RACE 38 - DEXTRO ENERGY TRIATHLON - 6 August

A piece of trivia from the London Triathlon spotted by my Uncle Bob a keen club cyclist ~which just goes to prove that some people actually read my blog! The person above me in the results table is a Rob Engers who is likely to be the son of Alfred 'Alf' Robert Engers (born 1 June 1940). He was an racing cyclist who set national records and won national individual time trial championships from 1959 to the late 1970s. He established a British 25-mile (40 km) record of 49 minutes and 24 seconds in 1978, averaging 30.364 mph (49.190km/h). To put that into perspective, I averaged 23mph (36km/hr) on the Castle Coombe racetrack in race 36.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alf_Engers

Before getting into the event itself a bit of history of Hyde Park to get your teeth into, the source of which (as ever) is an edited version from Wikipedia (oh how I wish I had access to the internet when I was doing my degree. The hours spent in the library ....)

In 1536, Henry VIII acquired the manor of Hyde from Westminster Abbey, who had held it since before the Norman Conquest and he enclosed as a deer park. It remained a private hunting ground until James I permitted limited access to gentlefolk, appointing a ranger to take charge. Charles I created the Ring (north of the present Serpentine boathouses), and in 1637 he opened the park to the general public (presumably before he lost his head.

In 1689, William III moved to Kensington Palace on the far side of Hyde Park, he had a drive laid out across its south edge, formerly known as "The King's Private Road", which still exists as a wide straight carriage track leading west from Hyde Park Corner across the south boundary of Hyde Park towards Kensington Palace (which happens to be part of the cycle course and very bumpy it was too!). The drive is now known as Rotten Row, possibly a corruption of rotteran (to muster), Ratten Row (roundabout way), Route du roi or rotten (the soft material with which the road is covered). Public transport entering London from the west paralleled the King's private road along Kensington Gore, just outside the park. In the late 1800s, the row was used by the wealthy for horse riding.


The first coherent landscape plan was undertaken by Charles Bridgeman for Queen Caroline; under the supervision of Charles Withers, the Surveyor-General of Woods and Forests, who took some credit for it. It was completed in 1733 at a cost to the public purse of £20,000. Bridgeman's piece of water called The Serpentine, formed by damming the little Westbourne that flowed through the park was not truly in the Serpentine "line of beauty" that William Hogarth described, but merely irregular on a modest curve. The Serpentine is divided from the Long Water by a bridge designed by George Rennie (1826).

One of the most famous historic events to take place in the park was the Great Exhibition of 1851. The "Crystal Palace" was constructed on the south side of the park however, the general public did not want the building to remain in the park after the closure of the exhibition, so the architect, Joseph Paxton, raised funds and purchased it. He had it moved to what was part of Sydenham Hill - now called Crystal Palace.


Hyde Park covers 142 hectares (350 acres) and Kensington Gardens covers 111 hectares (275 acres), giving an overall area of 253 hectares (625 acres), making the combined area larger than the Principality of Monaco (196 ha/484 acres), though smaller than New York City's Central Park (341 ha/843 acres).


The park has become a traditional location for mass demonstrations. The Chartists, the Reform League, the Suffragettes and the Stop The War Coalition have all held protests in the park. Since 1996, the park has been the London venue for the Proms in the Park concerts (which I've been to twice), held on the last night of the BBC Proms. For the 2012 Summer Olympics, the park will host the triathlon and the 10 km open water swimming events. 

If you want to know more about the park along with groovy graphics and so forth try the park website http://www.royalparks.gov.uk/Hyde-Park.aspx 

This race is part of the ITU (International triathlon Union) world championships and is a a practice run for the 2012 Olympics. that's one of the reasons why so many elites were competing especially the British as his particular race counted towards Olympic qualification.  

One advantage of the Hyde Park race is that I can actually cycle there. Its a little 'interesting' riding through London traffic on a tri-bike though as its not really feasible to go down on your tri-bars to change gears as you the don't have ready access to your brakes - which believe you me you need with London drivers! So stuffing all my gear into a large rucksack I ventured through the streets of Brixton, over Vauxhall Bridge around the traffic chaos of Victoria and up towards the park. At Victoria I heard a voice beside me enquiring whether I knew the way? Beside me was a guy in full aero helmet, tri-suit, Specialized bike (the make not a type - which incidentally has just opened a brand only concept shop in Covent Garden which although is common with car dealerships is almost unheard of in the cycle world) and three spoke carbon aero wheels .... You get the picture? So we made our way up to the park together chatting when we had a chance. We did get a few odd looks to say the least!

We parted our ways as he'd registered the night before and I went off to find the swim exit. I'd arrived at Hyde Park around 1pm as Dan, Joe,Tim,  Si, - in fact pretty much everyone from the Blenheim crowd were all doing the Olympic distance race. Joe and Si for the first time ever and Dan and Si having spent the previous week cycling 500 + miles around the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (so it would be interesting to see whether their legs were up for a bit more cycling)! It's not a requirement to be mad to do triathlons but obviously it seems to help. 

Anyway I was there to shout encouragement/abuse - which ever best suited the occasion. I got to the swim exit just in time to see Tim exiting, followed by Joe, Si, Dan .... With my normal foresight and photographic skills I managed to only get a picture of Dan  - the rest were backs of heads, my finger, blurs and so on. by the way, he's the third one back - so even in this I wasn't great so you can imagine what my previous efforts were like! Knowing that they'd be on the bike now for over an hour, I went to register (very quick and efficient set up) and rack my bike and dump all my kit in transition. Walking back through the expo I saw Helen Jenkins,the winner of the women's elite race earlier that morning - start time 8:10am (professional athletes also miss out on lie-ins) and realised she was not some strapping Amazonian-type, but actually really slim and petite (and OK - yes, very pretty).

Deciding the best place to cheer the guys on was a wicked S-bend where I'd be able to see them going both ways on the bike and while doing their run laps (also in a bit of pre-race planning I wanted to see the best racing line for my race later and to be honest there is something inherently beautiful about a stream of cyclists heeling over into a corner). This proved to be fine in theory almost  impossible in practice. Most tri-suits are black or white or a combination, cycle helmets are compulsory, cycle glasses de-rigure so spotting individual riders was 'awkward' to say the least. More often than not I resorted to a "come on Dan/Joe/Tim/ [insert name here]" to a fast disappearing back. My lack of anything resembling timing means and the speed they were going (in spite or because some of them had just finished a 500 mile cycle ride) I have no photos of any of them on the bikes. Never mind I was enjoying myself - I even spotted the guy on the Specialized bike - though the aero helmet did make him easier to spot. I looked at his line through the S-bend as he obviously knew what he was doing. 


One other guy was worth a mention. A somewhat elderly gentleman, by that I mean even older than me was cycling around in what looked like a Pashley or some other upright retro bike with one of those old style big chrome bells (works on the clockwork principle) riding around at a very sedate pace ringing his bell and milking the applause. I saw him later on the run or should I say - stroll, drink in hand in what can only be described as a perambulation.

Then came the run - 4 laps so I'd have a chance to miss them 4 times though to be fair they would be going a bit slower so I should see them. I managed to cheer them on (this time) to such an extent that they knew where I was and were asking where the others were in relation to them. Having absolutely NO idea which lap everyone was on I'm sure I took Rosie's crown of master of mis-information! (See Race 26 - Blenheim). Purely by chance, I was stationed at one place, Rosie at another and Suzy at another so they had maximum coverage of support.

Towards the end of the 10k I heard a cheery 'hello' and by an amazing co-incidence it was the couple Alison and Andre Blincowe who had been volunteer marshals at Blenhiem! They were down to watch the elites and soak up the atmosphere. Had a good chat and then off to the finish to congratulate everyone. The finish order was the same as Blenheim with all three (Tim standing, Joe squatting, and Si kneeling) all doing sub-2:30's!

At the finish while they marshalled themselves for a well earned celebratory pint, I went back to the transition area to begin to get ready for my race. As per usual got talking to my fellow competitors especially Sean (he was up from Devon and had done London the weekend before) who racked adjacent to me and a tanned Aussie gent who'd be cycling around Europe for the last three months and had decided to do a triathlon as part of the tour. He had one of those Cannondale mountain bikes with the single front fork - looks very odd but seem very effective. He also knew what he was doing as had fitted slicks and also argued that the older we got the better we were suited for endurance events. Maybe I should step up a level?

Again true to form I had forgotten something (I thought I was getting better - obviously not) this time it was my transition towel. The towel (approx hand towel size but thinner in width so it fits between the bikes) might look like a bit of fanciful kit but it a) allows you to see where you've racked your bike more easily and believe you me with all the similar looking bikes you need all the help you can get; b)marks your 'territory'; c) allows you to set out your kit in a neat way and d) gives you something to stand on after the swim to at least partially dry the feet. The latter was probably the most crucial as it was a long post swim run to transition and transition was very dry and dusty with lots of small twigs and other of nature's debris.


It was then time to wander down to the swim holding area. They were running a bit behind but unlike London the previous week, the waves were every 10 minutes (rather than the 30-50 min) but there were far fewer of us per wave - probably only 50-60 which was far less daunting. Got talking to a lady - discussing our race tactics (or lack of them) when I very distinguished gentleman came up to me and asked "would I mind zipping him up" with such panache! We all collapsed in laughter to the bemusement of the wave co-ordinator as we all teased him (the guy we zipped up not the wave co-ordinator) at how natural he'd sounded - it was obviously a regular occurrence (Saturday nights perhaps?) Its what I like about the age group races especially the mixed ones - there's a lot more banter and joking around and far less tertesterone (from the men at any rate!)

Then it was line up along the pontoon for the start. Unlike the elites we didn't dive in " more a hanging onto the edge" start. Pre-race there had been quite a lot of concern regarding a blue green algeal bloom which we'd been assured wasn't dangerous though the advice did go on to mention if you felt nauseous, had diarrhoea etc. go and see a doctor immediately - so draw your own conclusions.


It was pretty green and murky with the odd floating bread crumbs - as obviously people do feed the ducks (there is a section on wildlife on the park website if you're interested). Otherwise apart from a couple of zigzagging freestylers who held me up a little I had a pretty good swim (for me at any rate) have a look at Tri viewer ( http://www.tri247.com/triviewer/triViewerLive.html#r=10315 or 
http://www.tri247.com/triviewer/triViewerLive.html#r=10315&r1=FF3020) to see how I did overall. It was then a long run along the asphalt carriage drive which they marked the route the swimmers would take with a thin blue mat - as the swim exit crossed over the run route. This running on a hard surface in bare feet made me realise that the Planar fasciitis hadn't been miraculously cured as the left foot was very painful. Running through transition was a bit 'oo and ow" stepping on twigs and the like and without the towel did mean a fair amount of mud made it into the socks. Then my favourite bit - out on the bike.


Its quite a technical course with 180 turn arounds a couple of 90 degree bends and of course the S-bend. It's virtually flat although the surface on the formerly known as the 'King's private drive' is a bit rough (so much so that Sean thought he had a puncture as he told be at our race dissection at the end). It was great fun though horror of horrors someone overtook me! Fair enough he had a rear disc and aero helmet, but even though! It was a 'long' 20k as it was three laps (the 40k had been five) but it was over all too quickly. There is something about cycling fast through the park, the supporting crowds, the rest of the park users going about their own business, being right in the centre of London - all adding up to make a unique and special event. I was pretty pleased at how the cycle went (subsequently found I'd come 13th in this section). Then it was off on the run with legs that felt not too much like jelly!


So it was off for two laps around the Serpentine - well as far as the bridge at any rate. It was during the first lap that a bunch of young guys literally sprinted past. Some of them even had coaches shouting instructions from the sidelines. These were the junior wave that had started 50 minutes after us. Well at least most of the people were from this wave though one or two were nearer my age ....


At the beginning of the second lap a well tanned woman overtook me and I thought enough was enough so I kept pace with her. Its amazing where you can find the extra motivation. I could keep up but couldn't overtake - I even attempted a sprint finish which she match stride for stride. The second lap I managed to do almost one minute faster - I really should learn to pace myself rather than relying on others!


I slowly made my way back to transition to see how the others had fared. The Aussie - naturally a better swimmer- was chuffed that it had taken 18 km before I'd managed to overtake him on his mountain bike. Sean had also enjoyed himself but had found the swim problematic (so much so I'd actually had reached transition before him).


Having valiantly resisted the temptation to buy some kit at the expo I made my way home somewhat slower than I'd normally of done it. However I couldn't dawdle as the light was fading and a tri-bike doesn't have anywhere to mount lights.


Feeling a little guilty for not going to see the womens' elite race (well I stayed in bed, got the Saturday paper, had a pot of coffee and leisurely breakfast...) I decided that I really ought to go and see the mens race on Sunday, especially as I hadn't managed to get any Olympic tickets, and anyway it was at a much more civilised hour! So cycled down to Buckingham Palace (as the Sunday race would use the Olympic course with more of London closed). 

The tourists looked very bemused as the first competitors started around the course in a tight peliton. To be fair though they soon got into it - especially the French and Italians who have cycling in their blood. I think they treated it just like a stage of the Tour de France - interesting calls and cheering!  The elites can draft so it tends to be a case of a strong swim to get into the first group, then make sure you stay in the first pelliton, then the fast runners battle it out in the final 10k. I personally prefer the non-drafting races as it is then just the individual against everyone else and is as a result less tactical. The Olympics are drafting races so its more  tactical. 

It was amazing seeing the pellitons rush by and as the section around Buckingham Palace/ The Mall has a lot of corners there was something almost balletic as they went around the corners. There were also a fair few number of crashes as it rained intermittently. Having seen them do their four laps, and with the rain pretty steady, I decided to go home and watch the remainder on i-player. Alistair Brownlee emphatically won with his younger brother Jonathan in third. What with Helen Jenkins also winning - its looking good for the Olympics!



Possibly the only thing that left a bad impression in what is one of my favourite races was the price of photos. They were charging £19.99 for each download! I thought that the London Triathlon was bad but this price is scandalous. You will be relieved to know you'll not be seeing any pictures of me at this price.


Result - 69th out of 377 (4th in age group) in a time of 1:24:32