May the tide be with you

The inaugural 3.8km swim in the River Arun

I was very lucky to get a spot as it was limited to 100 places only, unfortunately this also meant it would be a very strong field.

As this is a tidal river we were due to set off at midday, slack water time, but no one told the river that we were delayed, not to much of a problem as if we started too early the going would be tough with the speed of the current against us, anyway we had a promise of the currents changing and washing us along in the second half of the race.... so need to swim that part I could float down.

As Rupert stretches his swim cap to breaking point trying to get it over his waist long dreadlocks we all took a step back, if that cap pings off it could be very dangerous, and he is looking more like the Predator than anyone should.

Its 12.30 and off we go, stay close to the bank as possible we were told as the current was still against us but only slightly, unfortunately I could not get that close to the bank as everyone had the same agenda, so I was set to swim a quarter of the way out and then force my way across closer to the bank a bit further down, the going was indeed tough out there and i was getting passed by a few people so time to make my move, the difference was massive as I passed swimmer after swimmer the down side was it was quite congested and i kept getting blocked by other groups, I forced my way through one group of three people and received a few body blows for my efforts but that just gets the adrenaline flowing even more.

The river has quite a few turns in it so you had to picking your line was quite important this was working well and then I saw the finish line... well what I thought was the finish line so with loads of energy left thinking "wow that was easy" i started my sprint from about 700m out but as i got closer I spotted the Brighton Corporate games banners not the REP ones. It then dawned it was the Dragon boat racing start line that was also going on that day... Right slow the pace and deep breaths and get on the feet of someone for a little drafting, this alternative plan worked well until another swimmer wanted to get onto the same feet and bumped me off, this is the bit i really quite enjoy so i bumped them back and retook my spot unfortunately this came at a price, in the collision my goggles were hit and moved so the left one was in my eye socket. Its not leaking yet so as long as i didn't move my eyebrow all would be well, at least that what i told myself, I never realised how hard it was not to move your eyebrows.

As we passed under a bridge I was still waiting for the currents to come along and push us down, I was told later that we mainly swam in the slack water so no currents, I could see another finish line and hoped this time that it was ours.

I started to pick up speed again at this point it started getting quite choppy and the inevitable happened, I gave into temptation and did the Simon Templer movement and raised my eyebrow, I only needed one eye anyway.

I came of the feet I was following and came along the side and checked the finish line out of the one eye i could use and confirmed it was indeed ours. There were 4 other swimmers who each had the same idea as the pace suddenly picked up, 3 dropped back a bit which left me and one other shoulder to shoulder 200 meters out and now in an all out sprint. Side by side we came out of the water but he beat me to the timing judge and so was 1 second quicker....
Great performance by all and a thoroughly enjoyable race.

15th Steve McMenamin 52:19
31st Phil Couch 56:03
77th Rupert Robinson 63:02
92rd Kevin James 65:59
99th Andy Taylor 68:45

official report and results
http://www.tri247.com/article_5326_River+Arun+Ironman+Swim+report.html?region_id=&category

If you like the idea of a longer swim race

http://www.f3events.co.uk/race_view.php?i=47

http://www.votwo.co.uk/votwo2007/events-and-adventure/race_view.php?v=2&c=1&i=76

http://www.eastbourneswimmingclub.org.uk/Events%20Calendar/2009Q3%20Attachments/26%20Jul%2009%20-%20EB%20Sea%20Swim%20-%20ENTRY%20FORM.pdf

http://www.bldsa.org.uk/

Ten Try 25 TT

BAR Race 3

25m TT Norwood Paragon 10th May 2009
Broadbridge Heath – Quite good conditions if a little cold and a bit windy.

10 athletes from MSTC took part in the 25m TT. It could have been 13, but Callum and Jon could not get in in spite of entering early and Loz could not make it. This was a race dominated by excuses. James Dear ( I'm feeling below par) won comfortably in 56.43. Graham Bond (it's my first TT in several years) finished 3rd in 61.51 behind Stu who stormed to a 58.11(no excuses – just a good ride!) Rob Hoodless was 4th (I struggled riding with triple or was that quadruple pneumonia) in 64.20. Kevin James was 5th in 64.53, narrowly edging out Dave Lashbrook 64.55 (PB in spite of having an extended break in South Africa and missing out on a lot of training). Last home was Steve Alden in 67.20 (The bike felt a bit heavy going uphill towards Pease Pottage so I jettisoned one of my tri-bar arm rests to save weight! Unfortunately that seriously hampered the bike's aerodynamics and balance and made for a very difficult last 15 miles – probably would have been much quicker on a complete bike!)

The girls were again dominated by Rachel Baker who is getting quicker all the time. This time she did 72.02 (PB) nearly 5 minutes faster than last year, Lucy Williams improved her PB by about 4 minutes to finish 2nd in 77.55. Claire was doing her first 25, so also had a PB in 81.08

MEN - Winner 52m45s Veteran winner 52m45s!

1st James DEAR 56m43s (7.53%) 10pts
2nd Stu NISBETT 58m11s (10.29%) 9pts
3rd Graham BOND 1h1m51s (17.25%) 8pts
4th Rob HOODLESS 1h4m20s (21.95%) 7pts
5th Kevin JAMES 1h4m53s (23.00%) 6pts
6th Dave LASHBROOK 1h4m55s (23.07%) 5pts PB
7th Steve ALDEN 1h7m20s (27.14%) 4pts
Callum Murray and Jon Webster and Andy Heath 1 pt as unable to get in due to rules of time trialling

WOMEN - Winner1h04m26s

1st Rachel BAKER 1h12m02s (11.8)% 10pts PB
2nd Lucy WILLIAMS 1h17m55s (20.94%) 9pts PB
3rd Claire CRESSWELL 1h21m08s (25.92%) 8pts PB

BAR overall standings after 3 races
Rob Hoodless 26pts - 1st
Steve Alden 21pts - 2nd
James Dear 20pts - 3rd
Stu Nisbett 9 pts - 4th
Matt Record 8 - 5th
Graham Bond 8 - 5=
Callum Murray 8 - 5=
Andy heath 7 - 8th
Kevin James 6 - 9th
Dave Lashbrook 5 - 10th
Jon Webster 1 - 11th


Rachel Baker 30pts - 1st
Lucy Williams 18 - 2nd
Claire Cresswell 17 - 3rd

Sussex Seven See Sun Shine

REPORT ON THE NATIONAL DUATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS

RACE 2 National Duathlon Championships

MILTON KEYNES 5th April 2009

This was a seriously good event. Thoroughly enjoyed by all 7 MSTC members. It looked dodgy at the start however, with temperatures virtually at freezing point, after most of us had got up at 4am. Credit to Andy Heath who only got home from work after midnight but still made it!
Racing against the very best in the country makes you realize just how good they are. Because the first 10K was a staggered start with 4 laps, most of us experienced the leading men and women overtaking us at a frightening pace. By the time we were on the bike the sun had come out and from then on it was near perfect race conditions.
The fact that James Dear had the second fastest bike split in the whole race underlines what a quality cyclist he is, especially after running the first 10K in 37minutes just a shade outside his PB. The run was completely flat but unlike the Brighton 10K was quite scenic, running round the lake.
The undisputed king of the transition was Steve Alden, with T1 being 16s faster than anyone else, although James matched his T2 time of 42s.
Rob Hoodless put in his usual consistent performance, and finished with the fastest 5K out of all of us by a clear half minute.
Rachel Baker was only a few seconds outside her Brighton time for 10K and put in a blistering bike leg on her super-bling bike and finished 9th in her age group, which was the best age group position. Lucy Williams was just aiming not to finish last, but did rather better than that, and was 10th in her age group.
Callum Murray pushed very hard – especially on the first 10K, and found the undulating bike course tough, but still finished 20th in his age group.
Andy Heath realized his rear tub was a bit worn before the start, so was not entirely surprised to puncture on the second lap as it was a very poor road surface for about half of each lap. Nevertheless he worked very hard and we all welcome his progressive return to fitness.

RESULTS
Men Overall winner 1h51m12s
1st James DEAR 2h1m22s 9.15% (8.22%) 10pts
2nd Robert HOODLESS 2h13m44s 20.26%(13.49%) 9pts
3rd Steve ALDEN 2h18m33s 24.60%(17.58%) 8pts
4th Callum MURRAY 2h40m06s 43.97%(33.00%) 7pts
5th Andy HEATH DNF puncture 6pts

Figures in brackets are the more realistic age group percentages

Women Overall winner 2h05m10s
1st Rachel BAKER 2h31m30s 21.05%(10.92%) 10pts
2nd Lucy WILLIAMS 2h42m14s 29.62%(29.62%) 9pts

Standings after 2 events

Men
1st Rob Hoodless 19pts
2nd Steve Alden 17pts
3rd James Dear 10pts
4th Matt Record 8pts
5th Callum Murray 7pts
6th Andy Heath 6pts

Women
1st Rachel Baker 20pts
2nd Clare Cresswell 9pts
= Lucy Williams 9pts

Windy Winter Watford Winners

Only 5 athletes braved the freezing temperatures to compete at Watford. Not only was it cold, but a freezing wind made it a lot worse. Numbers were depleted due to several injuries. Rob Hoodless and Rachel Baker took the honours virtually unchallenged. Rob was a clear 6 minutes ahead in the mens race and Rachel was well ahead of Claire. Steve Alden took second but was below par with a probable virus, and Matt Record was less than a minute behind him, probably not realising just how close he was! Claire Cresswell took second place in the girls race, with another gritty performance in demanding conditions.

Men (Overall winner 68.18, V40 70.48)
Robert Hoodless 1h30m26s – 32.40%(V27.73%) 10pts
Steve Alden 1h36m39s – 41.51%(V36.51%) 9pts
Matt Record 1h37m27s – 42.68% 8pts

Women (Overall winner 77.09)
1.Rachel Baker 1h45m35s – 36.85% 10pts
2.Claire Cresswell 2h26m15s – 89.57% 9pts

8 PBs at Battle of Hastings

9 hardy athletes braved the cold morning start at the Hastings Centenary Marathon. James and Loz flew off at the start with 'push it till I die' race strategies. Judging by their inability to walk afterwards they squeezed every ounce of performance out of tired muscles to finish in 3h10m and 3h13m respectively - both PBs.
There were 2 other mini-races going on. Jon, Rob and Steve have always been quite evenly matched. Steve is well known for his late pace in marathons so the race strategy for Jon was to break him if he could, while Rob held on for as long as possible. I can vouch for the fact that Jon gave it everything, pulling away at 17miles, being caught and passed by 20miles, but popping up again on Steve's shoulder at 22miles, before Steve's marginally less tired legs gave him a 40 second edge by the finish. Steve finished in 3h19m, Jon 3h20m (PB) and Rob 3h26m (PB).
The other mini-race was Rachel and Tamsin, who finished 2 minutes apart without realising how close the other was. Final times were Tamsin 3h49m (PB) and Rachel 3h51m (PB), both real quality times, only just outside the automatic qualifying times for London but on a significantly hilly course. Lucy also gained a PB with a time just outside 4hrs, and then tried to convince us all that she hadn't really trained for the race. What could she do if she did train ??
The special mention of the day has to go to Dave Lashbrook. After giving exclusive TV interviews - bigging up the club! - he started the race with a dodgy knee, which gave up on him at about 15miles. This left just a modest 11 mile stroll back to the finish, after his support team provided a change of clothes. He still finished comfortably under 5 hours, without any fuss. And a PB. What a legend!!!

And finally - the mens team (First 4 scoring) came 5th out of 57 teams - a remarkable achievement.

BAR scores after 11 events

MEN

1st James DEAR 97pts
2nd Rob HOODLESS 78
Dave JONES 78
4th Steve ALDEN 58
5th Dave LASHBROOK 53
6th Stu NISBETT 51
Jon WEBSTER 51
8th Lawrence WINTERGOLD 37
9th Callum MURRAY 12
10th Andy HEATH 10
11th Mike McLoughlin 9
Steve McMenamin 9
13th Howard PICKETT 8
14th Phil COUCH 6
15th David RICKETTS 4
16th Matt RECORD 3
17th Chris DURRANT 1
John LARDNER 1


WOMEN

1st Rachel BAKER 85pts
2nd Claire CRESSWELL 57
3rd Lucy WILLIAMS 36
4th Margaret HOLLAMBY 30
5th Tamsin DOUGLAS-SMITH 29
6th Debbie NISBETT 16
7th Katherine PREEDY 8
8th Emma ALDEN 7
Kay McMENAMIN 7
10th Julie WILLIAMS 6
Alice WINTERGOLD 6

Dave Jones makes it two in a row at Brighton

16 MSTC athletes completed the Brooks Brighton 10K last Sunday. First 4 home were in the same order as at Barns Green, with Phil Couch getting 5th spot ahead of Steve Alden. Phil is getting back into it after the twins so probably has a lot more to come next year. Callum was next home again showing how well he is running and cruising away from Dave Lashbrook in the closing stages. Our first 8 athletes were all inside 42m03s, which shows how good our thursday night running sessions really are as so many have improved. Steve Mac coped will with his leg problems to stay inside 50 minutes.

Rachel led the girls home, overhauling Lucy late on. It was good to see Debbie Nisbett out running again, and not far of her PB and under 50 minutes. Alice was also out running again, clocking 56.55, but well beaten by a competitive first run by Kay McMenamin. Claire kept under 61mins for a creditable performance again.

It was nice to see some old friends in the field with Jamie Goodhead and Paul Hedger both spotted.

MEN

Dave Jones 54th 35.47 10pts
James Dear 82nd 36.53 9
Rob Hoodless 182nd 39.28 8
Jon Webster 234th 40.21 7
Phil Couch 257th 40.26 6
Steve Alden 275th 41.17 5
Callum Murray 303rd 41.31 4
Dave Lashbrook 338th 42.03 3
Steve McMenamin 1121st 49.43 2
Lawrence Wintergold Time not available 1

WOMEN

Rachel Baker 592nd 45.28 10pts
Lucy Williams 601st 45.39 9
Debbie Nisbett 1136th 49.51 8
Kay McMenamin 1528th 54.48 7
Alice Wintergold 1678th 56.55 6
Claire Cresswell 1971st 60.59 5