There's a race report on http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com/2011/09/26/15104/ which I've (slightly) edited below. Also in the same issue is an interesting piece on the reports that Lance Armstrong has returned to triathlons and had come second in the race. He'd started as a triathlete before changing to road cycling, but his upper-body weight he had required to compete in triathlons had counted against him in his early career as a pro-cyclist.
"Over 3,500 adults and children came from all over the country to take part in the Hever Castle Triathlon. The childhood home of Anne Boleyn, Hever Castle provided a spectacular backdrop for this, the final event in the 2011 Castle Triathlon Series, with competitors raising money for Help for Heroes and Jigsaw4u.
The Castle Triathlon Series has grown dramatically since conception in 2009 and attracted over 5,000 participants for this year’s events, held at three castles in the UK and one in France. Now in its third year, the Hever Castle Triathlon is the third largest triathlon in the country and one of the largest children’s events in Europe (450 children took part this weekend).
Triathletes started with an open-water swim in the magnificent 38-acre Hever Castle Lake, followed by the cycle which took place on a 20km circuit through the High Weald of Kent, an area of outstanding natural beauty, with one lap for the sprint and two laps for the Olympic distance. The runners circumnavigated the estate and castle grounds before making the dash to the finishing line beside the lake.
Six races took place over the course of the two-day event, each one themed to reflect the history of the 13th century castle and its association with Anne Boleyn. This year the event also attracted hundreds of women, who registered for the women-only waves." The names of the races included the Hever - which is the Olympic distance of a 1500m swim, a 40km cycle and a 10km run; the Henry VIII - Mid distance (the one I did) consisting of a 800m swim, 40km cycle and 8km run; and the Anne Boleyn, the sprint distance of 400m swim, 20km cycle and 4km run.
My race start wasn't until about 10:30, so it was almost a lie-in which I appreciated due to yesterday's exertions. On the whole I wouldn't recommend two triathlons in a weekend, although with one being off-road it certainly gave me another opportunity to get both my bikes and all my kit dirty. In fact my main worry had been rinsing off the wetsuit, ensuring the worst of the mud was removed from my Prostate Cancer top and making sure it was dry.
I decided to arrive early partly as I'm rubbish (as you've probably gathered by now) at judging the time it takes and also I wanted to take some photos. The sprint waves (15 of them), women-only waves and all the children's races (12 different ones) had taken part on Saturday. Sunday we had six Olympic waves (starting at 8am) and four mid-distance waves. By driving down early it did mean I had another memorable drive as once out of London it was quite misty with the sun just beginning to make an impression. So across the North Downs and on to the Weald, the landscape was quite ethereal.
Parking up in one of the estate's fields, issue no.1. They had just mowed the field presumably because it was going to be used as a car park but it meant the wet cuttings clung to everything and got everywhere. The bike looked positively organic while the inside of the car was positively 'lush'.
Got chatting to some of my fellow competitors back in transition. Some had attended the day before as wives/husbands/children had competed while they had provided support. They said the place was "rammed" on Saturday which is unsurprising considering there were 27 waves over the day. It certainly explained the mass of inflatables nearby as Saturday is seen as the family day while the Sunday racing was marginally more "serious" due to the longer distances involved. it was a pity in some ways that the inflatables weren't involved in the race in some way like the Green Belters (races 24 and 31) but I guess that would have been a little too frivolous. While in transition, doing the last of the pre-racing faffing - we had to direct a number of competitors from earlier waves on where the exits were, and in one case had to shout at one that he'd still got his helmet on. Rather shamefaced he hung it on one of the fences and explained "spot the rower!" Then wetsuit on and off down the hill to the start.
Autumnal colour was certainly noticeable in the trees lining the lake and we had been warned that the water temperature was "autumnal" too. We congregated for our race briefing which suggested that while we could swim wide to avoid congestion, there was a fair amount of weed ~ a bit of an understatement as I found out. At one point I felt more like The Monster from the Blue Lagoon (MftBL)! It also included warnings about not overtaking cars on the cycle leg (a fact that will become pertinent later) as it could lead to disqualification. After the race briefing we were given a rousing speech by Henry VIII (I kid you not), the fountains started (10:30 must have been the time they let in the visitors) and with a final "Huzzah!" it was down the steps to the start line. The water was decidedly "autumnal" in fact it was almost "wintry".
It's a good feeling to reach transition to find that my bike isn't the last one there as there are even slower swimmers than me! Finally its off on the bike.
As before the first bit, getting off the Hever estate is slow as the track surface is potholed and there are some really vicious speed humps. Once on the open road though it's a different matter. Down into the tuck position and 500m later back up onto the bars for the first hill. As before (and unlike lance Armstrong in his early career ~ I have no issue with upper body weight!) I manage to catch a fair few on the hills. I was pleased that on the two laps (twice the distance of the evening race) I was only overtaken once and that was by someone who overtook going downhill, round a blind corner and nearly getting wiped out by a 4x4 ~ and anyway I'm not counting him because I re-overtook on the next hill.
Thirdly and I'm not proud of this, but I had a blazing row with a car driver. I was in full aero-tuck haring down a straight hill almost certainly above the 30mph speed limit when a car squeezed past me. At the bottom still at some speed I caught the car on some corners as he'd slowed down. By now in his rear view mirror I decided not to overtake and risk a DQ. However seeing me in his mirror he decided to slow down even further at which point I rather less than diplomatically said what I thought of the "plonker". It was a nice warm day so his windows were open and he heard - oops! Stopping suddenly and almost causing me to come-off into the hedge, a rather pompous voice asked for my race number and informed me he would report me to the race marshals. I told him what he could do with my race number after all it was prominent and easy to read, overtook him and cycled on. Putting a bit of of pall on the remainder of the race I decided to "fess-up". At the end of the race I went and found the race organiser and explained what happen. He asked rather sternly whether any of the marshals or the race referees had seen the incident ~ they hadn't. then with a piercing glare he took in the vision of something rather less than an impressive triathlete, more of a sweaty wet rag and pointed out that I was on a two-wheeled rather fragile vehicle making me a rather vulnerable road user while this other person was in a solid steel box and was an utter "plonker" especially as the whole area was festooned with warnings about cyclists.
Ironically towards the end of the second lap I'd got held up again by a car but this time as the driver was so obviously taking considerable care to give cyclists a wide berth and not intimidate them in any way I stayed behind her until I finished the lap.
Getting back to transition I had a bit of a shock. There were no bikes ~ I was the first one back from my wave! My first thought was that I must have done too few laps but even I can count to two. I subsequently found that I done each of my two laps faster than I'd done the single lap back in June. So remembering to take my helmet off, grabbing a handful of jelly babies - I was going to eat some having bought them, set off on the run. As you'll remember from last time it was 1km uphill, downhill to the lake, around the lake and passed the castle, a nasty little gravel incline to a sprint finish - except this time it was two laps instead of one so in sight of the finish gantry it was turn off and repeat.
It was a hard slog but managed to hold my own and was only overtaken once. I certainly got a better view of the castle this time as I knew where to look and had two laps in which to distract myself. It was quite a contrast as this time the castle was fully open to the public. You had all these visitors enjoying the castle and the grounds on a lovely Sunday morning and then a continuous stream of red-faced, sweating, panting Lycra-clad 'athletes' making their around at varying speeds. I'm sure some of the families, especially with young children were traumatised!
Removing my bike from transition I found that I had been remarkably lucky. My rear tyre was almost flat. At some point I'd punctured but it hadn't affected my race. With these tyres, its not a case of using a rubber solution glue and a patch, you have to ripped them off the rim (as they've been glued on) and then send them away to a man in Rotherham who un-stitches them, repairs them (if possible), re-stitches them and send them back. Then it's a case of of re-glueing (or having it done) to the rim. No chance of doing all that by next week's race then!
Driving back after the race I passed through a village near to our cycle route. They had a lot of total road closures due to a half-marathon being held that morning. I began to feel a little sympathy for local car drivers having to navigate diversions due to half marathons and then hoards of cyclists while out on an errand to get the milk or the Sunday papers. So felt slightly guilty about my over-reaction but it was all over by mid-day and then again he was a pompous "plonker"!
RESULT: 13th (1st M-V50) out of 269 in a time of 2:20:02
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