothly until the 45min coach transfer took 90min. The team became a little concerned when the driver started to back track. He eventually drove to the nearest town, and pulled over to ask the direction to Centre parcs, which was the base for the weekend. Once we found the cottages we had to leave again for Almere, some 15k away, as registration closed mid afternoon.


Saturday morning I rode to Almere for the bike racking and to have a second breakfast, I recommend a Turkish No 1 if anyone races next year!


Race day came round all too quickly. The forecast was for a scorcher of a day and the weather did not disappoint. Blue sky and a strong breeze the race started at 08:55 with 1000 other men taking the plunge for a 4k swim that turn out to be closer to 4.5k. The start was busy and after 700m the first turn buoy appeared. Turning greater than 100 degrees the sun presented a sighting issue which made the next 400m more like 500m as the pack zigged and zagged to the next turn buoy where we headed back to the swim start. The second lap missed the second turn buoy and headed into the current and the sun for 2.5k. The wind had whipped up some waves and made the same a real challenge. Once, after what felt like an age, it was time to climb out of the harbour onto some steps and off to T1. Looking at my watch expecting to see 65min I was a little taken back to see 86min had passed by.

I had a smooth and easy transition and felt good on the bike for the first 500m and then turned in to a strong head wind. At this point I was not sure my plan of catching up the lost swim time was going to work so I backed off and stuck with my original pacing plan. The first lap was busy on the bike with lots of people pick off. Unfortunately some seem to think that 10m is the same as 10cm and groups had formed on the bike. The wind increased in strength as the temperature started to ramp up. I spent the first half of the second lap 60k lap trying to catch a group 400m up the road. It really shows how much of a difference drafting makes as the group pulled away from me in a head or side wind and came back with a tail wind. On a long section of side wind I gradually caught the pack and with one of the many 90 degree turns had a tail wind and blew past the pack.

A super slick T2 saw me settle into a strong early pace. I had a little cramp at 7.5k after think that I maybe on for a sub 2hour run. So ran nice and steady after stretching my left hamie a couple of times. Then I got to the 17k mark and the wheels start to fall off! I ran / shuffled to the next aid station and stopped to have a gel. The only reason I started to run again is because on the USA coaches told me to start running again. Thank you! I ran the 500m to the next aid and had some hot cross buns and a wee. I then just worked on running to the next aid 3.5k away. After this I settled into a good rhythm and just walked the aid stations eating hot cross buns as I went. Brilliant!

I managed 8th in my age group and feel relatively happy with my performance.

Thank you to all the support people in the club have given me over the past year. Bring on Ironman Austria and a sub 09:45!

David

Brighton Sea Swim

The event is a 1 mile challenging sea swim between Hove Lawn (next to the King Alfred leisure Centre) & Brunswick Lawn (the Peace Statue).

Just a quick one on this, very good swim nice and friendly as i discovered on the start line, i took the washing machine position in the centre front row, off we go ... no flailing arms or kicks to the face... i mean really how are you supposed to get worked up if everyone in the position is so considerate.

Swim out and then a turn to the left, just then i realised that it was against the current which i was not expecting, so I had to setle in for a long hard slog, I was in the leading group for most of the way but fell off the pace in the last third of the race and came in at 47:04 two minutes behind the winner this put me in 20th position.

Its a nice race and i think we should have it as a club swim next year the only negative is that you have no idea where the finish line is I only spotted it because there was an unusually large number of people gathered on the beach.. barbeque party of finish line? fortunately it was the finish.

Thanks to James Dear who turned up in support and the Saturday Cycling lads who were also there posing in there Lycra on the prom.

Club Competitions

All Members Competition (BAR)

After 8 Events

MENS

Pos Name (No. of events) Points Ave. POWT
1 James Dear (7) 69 7.83
2 Dave Jones (7) 58 12.98
3 Rob Hoodless (8) 55 19.92
4 Stu Nisbett (7) 51 17.93
5 Steve Alden (8) 41 24.85
6 David Lashbrook (7) 37 22.34
7 Lawrence Wintergold (4) 33 12.54
8 Jon Webster (6) 28 23.10
9 Andy Heath (3) 10 28.14
10 Mike McLoughlin (1) 9 16.20
11= Callum Murray (2) 4 37.19
11= David Ricketts (1) 4 39.17
13 Mat Record (1) 3 25.74
14= Steve McMenamin (1) 2 36.67
14= Howard Pickett (2) 2 56.48
16= Chris Durrant (1) 1 44.60
16= John Lardner (1) 1 45.91
16= Simon King (1) 1 49.10

WOMENS

Pos Name (No. of events) Points Ave. POWT
1 Rachel Baker (6) 57 27.67
2 Claire Cresswell (5) 37 51.00
3 Lucy Williams (3) 27 48.59
4 Margaret Hollamby (2) 20 18.64
5 Tamsin Douglas-Smith (2) 19 33.27
6 Debbie Nisbett (1) 8 24.84
7 Emma Alden (1) 7 54.81
8 Julie Williams (1) 6 73.30

Club Championships

Sprint Distance - Sussex Triathlon

MENS

1st Dave Jones
2nd James Dear
3rd Stu Nisbett

WOMENS

1st Margaret Hollamby
2nd Rachel Baker
3rd Debbie Nisbett

Olympic Distance - Worthing

MENS

1st James Dear
2nd Rob Hoodless
3rd Stu Nisbett

WOMENS

1st Rachel Baker
2nd Tamsin Douglas-Smith
3rd Claire Cresswell

Best Athlete

MENS

The following have completed the required number and type of events:
Name POWT
Dave Jones 10.47
Stuart Nisbett 12.58
Rob Hoodless 16.27
Dave Lashbrook 18.48
Steve Alden 21.35

The rest of the men and women need to complete more events, in particular a long distance event, e.g. the middle distance tri or marathon to qualify.

Worthing Blow-Dryathlon

James Dear secures a superb third place at the Worthing Triathlon as strong winds and choppy seas force organisers to cancel the swim.

We sort of expected it would happen, but it was still a huge disappointment when the organisers confirmed that the swim was going to be cancelled. Quite a few of us have been training hard for the open water swim and the prospect of having it replaced by another run, well that just sucks… Anyway the decision was made and at 7am the women set off on the 5K run, followed 11 minutes later by the men.

Again their was a huge Mid Sussex Tri Club contingent looking fabulous in the new kit!

In the women’s race Tamsin was first to complete the 5K run in 21:26 closely followed by Rachel with Claire back in third. Out on the bike Rachel showed her strength with a very impressive 1:28:32, which gave her an unassailable seven minute lead over Tamsin going in to the 10K run. Tamsin was only able to claw back another minute and a half on the run which gave Rachel the win by almost six minutes. Claire claimed third place a further 25 minutes back.

In the men’s race Dave Jones set the early pace, coming into T1 first overall with his main rival James Dear 45 seconds behind. The rest of us were pretty close together with Jon Webster, Rob Hoodless and Steve Alden leading the way.

Once out on the bike James Dear rocketed round to record the fastest bike split overall 1:04:28, Stu Nisbett moved up to second in the club with 1:07:27. Unfortunately Dave Jones suffered from a few Paula Radcliffe moments, which ruined his race and parts of the Sussex countryside. Dave Lashbrook and Jon Webster put in some quality rides to keep themselves in contention on the final run.

James’ legend bike split made him first athlete to start the second run, much to the delight of the crowd! Unfortunately he was unable to hold on to first place, but still finished a superb third overall and first for the club by a massive 15 minute margin. Rob managed to reel in Stu to claim second spot with Stu in third, closely followed by Jon Webster, David Lashbrook and Steve Alden. Two of the strongest sea swimmers amongst us, Mat Record and Steve McMenamin came in at 2:34 and 2:47 respectively with John Lardner a further 10 minutes back in 2:58:52.

Club results as follows:

Name Time PosOA 5km run Pos 43km bike Pos 10 km Pos
James Dear 2:03:50 3 0:17:15 14 1:04:28 1 0:40:32 30
Robert Hoodless 2:18:20 53 0:19:42 74 1:13:39 52 0:43:38 66
Stuart Nisbett 2:18:58 55 0:21:17 139 1:07:27 8 0:48:18 138
Jon Webster 2:19:23 58 0:19:35 69 1:14:39 60 0:43:55 71
David Jones 2:19:56 61 0:16:29 1 1:19:49 109 0:42:32 50
David Lashbrook 2:21:37 67 0:21:18 141 1:11:36 31 0:47:19 119
Steve Alden 2:24:45 85 0:20:03 83 1:18:40 93 0:44:38 80
Mat Record 2:34:08 147 0:21:20 147 1:22:27 146 0:48:19 140
Rachel Baker 2:47:24 206 0:23:04 192 1:28:32 193 0:53:50 202
Steve McMenamin 2:47:32 207 0:22:50 188 1:25:07 168 0:56:44 218
Tamsin Douglas- 2:53:11 218 0:21:26 155 1:37:29 227 0:52:24 188
Smith
John Lardner 2:58:52 223 0:23:19 203 1:40:40 234 0:51:03 176
Claire Creswell 3:18:28 243 0:28:45 250 1:39:54 230 1:07:59 236

BAR after 7 events

MEN

1st James DEAR 59 points
2nd Dave JONES 52
3rd Rob HOODLESS 46
4th Stu NISBETT 43
5th Steve ALDEN 37
6th Loz WINTERGOLD 33
7th Dave LASHBROOK 32
8th JON WEBSTER 21
9th Andy HEATH 10
10th Mike McCLOUGHLIN 9
11th Callum MURRAY 4
David RICKETTS 4
13th Howard PICKETT 2
14th Chris DURRANT 1
Simon KING 1


WOMEN

1st Rachel BAKER 47 points
2nd Clare CRESSWELL 29
3rd Lucy WILLIAMS 27
4th Margaret HOLLAMBY 20
5th Tamsin DOUGLAS-SMITH 10
6th Debbie NISBETT 8
7th Emma ALDEN 7
8th Julie WILLIAMS 6

Record turnout for 100 TT

5 members of Mid Sussex Tri Club took part in the centenary 100mile TT at Dial Post. Scorching temperatures did not prevent most posting PBs. Stu sprinted away to top spot at 4h19m and everybody was under 4h50m.

I have not reported on the 10, but the results and cumulative points are below.

10
James DEAR 21.37 -10
Dave JONES 22.24 - 9
Stu NISBETT 22.50 - 8
Loz WINTERGOLD 23.01 - 7
Rob HOODLESS 24.08 - 6
Dave LASHBROOK 24.14 - 5
Jon WEBSTER 25.24 - 4
Steve ALDEN 25.30 - 3
Callum MURRAY 27.07 - 2

Rachel BAKER 28.09 - 10

100
Stu NISBETT 4h19m - 10
Dave JONES 4h26m - 9
Dave LASHBROOK 4h36m - 8
Rob HOODLESS 4h42m - 7
Steve ALDEN 4h49m - 6