Race Reports

Background

The inaugural full ironman in Norway took place on 1st July during unusually hot dry sunny conditions. There were less than 600 athletes doing the full 140.6 mile race which occurred simultaneously with the 70.3 race. At the start of the year, this Norway race had been my main target to win an Ironman Kona slot, with Ironman Boulder in Colorado three weeks earlier as the tune-up race. I was fortunate enough to get a Kona slot at Boulder so this visit to Norway became the tune-up race for the ITU World Championship in Denmark two weeks afterwards.

Swim

The lake swim at Haugesund was a relatively cool 18 degrees and produced a surprisingly frequent number of contacts with other swimmers despite the rolling start and small starter list. The swim was well organised with a novel system of swim lanes within the lake so it was impossible to go off course by very much. My 1:28 swim was typical of recent times and one of the slowest in age group.

Cycle

This is possibly my best ever cycling experience and a top personal performance. The conditions were perfect with closed dry roads on a breathtakingly beautiful but challenging hilly technical single loop 112 mile course with constant turns and switch-backs. If I had previously cycled the course, I could have cycled 10 minutes quicker because of less braking and choosing better lines to take corners at speed. Several sections were like a roller-coaster ride with 40mph descents approaching bends in the road then steep climbs that momentum could carry you up if you held your nerve.

My 5:33 cycle was 22 minutes faster than the next best in my age group, but I had no notion of this when I started the run.

Run

I had no idea that I was in the lead for most of the run and I frittered away a 13 minute advantage by failing to dig deep in the second half. My 4:07 run was 15 minutes slower than my typical Ironman run and I finished 2nd in age group having been beaten by 4 minutes 31 seconds.

Reflections

It was a very pleasant surprise to appear on an Ironman podium for the second time within 3 weeks. My overall finish time of 11:18:03 is not particularly fast but the challenging bike course and the hot conditions for the run caused everyone to slow down. 

Having been middle of the pack for most of the other 20 Ironman races since my first one in 2009, this 2nd place in age group at Ironman Norway is more than I could have hoped for.

That altitude training in Colorado a few weeks earlier seems to have worked but sadly it will just be a temporary effect. Lack of mental strength may have cost me 1st place in age group in this race as a little voice in my head may have been telling me to save something for the ITU Long Distance World Championship in Denmark two weeks after.

Ironman Boulder, Colorado 9th June

Jim Graham continued his worldwide Ironman and Marathon experiences in this high altitude event held at 5000ft. He had made meticulous preparations for this event,  with every detail addressed, with the aim of securing a Kona qualification for 2018. Kona is the Ironman Championships in Hawaii. At the Boulder event, after a slow swim, Jim did well on on the moderately hilly bike route, averaging 22.5mph, with his home-made bike, put together mostly with second hand parts, proving to be very aero, and held his form in the run, despite 100F temperatures, to come in overall 1st in his age group in 10.39. This performance gives him a slot medal for the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, later in the year. Jim said that this achievement was "a dream come true", "unbelieveable" since previously he had never ranked better than 5th in his age group, having completed 22 Ironman distance events over the last 9 years. Jim expressed his gratitude for all the terrific support from friends, family and colleagues, and said that " Kona promises to be  awesome."

You can read Jim's full race report here.

23rd & 24th June

It was a busy weekend for members who were competing in Triathlons of varying lengths and also for 16 members who took part the River Arun Swim.

Swim 1st Triathlon, Crawley

 Rachael Baker won the women's race, with Rob Hoodless coming 3rd in the men's race. Sarah Hinton, Clair Hunt, Rebecca Moore also took part.

River Arun Swim

This is a 3.8km swim from Ford to Littlehampton. Steve McMenamin was the 1st member to finish in 48.46 (4.68 km/hr), with Mike Jaffe 2nd in 50.45 and Jo Fleming 3rd in 53.34. Joanne Barton was the first woman member to finish in 55.28 (4.11km/hr), with Tiggy Rose 2nd in 55.54, and Merrin Forbes the  3rd member to finish in 58.15.

Chomondley Castle Triathlon

Andrew Biggs went to Cheshire for this Castle Triathlon Series event. He did the sprint plus event on Saturday, finishing the 800m swim, 44km bike and 8km run in 2.20.10, and then did the Standard Distance event on Sunday, completing the 1500m swim, 44km bike and 10km run in a very respectable 2.47. 

Leeds Castle Triathlon

Lawrence Wintergold came 3rd in his age group in the Standard Distance Event in 2.23.22. Jane Faulkner also took part, finishing in 3.33.19. Adam Bryant competed in the sprint event, finishing in 1.48.08.

Swim

Perfect conditions in a beautiful reservoir rolling-start single lap course resulted in one of the slowest swims in age group of 1:29. This was 17 minutes slower than my previous best iron-swim and reflects current poor swimming form.

Bike

Hundreds of riders to overtake on the moderately hilly good surface non-technical bike course gave hundreds of brief legal drafting opportunities whilst going past people. The home-made bike constructed from mostly secondhand parts from eBay proved to be very aero with average speed of 22.5mph and maximum speed of 45mph for a 4:57 bike split. This was apparently fastest in age group apart from a 4:29 DNF.

Run

Temperatures were around 100F at the start of the run and I was content with the sub-5 hour bike split so a fast run was not in mind. Almost immediately I got overtaken by Stephen from Colorado who was in my age group and was wearing Kona World Championship Finisher's Kit. I was motivated to try harder and attempt to match Stephen's pace. I could not keep up with Stephen's running but he tended to spend longer at feed stations so I kept seeing him up until the last third of the run when he seemed to have got away. Just a few hundred metres from the finish I overtook an exhausted Stephen but because he had entered the water ahead of me our finish times were 2 minutes apart. Stephen's 4:01 run was best in age group and my 4:02 was second fastest.

Post-Race

The exceptionally hot conditions and the 5,000 feet altitude accounted for a high DNF rate but Stephen and I secured the two Kona slots for 55-59. Unbelievable to get the age group award and the Kona slot medal. My 10:39 was almost and hour slower than PB but in the conditions it was pretty good and considerably faster than last year's IM Boulder 55-59 winning time. This result was totally unexpected as explained in the Grand Plan described later.

Background

This is the race report I never dreamt of being able to write, having completed 22 Iron Distance Races over 9 years and never ranked better than 5th in age group. It was a humbling experience having my perfect race at Barcelona 2015 only to find that the 9:45 finish time was slower than 6 people in my age group.

The Grand Plan

A final 100% effort to get a Kona qualification slot was planned for 2018 to coincide with going up an age group. Having been to Kona with a legacy place in 2016, I hoped to go back in 2018 with a roll-down slot to prove I could make the grade the proper way.
Every detail was addressed including body weight reduction, a more aero bike, 25mm graphene tyres, latex inner tubes and speedplay aero pedals/cleats. The schedule of training and preparation races included altitude training at the optimum time to deliver a best performance at IM Norway on 1st July at sea level. The Colorado altitude training in June included 3 races within 13 days (Revel Rockies Marathon, IM Boulder and Leadville Marathon).

I stayed at 8,000 feet for a week then raced at 5,000 feet in Boulder before going to 10,000 feet for a week to prepare for the 3rd race at Leadville with maximum elevation of 13,000 feet.

Reflections

I am very grateful for all the terrific support from friends, family and work colleagues to allow me to have do this trip plus the training needed to prepare. Commuting by bike to work 3 days a week and running marathons twice or more weekly in order to get 100-marathon club entry have been key factors in getting fitter.

Colorado is a wonderland for triathletes with great options for swimming, cycling and running at high altitude to maximise fitness adaptations. The landscape is gorgeous and the locals are very friendly. Flying direct from Gatwick to Denver with excellent budget airline Norwegian Air is very practical. Staying at AirBnB rentals was very good value and my hosts were wonderful.

The strategy of regular races paid off. 3rd in age group at Revel Rockies Marathon with 3:04 then 1st in age group at IM Boulder 7 days later. 6 days after IM Boulder I felt fully fit and secured 7th place in age group at the Leadville Marathon with maximum elevation of 13,000 feet, which won me a Leadville 100 qualifier slot.

Kona 2018 promises to be awesome and I am so lucky to be able to compete there. It looks like the big challenge for 2019 will be trying to complete one of the toughest 100 mile ultra runs in the world at Leadville.

Well done to all 33 athletes who took part in today's event. This is a big record turnout, and could have been higher but for a couple of injuries. We had fantastic weather and I think the vast majority really enjoyed the day even though that flat run is much more challenging than it looks, and the bike is fairly tough!

This time it was deliberately minimally marshalled, so we could test out a whole bunch of new signs, which of course, allows more people to race and because it was all low key, it allowed everyone to test kit and fitness and strategy.

A big thank you to our two timekeepers, Debbie and Roger, without whom we would not get any results, and also a big thank you to Martin and Lara Shoesmith for their huge effort in getting all the extra signs out and collecting them again afterwards.

The men's sprint race was dominated from the off by Phil Couch, but the women's race looked very exciting, with nothing to choose between the first five out of T2. Clio Lawrence kept something back for the second run though, to eventually win by nearly 2 minutes from Sarah Hinton who had posted the fastest bike split.

The men's standard race was comfortably won by Neil Giles, but the next 3 had a fairly tight battle throughout with only 3 minutes separating them at the end.

Lara Shoesmith moved up to the longer distance this year and did exceptionally well to win.

This race is not only about the winners though, and a few performances are worthy of mention. It was so good to see Del back racing again, and completing the sprint course was a great effort. Last year Rebecca Moore just did the 5k run, but this year completed her first duathlon, and has clearly progressed hugely over the last year. Emma Smith did her first standard distance Duathlon, but she had plenty of strength for the second run, and finished really strongly. All three of them clearly have a lot more to come.

We also had two relay teams, and several stand alone efforts. It was also great to see a couple of husbands taking part - they both look like potential future members of the club!!

The race results are available on the Duathlon event page and the BAR standings on the BAR event page.

Over the past three weeks Mid Sussex Triathlon Club members have been running marathons in Manchester, Brighton & London, with Dr James Graham running all three.

Manchester Marathon 8th April

James Graham completed this marathon in 2.59.52, coming 21st in his age group. Sarah Moore also ran this marathon coming in with a time of 4.23.25.

Brighton Marathon 15th April

James Graham was running again coming in with a time of 3.12.58, placing 29th in the 50-59 group. Doug MacTaggart and Clair Hunt also ran, coming in with a times of 4.24.36 and 7.04.21

London Marathon 22nd April

Five members ran the London Marathon this year with Mike Jaffe being the 1st club member to finish in 3.12.40, James Graham, running his 3rd marathon in 3 weeks came in on 3.13.23, with Steve Alden the 3rd member to finish in 3.33.36. Kevin James was close behind, finishing in 3.40.49, whilst Clair Hunt completed her second marathon in a week with a time of 7.30.56.

Uckfield Triathlons 22nd April

Meanwhile other members got their Triathlon season underway closer to home at Uckfield. Phil Couch and Paul Richardson took on the Standard Triathlon (600m swim, 22km bike & 5.25km run) with Phil finishing 4th overall in 1.08.36, and Paul finishing in 47th place in 1.31.31. Lawrence Wintergold came in 5th in the Sprint Triathlon (400m swim, 16.5km bike, 3.5km run) in 51.19 with Jon Clark following on in 1.05.36.

Bluebell 10 mile Angmering

Sam Drake enjoyed the picturesque Bluebell 10 mile event in the grounds of the Angmering Estate, completing the course in 1.59.21.