I had been debating long and hard whether to use my road
bike or my TT bike! The talk on Facebook etc was very much that the route round
The Orme was hard, difficult, steep, technical, bendy, road bikes only etc, I
finally decided to use my TT bike, with team mate Ian Turner making a last
minute decision (#turnertime) to use his road bike! Only time would tell who
had made the right choice. I arrived in plenty of time for the race, so thought
it would be a good idea to drive the route! It wasn’t the steepest I’ve ridden
on, but it did go on for quite a while. Just driving the descent was fun so I was
looking forward to tearing down it in a super aero tuck later! We then checked
into our B & B (we had decided because of the long drive to stay the night).
Time was getting on so we walked down to registration; there was a massive
queue (1)... Almost out the door!
At this point I was slightly anxious as I only had 55
minutes to register, set up transition and put my tri-suit and wetsuit on! The
queue slowly moved and I finally had my ‘race pack’! I then put the number on
my belt and the tattoo transfers on my arms and left leg! Shot over to
transition, where the security (2)for getting in, I must say was rubbish! Anyway,
bike was racked and blowing in the wind and transition was set up!
Time check; 15 minutes till race start... I hadn’t even got
my tri suit on. There was a massive queue for the portaloo’s so I made my way,
quickly, back to registration where there were some more toilets; after queuing
for a while I managed to suit up!
Time check; 5 minutes till race start... PANIC #turnertime!
I rushed to the start hopping along as I tried to get my wetsuit on! Finally I
was ready and the race was due to start any second! Luckily for me, the start
was late... 10 mins late! Relax. The start was a water start, but you had to
swim about 200m to it! This would have been OK,
but for some of the 'poorer' swimmers, this did delay the start even
more while they made their way to the start buoys leaving everyone else
treading water.(3)
The horn kinda, sounded (a half hearted effort finishing
with the starter shouting GO) and we were off, first 10 strokes then BANG hit
in the face and goggles were now on my forehead... Not ideal, turned onto my
back and adjusted the goggles! Right, let’s try again... I got into a rhythm
and settled down. I still had a tiny bit of water in my goggles, salt water, not
a problem with my normal breathing stroke, but I'm nosey, I like to look around
a bit, yep you guessed it, salt in the eye - ouch. In the last 100m of the swim
I managed to come across a jellyfish. It 'became' part of the 'catch' phase of
my stroke, I pulled it backwards and took it for the adrenaline rush of its
life, and all the thanks I got was a massive sting on the wrist, ouch again. I
was out the water in roughly 25th place!
I remember watching the elites in Turkey, it was so intense
from start to finish, really 'full on', even in the transitions! So I got out
and I was on a mission to get to my bike, overtaking quite a few racers on the
way. The transition, was huge (4) and was set up wrongly! It wasn’t a diagonal like
most transitions (in at the top right, out at the bottom left for example)which
meant the transition was longer for people on the far row! Guess where I was...
Yup!! Competitors in this far row, after looking at the splits took on average
40 seconds longer, that's like saying 'you guys swim 750m and you guys just
swim 700m' not pleased.
Because the cycling stage is my favourite and best
discipline I decided to go for it! And I did just that. I worked my way through
the field and after the first lap I was up to 3rd Place with only
Sam Parker and Ali Rogers ahead of me!
Half way round the second lap I caught Sam. I had the fastest bike split of the day! I was especially pleased with this because my chain had come off twice during the ascents! Ali stayed in first place and headed out onto the run. Sam and I came into T2 in 2nd and 3rd around 30 seconds behind Ali, after going through the tightest, most dangerous in/out bike funnel I have ever seen, I was going to say it was a miracle there was no accidents, but thinking back, I bet there were - I don't know. At most events the 'mount/dismount line is outside or close to the exit of the funnel, here the mount/dismount line was at the entrance of the long funnel. You had riders tearing out on both sides of the funnel 'on a mission' on the way out hitting 20 odd mph and riders coming back on a charge downhill vying for the same space in the funnel also hitting 20 mph. They met at the entrance to the funnel on a 'blind' bend (it wasn't, but seemed that way with all the spectators lining this area.) After I had finished I noticed that the entrance had been hastily altered, better, and probably saved someone a hospital visit.(5)
Half way round the second lap I caught Sam. I had the fastest bike split of the day! I was especially pleased with this because my chain had come off twice during the ascents! Ali stayed in first place and headed out onto the run. Sam and I came into T2 in 2nd and 3rd around 30 seconds behind Ali, after going through the tightest, most dangerous in/out bike funnel I have ever seen, I was going to say it was a miracle there was no accidents, but thinking back, I bet there were - I don't know. At most events the 'mount/dismount line is outside or close to the exit of the funnel, here the mount/dismount line was at the entrance of the long funnel. You had riders tearing out on both sides of the funnel 'on a mission' on the way out hitting 20 odd mph and riders coming back on a charge downhill vying for the same space in the funnel also hitting 20 mph. They met at the entrance to the funnel on a 'blind' bend (it wasn't, but seemed that way with all the spectators lining this area.) After I had finished I noticed that the entrance had been hastily altered, better, and probably saved someone a hospital visit.(5)
Because the run route was an out and back my plan was always
to go out easy/comfortable and let loose on the way back! Sam soon caught me
and started to pull away slowly. We ran and ran and ran(6 & 7). The marshals
just kept saying ‘carry on’ ‘carry on’! So we did! It got to the point where we
couldn’t believe why we were still running; we still had to get back yet! We
got to around the 10k turn and knew that the marshals were wrong! We then
decided to run back together. On the way we picked up Thomas Kneller and Jonny
Dudley who were also sent the wrong way! We jogged through the line with a 5k
split of 36 minutes... I’ve done faster!
Then came the appeals and the ‘controlled’ arguments. I was 'OK'
because I had qualified at Nottingham but Ali Rogers, Thomas Kneller and Sam
Parker were still to qualify. I wish
them all the best in getting this sorted and receiving a discretionary/roll
down place! Something is very wrong if they don't.
The next day I was looking at the results and us three; Sam,
Ali and I could well have come top 3. Which order? Nobody will ever know!!
Which is rather annoying!!??????
So, after my obvious annoyance, some advice for the
organisers and some clear ways to sort out their mistakes, (people 'in power'
are not always right)
I know that at being only 17 (well very nearly anyway) you
could question how or what gives me the right to do this, but most of this is,
well, simples..
I have hardly ever questioned any organisers in the past,
but this being a World qualifier I had expected close to perfection, especially
due to the cost of entry (£65) and the very unbendable rules they had set in
place, i.e. 'no photo id no race', no transfers, no refund (you could advise
the organisers that you weren't going, you would not get a refund, they would
however sell your spot to the reserve list - outrageous.
You be the judge of weather these guys went that xtra mile.
Massive queue (1) Hey guys, lots of people need to register,
get more helping hands (the ones that were there where great btw)
Transition security (2) Having some disinterested guy glance
at the lower half of my tat number does not fill me with confidence.
Treading water.(3) Very neat in the diagram, but did we
really need to start so far from land? why not 20m off the beach and swim to
the first buoy?
The transition (4) I have already explained why this was
unfair but also the order of racking? it's normally in age/group order not
alphabetically. Why alphabetically, when I was collecting my gear an hour after
my race had finished I almost got in the way of a guy in the standard race racked next to me who was 'in the zone'
racking his bike and donning his race shoes.
Bike exit/entrance (5) really, really dangerous, simple fix
- one in, one out (quick reminder, it was a World qualifier)
We ran and ran and ran(6) A lead bike would have alerted
pedestrians on the promenade and shown the way to the lead runners (even if the
turn round marshal was incompetent and as it turns out a liar*) this would have
sorted out all of the 'no turn round' issues.
We ran and ran and ran(7) Volunteers are always the backbone
of these events and we thank them fully for it. However (quick reminder again,
this was a World qualifier) someone competent or at least briefed well was
needed here, that and the obvious 5k 'Turnaround here' sign would do, which was
nonexistent btw.
This btw is one of the busiest spots on the bike course, the roundabout. This is were you enter the lap cousre, exit the course and go through for the next lap. If you look vary carefully you may spot a couple of things.....
...no?, ok. 1/ a 20m long 'land train' 2/ two cars 3/a few casual walkers.
As an afterthought, did 77 people really get bang on 2
minutes for T1? - questionable.
* After we had finished (much later) we were informed that
the turn round marshal had told us to turn round and that we ignored him. Yer
right, we are in podium position (or there abouts) and we say 'no way are we
turning round, I feel the wind in my hair and I'm going on, you can't stop me'
I think what has made this all the worse is that we tried to
'file our complaint' to the race director for almost 2 hours. Loud speaker
announcements where sent out many times. We even towards the end approached a
BTF official in transition to see if we could find him. We came away empty
handed without finding him, bit of a shame really for as this photo shows we
were right next to him.
xtra mile, don't think so.
Next post, back to normal, promise!
My thanks as always to these guys:-
GreenLightPT
Insight Nutrition
Sports Injury Clinic
Tri-Crazy
And the others that help me... You know who you are!
My thanks as always to these guys:-
GreenLightPT
Insight Nutrition
Sports Injury Clinic
Tri-Crazy
And the others that help me... You know who you are!