After a positive showing at Worthing in the sprint triathlon the
weekend before where I finished 4th, I was mostly looking forward
to my first Olympic distance event of the year down in Seaford. My
friend had kindly lent me his TT bike after I had somehow managed
to crack the top tube on my own bike a couple of weeks before - a
super slick machine with a Zipp disc wheel at the back. Only
problem was I am 6 ft tall and my friend is about 5'6" so every
time I rode the bike my knees would bang into my elbows.
On Saturday the weather was gorgeous: no wind, no waves, sunny and
warm. At the best of times my swimming resembles a drowning man and
this race was not much different although I guess I managed to
drown with at least "some" style coming out of the water in 11th
place and sprinting up the steep shingle into T1. Aaaargh, Idiot!
Having mounted my tri shoes on the bike I had forgotten to open up
the straps on the shoes so I wobbled my way down the first 50m of
the bike course getting my feet in. Right, time to monster. Seaford
is a pan flat bike along the prom so it was relatively uneventful.
The biggest challenge is counting 12 laps and avoid being taken out
on the 22 180 degree turns you have to make but I survived intact
and could see that I had made some gains on the cycle leg. A quick
T2 and out onto the run. Where is everyone and who is the guy on
the bike in front of me? It took me a good 30 seconds to realise
I'd run out first. This was a unique experience for me and I spent
the next 9.75km torturing myself with the thought that someone was
going to run past me. My paranoia definitely helped me step on the
gas and I managed to hang on to cross the line in 1st place, very
proudly wearing my MSTC tri suit, of course! The last time I did
this race in 2005 took me nearly 3 hours so pretty happy with that
improvement!
Swim 30:18
Bike 1:03:26
Run 40:49
Total 2:14:33
Graeme Jeffery