RACE 32 - CANTERBURY SPRINT TRIATHLON - 3 July

Another early start (how many times have you heard that?) Woke at 3:30 to the dawn chorus, which in Brixton is a combination of birds, sirens and party-goers returning home.  Wanted to get to Canterbury for the opening of registration at 6am as my start time was quite an early one at 7:18:30am.  The precision of the start time is because unlike open water swims where everyone goes off in one big mass start, with pool swims you are sent off to swim your lengths at 30 second intervals. Mine was an early start because I'd been conservative in my estimated time it would take me to swim 400m (12 lengths) and they were sending us slow-coaches off first. In fact with 200 entrants at 30 second intervals, it would take from 7am until 8:40 for everyone to start.


As per usually, estimated the time to get to Canterbury on how long it normally takes to get there to play hockey ~ so was way off the mark again! So after an almost traffic free journey into the rising sun, arrived at the Sainsbury car-park (where they allowed the competitors to park - well the shop certainly wasn't open yet) with half an hour to spare, so just in time for 40 winks.

Woke (again) to car doors slamming as more competitors turned up.  Unpacked and went off to register. Things appeared to be a little ragged as the transition was still being constructed, nobody seemed to know where the run or bike course started, where the toilets were .... ?however to be fair everyone was really friendly and willing to help and it all went smoothly in the end. The event was being held in a leisure centre sited in basically what is Canterbury's out of town retail shed and industrial estate area. I really struggled to take any attractive photos, even though there was a river running through the middle of the area which had been seemingly virtually ignored in any of the designs or master-planning.  This is certainly not going to be an image heavy post!

Queued in numerical order ~ I was no. 38 ~ along the pool edge waiting for our turn to start. Fortunately there were no official race photography so you'll be spared images of me in just my tri-shorts.  Phew what a relief! Got talking to a fellow competitor no.36 (I could tell that was his number as they marked are arms with an indelible felt pen ~ which incidentally, takes much scrubbing to get off as it's really indelible) and there was no sign of no. 37.  He was new to the sport, was a mountain bike with knobbly tyres and wasn't sure he could actually swim 400m.  To pick up a thought from the last race, this is one of the things I like about the events, it's a total mix of people of all abilities, from the absolute novice to the serious racer with all the kit, (aero-helmet, top of the range bike, tri-suit etc.)  

My turn to swim, given last minute instructions, swim up the lane and back, duck under the rope and then swim up the next lane and back, duck under the rope ...... and so on until all six lanes were completed.  Then get out, WALK down the pool edge, no running allowed as you are well aware in swimming pools, and then out into transition. My swim went pretty well, even overtook a couple of swimmers including no. 36 who was doing a bit of backstroke so we had a quick chat encouraging each other. The only disconcerting part was when the pool suddenly plunged down into a deep end.  I'm not used to that as the pools I swim in are either constant depth or gently taper down.  I suppose the older ones still allowed diving boards so had a "deep" deeper end rather than a "shallow" deeper end if you see what I mean? However momentary disconcertion apart, I even managed a bit of front crawl for the first time in any even this year! Finished in just over 9 minutes, remembered to walk down the pool and out into the fresh air of transition.  It was decidedly 'parky' being half-naked so ran to the bike to get the Prostate Cancer top on as quickly as possible. Decent (well clothed at at rate) ran with the bike to the road to mount the bike and off.   


Unfortunately, as I was racing I couldn't take any pictures which is a shame really as the route went northwards out of Canterbury into to some lovely rolling countryside. The cycle course was a single loop, so as I'd started high up the pecking order here weren't many people in front. It made this race, more than any I've done, a pure time trial so its a much more 'personal' race with you going as fast as you can all the time. So it's more internal mentally in a way, just you fighting fatigue and persuading yourself it doesn't hurt and you can keep going or even speed up!


The route was described as undulating, and it was certainly that. There were not out and out hills, but a few of the inclines did need my lower geared main ring - something I've rarely if ever used in any other triathlon. Traffic was light and uniformly considerate, the course was fantastically marshalled at every junction and roundabout, and I had great fun and felt I did a good lap (although if I had an aero-helmet and top of the range bike .....? well I can dream).  One novelty was that we had to cross level crossings which was an interesting if very bumpy experience.  If a train had come, a marshal would have stopped us, made a note of the time we'd been delayed, and that would have been subtracted from our chip-time.


Back into transition for a quick change and then out on the run. To be honest it was pretty boring as it was a single loop of around the industrial estate/ retail sheds. A very small section was along side the river, maybe 200m in total. As I've mentioned as I'd been an early starter there were very few out on the run course so again it was just a battle against yourself ~ and one guy who'd I just overtaken coming out of transition.  There was no way I was going to let him overtaken me!


Got my finishers medal and then it was off to change and have a shower. Its really invigorating having a shower after an event as you really feel you've earn't it. It shows how little I use leisure centres as the changing rooms were mixed as were the showers. Assuming you didn't strip off (well you might do I suppose in Scandinavia?), showering in lycra tri-shorts was a little odd. 


Back outside refreshed and considerably more fragrant, I discovered that unfortunately there was no onsite catering. So I decided to start to pack up my stuff. I dropped a bottle of water (trivial detail I know) and it rolled into a fellow competitor (stay with me ~ there' a point to this really!) called Bio-Synergy Subzero (yes I know, where do they get the names?) which incidentally claims to be "A unique performance boosting low calorie drink with L-Glutamine, Green Tea and a twist of blueberry ideal before a workout or a long day" (still with me) when the guy turn around and asked whether I'd done the Green Belter on Saturday in Kent?  The reason he'd asked was that this "unique performance boosting low calorie drink" had been included in our goody bags. So I was really pleased to find that there were two 'nutters' / 'supreme athletes' (take your pick) who had done two events this week end. So we swapped stories, both agreeing we'd had a great time all in all. 


At this point no. 36 came into transition on his mountain bike. He had a smile from ear-to-ear as we'd all given him a bit of a cheer. Saw me and we shook hands and he was telling us all how much he was enjoying it although the 20km had been a bl**dy long way on a mountain bike.  So we pointed him in the right direction for the run and urged him on.... As I've already said, it's these competitors without the all the gear but with the enthusiasm and sheer joy of being involved that actually make the events so much fun.  If it was all serious athletes, where kit ruled supreme, I don't think I'd find half as much fun. Though that said, I do like my kit!  Have I mentioned I've just bought some Planet X 50/82 carbon wheels ~ I must have!


As I was leaving with my kit to get back to the car, I noticed the final swimmers were just starting. As I left the car park, I followed some of the really flash bikes ~ so the event still had some time to go. Back on the M2 driving towards London, I passed approximately 50 Harley Davidson's travelling in convoy.  Trying not to ogle the motorbikes too much, I thought that that could have been my mid-life crisis instead, certainly it would have been less energetic!


Back home for 10:30 (again), papers, coffee and the 'revenge of the cold'.  Having behaved reasonably all weekend, 'it' (the nose) decided to open floodgates.  Box of tissues later .....


So a successful weekend, which apart from a Rudolf nose, bruised knee (only hurts if you touch it .... so don't touch it) and a small gash on the leg, I'd managed two events; to dirty nearly all my kit; two bikes; two pairs of trainers; two pairs of cycle shoes; everything in fact apart from the wetsuit; gain insight into why I actually enjoy doing these events; get out of London twice into beautiful countryside ......


RESULT: 40th out of 172 in a time of 1:11:25 (but for the first time ever I was 1st in my age group (50-54) by one whole second!)


The official race report:

"For the second year running the weather was blue skies and sunshine with the temperature gradually rising as the morning moved on .Also for the second year in succession Chris Birch won the mens race with a sub-one hour 57.43 performance . Chris didnt have the quickest swim or run but his bike split of 32.19 made him unreachable to all chasers .Following him in were Ryan Hosking in 1.01.42 and Tim Kingston in 1.01.46 . For the ladies it was local Deal Tri stalwart Jill Cliff who came home 1st in 1.03.43 with Sarah May in 1.04.35 and Kate Molloy in 1.13.29 . 

Other age group winners were Louise Pomeroy , Liz Bradford , Jo Hovenden , Joanne Gambrill , Rhiannon Simpson , Jo Malpass and Julie Morgan for the ladies and Scott Richardson , Jean-Luc Guerbet , Chris Hovenden , Stuart Hawkins , Jason Paton-Smith  , Adrian Watson , Alistair Huggett , Jerry Kelk  , Michael Gauntlett and Matthew Warren for the men . For those that hav’nt collected there is a wooden shield and  bottle of vino outstanding (which I didn't know about but it would have meant hanging around for a couple of hours). I did hear that someone on the run course was determined to win the paper umbrella so crossed  Kingsmead Road on the return DESPITE every turn and change being clearly marked with large orange arrows sprayed onto the ground (and 12 marshalls on a 5k course!) , however , they did’nt come forward to claim it! Next year i will try to move the finish over to the field adjacent to the centre grounds and put the trade stands there as well so it will give us more room in transistion , now we move on to Medway …."

From one of the tri-websites

"The race, organised by Velocity Events was held at Kingsmead Leisure Centre saw 170 triathletes enjoy a sprint triathlon. The race involved a 400m pool swim, followed by a challenging 20k bike following a route towards Broad Oak, Herne, West End and Thornden Wood, then back to the leisure centre via Tyler Hill and a 5k run to finish the legs off. The weather was kind to all competitors with near perfect conditions."   

Which pretty much summed it up.