CWTC

The Wildman Duathlon took place at Hankley Common and consisted of a 10km run , 18km bike and 5km run . After already completing the two previous Duathlons in the winter series my focus was on maintain form and pace during the last 5km. As the gun went off I kept on telling myself “I’ll be catching up with you lot later!” as I was over taken by a steady stream of runners anxious to win the race in the first ten minutes. Of course some would, but I was hoping to reel some athletes in during the final run. After the first lap, comprising of a long steady ascent, 10 metre muddy water dip and two notable hills at the end, I focused on running at my own pace for the second lap. Into transition feeling comfortable I decided to put another layer on as the wind had picked up and I didn’t want to get cold. In hindsight I should have selected a different clothing strategy as I lost 40 to 50 seconds in transition. Out on the two lap bike course, I suddenly realised how challenging cycling on sand was. Not only does it sap your strength, your front wheel has a mind of its own…. as I found out on a particularly loose section of track as I went over the handle bars. On the positive side, sand is relatively soft :J. There were a couple of fun downhill sections with loose rocks, surprise drop offs and ascents requiring a dismount to complete the hills. Coming into T2 I knew I had recovered a few places during the bike and was ready for a quick transition to overtake a youngster who had flown past me on the last descent. Having transitioned well I took 30 seconds out of this youngster, but more importantly confidence was high and I was chasing down my next victim athlete. During the next 4km I ran down 3 or 4 more athletes to place myself about 20 seconds behind another male vet at the bottom of the final two leg sapping hills. I managed to get right up behind him at the top of the first hill but the quads where destroyed and could only hold my position to the finish line. Overall I had a solid race and paced it as planned leaving fuel in the tank for the final run.

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After a disastrous 1st race at the New Forest Olympic distance last summer I swore that I would never race again. But, as you know, the bug bites!

Thanks to CWTC and Jo Friel’s Bible I made modest progress. My personal goals for 2012 are to complete a 70.3, an ironman and GB age group (50-54) selection for the worlds in NZ. What I lack in talent I make up for in ‘aspiration’. Many have warned that the Ironman (IM) is not compatible with selection with only 8 weeks gap between them. Time will tell!

My key problem was how to get motivated in the winter, hence deciding on the 70.3 and IM. That meant looking for warm weather. By chance, a brand new Tri circuit have been set-up in the US (see the website at http://hitstriathlonseries.com/ ) with 13 events over the year at every distance. The HITS Series is the brainchild of Tom Struzzieri, Mark Wilson and Dave Scott (5 times winner at Kona) and is in its first year. I entered the 1st event at Naples, Florida on 11 Jan. The flights were dirt cheap, the entry cost less than the UK 70.3 and the weather was perfect. I even rented a great bike locally which saved hassle and cost. Having joined their pasta party on Friday night and acted as a volunteer for their sprint and OD courses on Sat, the Half and full IM started at 7am on Sun. We were briefed on the Gulf beach as the sun was rising. We swam with a pod of 20 dolphins 25m from us and pelicans flying overhead … it sure beat the black line at Westgate! The Bike was superbly organised with a fast straight course, using over 50 police to block off the roads to allow us to keep cadence high at all times. The run was just long, hot (76 degrees) and hard – I made the rookies error of taking a new carb gel on the run and was doubled over in pain 15 mins later!

My splits were S 36;B 2:44; R 1:50; total 5:15. I had aimed for 6hrs, so chuffed with 12th place and 2nd in age group. I am now set for the Full IM on 24 Mar in Ocala, Florida (just North of Orlando) … another dirt cheap flight (actually free because Delta Airways ‘bumped’ me off my flight on 4 Jan, sent me a day later and gave me a $1000 token). But first some serious training to do … the Lanzarote long distance camp for 2 weeks in late Feb and a few lonely miles on roads/pool/track! I can’t recommend the HITS team highly enough. it was an incredibly friendly atmosphere, very relaxed and a series that is surely going to be a huge success.

PS. At the breakfast after the event, a competitor, John Wragg, was giving me a few tips on the full IM. At 61, he seemed experienced … I asked him how many he had done. He holds the world record … the event on the 11 Feb was his 131st IM!!!! I just want to finish one!

Paul Mansell

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The Mudman Duathlon took place in the gruelling grounds of the MOD, Camberley on the 3rd December and consisted of an 8km run 16km mountain bike followed by another 8km run. No swim I hear you Triathletes say…… you’d be wrong. Each lap went through the Tank dip, a 50 meter water hole, just to cool you down before you hit the hills. These were long, steep and slippery with all but the most skilled cyclist pushing the bikes up and the 8 hills per run lap soon took their toll on those who sprinted off the start line.

Andy Roberson was the only member of the club that took part and managed to take a fourth place in the Vets class (40+).

After the race he had this to say; “The first run lap I took easy and managed to run every hill, trying to save myself for the second run leg and I felt relatively fresh entering transition. The bike was tougher than expected, walking up the steepest hill every lap but cramping badly towards the end. It took 2km to get into my stride on the second run taking the tank dip with ease…. then came the 8 hills. As I hit the first hill I knew somewhere during the previous 90 minutes I had overdone it and yomped up each hill with an ever decreasing cadence.”

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The Iceman offroad Duathlon took place in the woods of Frimley on Sat 19^th Nov and consisted of a 10k run an 18k mountain bike followed by a 5k run, not too hard you may think but the hills on the run were vertical, making it very hard on the legs, the cycle ride was not too dissimilar as well.  Although called the Iceman (presumably historical) the weather was quite mild and it was more of a Mudman than Iceman!!

The 10k run was 2 x 5k laps of a run course, and then it was 3 x 6k cycle laps finishing off with another lap of the run course.   5 members of CWTC took part in this event, Mike & Liz Pillans, Andy Roberson, Paul Mansell and Del Morton.

Unfortunately due to the hard course cramp had an effect on Liz & Del, Liz had such bad cramp she had to withdraw on the first lap of the cycle, Del had to stop on mid second lap and was kindly assisted by a fellow competitor, a truly sporting act on his part which enabled Del to complete the race.  Out of the 272 entries 26 DNF confirming the fact it was a gruelling course.

Mike had an excellent race finishing 21^st Andy and Paul also had good races finishing 33^rd & 55^th respectively, full results as follows:

For most this was their first attempt at Duathlon, and as they say if it’s your first it’s a PB.

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The club’s End of Year function took  place in the Cathedral suite of the Chichester Golf Club in Hunston.   51 members and guest’s started the evening by meeting in the club’s bar where a sweepstake was passed around to guess the length of Aidy’s speech & awards (notorious for being on the longer side of speeches!!).

We then proceeded into the dining area for a 3 course meal.   The staff at the Golf club are to be congratulated on their service and organisation.

We then moved on to the upstairs bar and disco room where Aidy started his speaker’s task.   He started by congratulating the committee and members for another successful year in Triathlon and then went on to the awards which were as follows:

He then went on to some more fun awards:

The shonky awards this year seemed to have a theme of not being able to stay on their cycles, the prize of Gold, Silver & Bronze was dependant on injuries incurred and fittingly was awarded  with stabilisers.

Aidy’s speech lasted 30 minutes, which was quite short for Aidy!!  As this was Remembrance day 50% of the sweepstake proceeds were to go to Help For Heroes, Damian Homer had the correct guess and quite generously donated his half to the cause which totalled the donation to £41.

After the awards we all hit the dance floor and enjoyed the rest of the evening showing off our John Travolta impressions!!

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STANDARD SPORTIVE (70 miles)

15 club members  tried a different type of a triathlon discipline and entered the Standard Wiggle Sportive which consisted of a 70 cycle (we’ll come to that later) starting off in Chichester and going in and around the South Downs.   The riders were Chan Morton, Del Morton, Patrick Glynn, Mike Cooper, Gary Williams, Katie Michael, Toby Bigwood, Steve Long, Brian Gowdy, James Woodward, Steve Hasler, Trudy Cunningham, Wilf Hill, Anne Sydenham, Andrew Soppitt & Nige littler.

All started well with a strong pace up Goodwood hill but the pace was a bit too fast for some and we soon had 2 groups.   Unfortunately as we were descending down Duncton Hill we had to be diverted as a cyclist ahead had a serious accident and the police closed off the road, Our best wishes are with him.   We and many other riders went on a diverted course which had at that time not been marked up and many took different routes to get back on course resulting in some riders doing 74 miles and others doing 78 miles.

The ride was very hilly and I don’t think we missed any on the South Downs map!!   However we all managed to finish with the exception of James Woodward, who on the way up South Harting hill had the mishap of his pedal shearing off putting an end to his ride.

Unusually we only had one puncture with Toby Bigwood being the lucky recipient of that.   Katie Michael was unlucky to have her chain jammed but with the help of our club bike expert Brian Gowdy we soon had her back on the road.   You could say the above could have been avoided with a good bike maintenance course!!!

The ride took just over 4 hours, considering the few mishaps we had was a very commendable time, no doubt some club members will be looking forward to the next event and some maybe not!

FUN SPORTIVE (45 miles)

Whilst the younger, fitter, keener members chose to do the standard distance; 3 of the more senior lady members (Cathy Burnie, Trycha Darling, Diana Littler, Sally Dukes) had a great morning cycling the ‘fun’ distance. Although we weren’t sure where the fun part was prior to starting!!

We were pleased with the weather and also that a young girl joined us at Lavant but couldn’t keep up with us!! Our ride out to East Meon was lovely, even the ups and downs were enjoyable. Cathy made easy work of Butser hill, putting Diana & Trycha to shame. We all managed to be on our bikes when we passed the photographer though!!

We were really pleased with our time which was 3 hours 15mins (including stops) and 2 hours 59 mins of cycling – We all were grateful that there wasn’t a run at the end of it either.

All in all a great introduction to sportive cycling……. a must for all Triathlete’s!!

After crossing the finish line we went to the centre for our well earned tea & coffee!!

Del/Diana

CWTC Member

By Paul Reynolds

http://www.racenewforest.co.uk/00_NFMD_tri.html

1.9km lake swim, 90km bike, 22km run

Having done the Boskman race in June which is longer (2.6/120/22km), I was feeling quite comfortable about at least finishing this race. Plus we stayed on site this time at Sandy Balls which made things a lot easier what with the registration the day before, the split location transitions (so lots of labels and kit bags!), and the early start.

Driving a small part of the route the day before though made me realise again that this wasn’t to be taken lightly!

The start comprised of 2 mass starts. Despite my best intentions, I caught glimpses of the veterans wearing the different colour hats from the second wave overtaking me towards the end of the first of 2 laps.

The first lap on the bike was much longer than the second, and included the Boulderwood panoramic drives. Thankfully at that time there weren’t too many cars around to get in the way. I had to slow a few times for herds of New Forest cattle heading towards me on the road, or deciding to leisurely cross in front of me! It was nice to have a relatively shorter second lap and not having to do the extra loops, leading you home to the run.

The run was described by the organisers as "challenging"… and it certainly was! Straight out to a 1 in 4 climb. Most of the route was off track. I managed to run most of the way around… apart from a few of the climbs, which I was pleased about. The hilly route certainly had slowed me down. I had a boost at one point thinking I was seeing some runners on the loop much further behind me, only to realise I wasn’t where I thought I was, that they were in fact much further ahead I had a few more miles to go! I generally felt fairly strong on the way around, so was a bit disappointed to come in 8mins slower than last time. Despite this, a final burst did mean I overtook 4 competitors I’d been leap-frogging with in the final 50m.

So given the fact I can’t really get away with claiming "Boskman + Middle Distance = 1 Iron Distance", will I be doing a full one next year? Yes… New Forest application has been submitted! I’ll just have to remember the head torch!

Swim: 41.38 mins

T1: 5.41 mins

Bike: 3 hrs : 29 mins

T2: 5 mins

Run: 2 hrs 58 mins

Overall: 7hrs 21 mins

M30 category – 56th out of 59 finishers

Overall – 345th out of 371 finishers

2 photos below…

Gareth

1500m lake swim – 40Km bike – 10Km trail run

A year ago I competed in the Reading Sprint triathlon……just to dip my metaphorical toe in the water. I did okay and was hooked. A year, CWTC membership, The Slateman Tri and The Outlaw Tri later I was back to set myself a benchmark for my 2012 season. Again, I did okay.

The 2x750m lap of the lake swim was interesting. I was in the second wave to set off, which was 15 minutes after the first had started, which meant that not only was I in the melee with my wave, but I was immediately fighting my way through tail enders from the 1^st wave who were just starting their 2^nd lap! There was only one thing for it and that was to kick hard at the start and find as clear water as possible before settling into a more relaxes rhythm. My tactic worked and I maintained a steady pace against another chap as we pushed each other along.

T1 and 2 laps around rural Berkshire on the bike. I rode as hard as I could, pleasantly buoyed by the fact that I didn’t get overtaken as much as I had the previous year. T2 and onto the run, which considering the heavy rain the previous evening, was 6x boggy laps around the lake trail. Again I was pleased that I wasn’t overtaken and I finished on the verge of cramping in 37^th position overall 11^th in my age group.

My benchmark for 2012 has been set. Onwards and upwards!

Dave

Gareth

On Sunday 11^th September two members CWTC took part in the World Triathlon Championships which was taking place in Beijing China.

Following the spectacular opening ceremony, a total of 2000 age-group athletes competed on the 2008 Beijing Olympic course in the sprint distance on Saturday and the Olympic distance race on Sunday

It was an early start with Wilf Hill starting at 0630am in the 18-19 age group and slightly later at 0725am Mike Cooper started in the 45-49 age group.

The weather was good with the sun and the temperature rising to make the day perfect for racing as the water temperature was 25c it was declared a non wet suit swim which would favour the stronger swimmer.

After completing the 1500 meters swim a 40km undulating bike and a 10km undulating run both Wilf and Mike had fantastic races and were pleased with their times.

Wilf Hill achieved a Personal Best time of 02:24:11 and Mike Cooper achieved the high position placing of 17^th in the 45-49 age group and the 4^th British team member for that age group in a time of 02:20:21.

Both said “it was great to see the elite’s race on the Saturday and for Alistair Brownlee to become World Champion and it motivate us to do the best we could on the Sunday and it was fantastic to race on an Olympic course.

Gareth

11 September 2011

Emma Gueterbock

In 1995 a Japanese film crew spent a week scouring the depths of Lake Bala (Llyn Tegyd) in Snowdonia in search of the Bala Monster aka ‘Teggy’ with little result. 16 years later three intrepid Chi Tri-ers, Andy Matthews, Jo Gray and I, joined a 540-strong expedition and though we didn’t bump into Teggy, we did discover a Bala beast of our own.

Raging near-gale-force southwesterlies on Saturday afternoon left the Bala Standard race Ref pondering…the swim course on the northern tip of Lake Bala was awash with breaking waves and the southwesterly bike leg was to head directly into a driving headwind. Talking to him, there was a high probability that we’d be heading out onto a duathlon course the next day.

Sunday came and with it the same wild conditions but Jo and I set off together in the ladies-only swim wave. With waves breaking over our heads it was a challenge to get into a rhythm let alone sight. Around 20 people were rescued from the 1500m course and for some of us who did get round it was more Survival than Speed. Andy starting 10 min after the girls stormed past, coming out of the water 2^nd in his group while Jo and I battled on. Andrew G who was there supporting didn’t dare leave the waterside to go to watch the rugby world cup as planned until he’d seen the three of us safely out of the swell. We emerged with frozen hands and feet …and a rolling gait.

T1 was a challenge for me after surfing the waves and I did it sitting down, feeling dizzy and wondering if I’d make it to the mount line!

The bike course with its mean wind and lashing rain was a joy after the water and an opportunity to start racing properly. After continued problems with my balance and some exciting minutes of random swerving, the straight undulating course was fast and furious. Heading into the headwind I had to pedal hard downhill to maintain 28km/h while on the return I hit 62km/h spinning on the flat. Andy pushed out the fastest MVet bike time of the day and though I clawed back a minute, Jo who’d expected me to overtake had a great ride managing to stay just ahead of me all the way then gained a further 35sec at T2.

Conditions improved for the run out and back along the bike course. Andy was forced to retire at 2km due to his ongoing injury but did well to hold his 2^nd position until that point. Jo maintained her lead over me increasing the gap by a further 2:20 over 10.25km. A great race Jo! A fun weekend too.

So… Never heard of the Bala monster? You have now!

Gareth